Nissan Altima 2019–present · Maintenance schedule & cost to maintain

Nissan's oil control system sets this, not a fixed number. The normal schedule runs 10,000 miles/12 months, and the book's own fallback if the indicator quits is 5,000 miles or 6 months. Match two or more items on Nissan's severe list (short trips, stop-and-go, dust, salt roads) and 5,000 is your number. 0W-20 full synthetic, 5-3/8 US quarts with the filter.

The VC-Turbo is not the 2.5 with a turbo on it. Nissan names Genuine NISSAN Motor Oil Ester 5W-30 for this engine, not the 2.5's 0W-20, it takes 5 US quarts with the filter, and it runs a 7,500-mile normal interval with a 3,750-mile fallback if the oil indicator quits. Every one of those numbers is shorter or dearer than the 2.5's.

Brake fluid is one of only five items Nissan puts in this car's severe-conditions table, and the severe number is half the normal one: every 10,000 miles/12 months on the 2.5 against 20,000 normal, and every 7,500 miles/12 months on the VC-Turbo against 15,000. Fluid pulls moisture out of the air whether you drive or not, so the calendar half of that pairing matters as much as the odometer. City commuting, hills or a hot climate put you on the short number by Nissan's own definition.

AWD was optional across this generation and it adds two fluids the front-drive cars do not have. Nissan's normal schedule only inspects them every 10,000 miles, but the severe column says to change, not just inspect, both at every 20,000 miles/24 months. The trigger Nissan names is a car-top carrier or driving on rough or muddy roads. The spec is Genuine NISSAN Differential Oil Hypoid Super GL-5 80W-90 or an equivalent conventional (non-synthetic) oil. Front-drive owners skip this line entirely.

Every 30,000 miles, identical on the 2.5 and the VC-Turbo, in all six model-year books. This is one of the few items where Nissan publishes no separate severe mileage at all: the only qualifier printed next to it is that if you operate mainly in dusty conditions, more frequent maintenance may be required. So no number to default to, just a judgment call. If you live on gravel or in farm country, halve it; if you commute on pavement, 30,000 is honestly the number.

One accessory belt, and Nissan's instruction is to replace it only if the inspection turns up a problem. The 2019 and 2020 books say it plainly: after 40,000 miles/48 months on the 2.5, inspect every 10,000 miles/12 months, and replace the drive belts if found damaged. The turbo's clock starts earlier, at 30,000 miles/48 months, then every 7,500. The general-maintenance page tells you what "damaged" means: frayed, worn, cracked or oily. A shop quoting a belt by mileage alone is ahead of the book.

Nissan's normal schedule never calls for a CVT fluid change on this generation. It inspects the fluid, and that is all. The change lives in the severe column, at 60,000 miles for both engines and again at 120,000 on the 2.5. The 2019 and 2020 books word it as an either-or: inspect the fluid every 60,000 miles and change if necessary, and if the inspection is not performed, change it every 60,000 miles regardless. Given this transmission's record on 2019 and 2020 cars, take the change and keep the receipt.

Nissan publishes no replacement mileage for struts or shocks. The only mention of them in the whole owner's manual is a warning not to fit suspension parts Nissan does not recommend, and not to run extremely deteriorated ones, because the stability control can stop working properly. Real-world replacement on this car clusters around 85,000 to 125,000 miles, pulled down to roughly 70,000 to 95,000 by hard urban driving and potholes. Worn struts let the tire patch skip and scallop, so if you are burning through tires faster than expected, check these before blaming the alignment. Budget the alignment that has to follow.

Nissan does schedule this one, as an inspection. Drive shaft boots get checked every 10,000 miles on the 2.5 and 7,500 on the turbo normally, and every 5,000 or 3,750 miles under severe conditions, with AWD cars adding a propeller shaft check on the same clock. Boots themselves typically run 70,000 to 130,000 miles. Catching a split boot early is the whole game: the grease it flings lands on the inner wheel and rotor and can contaminate the front pads above, turning a boot job into a pad job. Clicking on sharp turns means you already waited too long.

No Nissan interval exists for these either. Expect roughly 70,000 to 120,000 miles on decent roads, less on rough or salted ones, and note that age matters independently of mileage, so a low-mileage eight-year-old car is still a candidate. The tell is an alignment that will not hold: worn bushings let the wheel move out of its designed geometry under load, so the car drifts back out of spec within weeks of a fresh alignment. Clunking over bumps and vague steering ride along with it. On this generation the parts are cheap and the labor is most of the bill.

Nissan prints nothing about mounts anywhere in these books, and they are still a routine shop replacement on a car this age. Rubber and hydraulic mounts soften with heat, age and torque load, with typical replacement running 80,000 to 150,000 miles and arriving sooner on the 248-hp VC-Turbo and on stop-and-go duty. The symptoms an owner actually notices are a clunk shifting into drive or reverse, a shake at idle in gear, and the engine lurching under throttle. Replace a torn mount and you are done; leave it and the engine's extra movement works on the exhaust flex joint, hoses and harnesses next to it, so the second bill is bigger than the first.

Every model year and both engines land on the same number: replace every 105,000 miles (168,000 km), and the VC-Turbo's books add "or 168 months" to it. The 2.5's are iridium-tipped. No severe-schedule alternative is published for plugs, so this is one line where Nissan's normal number is the number. Both engines are direct-injection, so a set is also a sensible time to talk about intake-valve carbon, which the case file's problem list already covers.

Nissan's footnote is specific and it is the same in all six books: first replacement at 105,000 miles (168,000 km) or 84 months, then every 75,000 miles (120,000 km) or 60 months after that. Note which arrives first on a normal commute, because 84 months is seven years and most of these cars hit that long before the mileage. The fill is pre-diluted Genuine NISSAN Long Life Antifreeze/Coolant, the blue one, at about 8.3 litres (2-1/4 US gallons) on the 2.5 and 8.2 on the turbo.

Not a scheduled mileage item on this car. Nissan's trigger is symptom-based: if the vehicle pulls to either side on a straight, level road, or you find uneven or abnormal tire wear, there may be a need for alignment. Add the events that always earn one, new tires and any suspension work, plus a yearly check. Nissan also names alignment directly in its tire-wear advice, telling you to have tire pressure and wheel alignment checked and corrected when excessive wear shows up. A four-wheel alignment runs about $100 to $200 at an independent shop.

A mid-size commuter sedan wants a good all-season tire; there is no off-road case to justify anything chunkier, and the only thing a mismatch buys is worse wet grip and shorter tread life. Size drives the bill here more than on most cars: S trims run 215/60R16, SV and SL 215/55R17, and SR, Platinum and the 2.0 SR sit on 235/40R19. Expect roughly $370 to $900 for four installed on a sedan, with the 19s at the top of that and beyond. Get an alignment when the new set goes on or you have part-paid for tread you will scrub off.

This is a repeat service, not a one-off. Nissan's 2.5 schedule puts the severe-column CVT fluid change at 60,000 and again at 120,000 miles, then says to continue at the same mileage and time intervals past 120,000, so the clock simply keeps running. The VC-Turbo's schedule stops printing at 90,000 miles and carries the same instruction to keep repeating. Past 150,000 miles on a Nissan CVT, the fluid is the cheapest thing standing between you and a four-figure repair.

Every 75,000 miles or 60 months after that first 105,000-mile change, so the second service lands near 180,000 miles or five years later, whichever comes first. On a car this age the calendar almost always calls it. Same blue pre-diluted Genuine NISSAN coolant, same warning about mixing types. Coolant that keeps needing topping up is a leak to trace, not a fluid to add.