2004 Nissan Titan

I NOTICED A BUILD UP OF FLUID ON MY DRIVERSIDE BREAK REAR ROTOR AND HUB. WHEN I TOOK IT TO THE SHOP, THEY TOLD ME THAT BOTH REAR SEALS WERE LEAKING ONTO MY BRAKES AND HUBS. I TOOK IT IN TO GET IT FIXED AND WAS QUOTED $700. THEY THEN NOTICED THAT A TSB JUST CAME OUT THAT SAID THAT JUST THE SEALS CANNOT BE REPLACED. THAT THEY NOW ARE REQUIRED TO REPLACE BOTH AXLES, BEARINGS, SEALS, ETC TO FIX THE PROBLEM, AND WOULD BE $2600. THEY EXPLAINED THAT IF I DIDN'T GET IT FIXED MY BRAKES WOULD MALFUNCTION BECAUSE OF THE OF THE THICK BUILD UP OF OIL, AND ULTIMATELY, THERE WOULD BE A CATASTROPHIC FAILURE OF THE REAR AXLE BECAUSE OF THE FLUID LOSS. RENDERING THE VEHICLE USELESS, OR CAUSE OF AN ACCIDENT IF IT HAPPENED WHILE DRIVING. *TT

I HAVE A 2004 NISSAN TITAN. MY REAR AXEL SEALS ARE LEAKING. THIS TRUCK ONLY HAS 85K, AS OF 6/10/11. I RARELY PULL TRAILERS, OR ANY HEAVY LOAD. THIS IS MY DAILY DRIVER. I DO MOSTLY CITY DRIVING. I NOTICED THERE WAS A PROBLEM WHEN MY BRAKES STARTED ACTING UP. EX. I WAS DRIVING NEAR MY HOUSE WHEN, I PRESSED MY BRAKES AND IT ALMOST WENT TO THE FLOOR. IT ALSO KICKED IN THE ABS, WHEN I WAS ONLY DOING ABOUT 10MPH. THE EMERGENCY BRAKE LIGHT CAME ON FLASHING. EVERY TIME I PRESSED THE BRAKE(ONLY TWO TIMES) IT DID THIS. I PULLED OVER AND TURNED THE TRUCK OFF. GOT OUT LOOKED AROUND AND DID NOT SEE ANYTHING WRONG. I GOT BACK IN THE TRUCK AND DROVE STRAIGHT HOME. IT DID NOT DO THIS AGAIN UNTIL ABOUT 15K MILES LATER. I THEN TOOK IT STRAIGHT TO NISSAN AND THEY TOLD ME THIS WAS THE PROBLEM. THEY TOLD ME ONLY ONE WAS BAD. ABOUT A WEEK LATER I PUT THE TRUCK ON A LIFT MYSELF. I NOTICED BOTH WERE LEAKING! I DONT UNDERSTAND WHY THIS WOULD HAPPEN UNLESS IT WAS A MANUFACTURING DEFAULT. THERE IS NEVER A HARD STRAIN ON MY DRIVETRAIN. IT IS 2WD AND MY WORK TRUCK IN THE CITY. I HAVE ALSO READ ON THE FORUMS THAT THIS IS A KNOWN PROBLEM. MY RADIATOR ALSO BUSTED LAST WEEK. UP TILL NOW I HAVE NEVER HAD ANY PROBLEM WITH THIS TRUCK. *TR

FRONT RIGHT TIRE WAS WEARING IRREGULARLY AND WAS INFORMED AT TIRE STORE THAT WHEEL HUB MAY BE WORN AND CAUSING THE PROBLEM. TOOK THE VEHICLE TO THE NISSAN DEALERSHIP AND NOT ONLY WAS WHEEL BEARING ASSEMBLY IDENTIFIED AS AN ISSUE BUT WAS INFORMED THAT FRONT DIFFERENTIAL NEEDED REPLACEMENT (FRONT AXEL PULLING OUT FROM FRONT DIFFERENTIAL) AT COST OF $1755 (ADDITIONAL TO THE $373 TO REPLACE THE FRONT WHEEL HUB ASSEMBLY). THE REAR DIFFERENTIAL ON THIS VEHICLE HAD ALREADY BEEN REPLACED UNDER WARRANTY IN APRIL'08 (BASED ON CLICKING NOISE WHILE DRIVING) WHICH TRIGGERED ME TO RESEARCH THIS DEFECT ON THE INTERNET AND NHTSA WEB SITE AND ASK THE DEALER ABOUT OTHER SIMILAR FAILURES SEEN. I HAVE FOUND NUMEROUS ISSUES WITH THE FRONT AND REAR DIFFERENTIALS REPORTED ON BOTH 2004 AND 2005 TITANS DUE TO WHAT APPEARS TO BE A FAULTY DESIGN THAT WAS LATER CHANGED ON THE 2006 MODEL YEAR. I CALLED NISSAN CUSTOMER AFFAIRS TO OPEN A REQUEST FOR SUPPORT AND WAS INFORMED BASED ON YEARS OF SERVICE AND MILEAGE THEY WOULD DENIED SUPPORTING THIS COMPLAINT, I ESCALATED TO THE NEXT LEVEL OF MANAGEMENT AND WAS AGAIN DENIED ANY SUPPORT. CLEARLY THERE IS AN ISSUE WITH THE DIFFERENTIALS ON THE 2004 TITAN THAT NEEDS TO BE INVESTIGATED SINCE THIS SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED NORMAL WEAR AND TEAR TO REPLACE BOTH DIFFERENTIALS ON THE SAME VEHICLE GIVEN NORMAL HIGHWAY PASSENGER DRIVING (NO OFF ROAD, NO TOWING).