Engine sensor failure on the 2003 Nissan Maxima
When engine sensor failure gets reported
Owners of the 2003 Nissan Maxima report engine sensor failure at a median of 95,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 70,000 miles and a quarter after 120,000 miles, from 10 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 6th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 55,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 130,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 74,085 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
0% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 53,615 miles | 68,052 miles | 94,477 miles | 119,828 miles | 127,700 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $180–$900 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 10 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2009, at a median of 15,000 miles, and latest on the 1997 at 135,000 miles.
By volume the 2000 carries the most reports, with 16; the 2003 has 10. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Car was being operated in normal fashion when it the engine shut off without warning during normal vehicle operation. Was able to get car off of road safely and then restarted, noticed check engine light was on. Took car home and called dealer to see if they could investigate. Took car to dealer and same thing happened on the way there. They investigate and found it was a camshaft position sensor malfunction. Had repairs completed and car works fine now. I also noticed there was a similar recall to models like mine under NHTSA campaign id number 03v455000, but after contacting nissan directly, they said my VIN wasn't included in the original recall. *tr
On my 2003 maxima se, the "service engine :light" comes on and the moving vehicle stalls. My wife had a close escape from a crash when it happened to her yesterday. It happens when the vehicle has been in operation for a few miles. A scan of the failure code from the engine returned p0340 which implies camshaft position sensor circuit problem. Checking the internet I find that the manufacturer recalled this model for a bad solder on the camshaft position sensor electronic circuit board in 2003, but the dealer never informed me when I purchased the car. My vehicle has only 55000 miles. The dealer claims that just because there was a recall does not mean that every car from that model year will be fixed. This is a serious safety issue. You can check on the internet regarding issues with 2003 nissan maxima and you will see rampant problem and operational safety hazard with this specific camshaft sensor component. *tr
While driving at approx 30 MPH, the car shut off as my child and I were coming to a stoplight. I had no problem restarting and encountered this same problem 4 more times during my trip, including failure to idle. Check engine light never came on. Next time, I was driving approx 45 MPH and the car shut off and it tried restarting itself while I was trying to find a safe place to pull over. The car restarted again no problem. Then as my husband and I were driving at approx. 60 MPH the car began to lurch (stopping and attempting to start again by itself). Pulled off the road and was able to restart the car, all of these instances no check engine light. Lastly, I was unable to start the car after parking it away from home and it was acting like it was "flooded". After 20 minutes of attempted starting, it finally took and I drove home on the back roads. After several attempts at home to recreate the no start problem, the check engine light is finally on! At this point, I'm not driving this vehicle until we have the bank 2 camshaft position sensor replaced. We ran a code reader and got a p0345 code. Nissan has a recall on this year…
Also reported on the 2003 Nissan Maxima
Other engine problem
Other lighting problem
Other electrical problem
Airbag inflator rupture
No-start or intermittent start failure
Other body or interior problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 10 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does engine sensor failure happen on the 2003 Nissan Maxima?
Across 10 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 95,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 70,000 miles and a quarter after 120,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is engine sensor failure on the 2003 Nissan Maxima?
10 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.2 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed