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Also, what exactly is "break in" time and what should I be doing/not doing? Forgive my ignorance. I've never had a brand new car before! And how often should you wax your car? I never waxed my old Toyota ('90), but I want to keep the new grey Max looking spiffy.
Thanks for your help. Jeanne
Also, a dealership from Lynnfield MA. told me that it is absolutely NOT necessary to use premium unleaded gasoline this is contrary to what is recommended. What are most Maxima users using for octane in their NEW cars.?
-B
when the lock up final drive comes in at about
45mph.The dealer says they never came across it
before.I have a 1995 SLE model.Thank You
Interesting to hear you say this about your new GXE because I also have experienced this. My 2001 GXE is three months old and the first time I washed it, I was very disappointed to see paint chipped in three spots. I figured it was from people hitting the car or from gravel that had been kicked up while driving. So, you are not alone in this...Mine is the Sterling Mist. What color is yours?
Witt
Now does anyone know what the cause of the vibration might be? If it is the lug nuts, and if I correct the problem now, is there a possibility that I have already damaged the rotors?
Any response will be appreciated.
About color - I have the frost interior, and have to admit the lower part of it does show shoe scuffs and so on probably more than the black would. I live further south though and can't stand the idea of a black interior in the summer. In Massachusetts you might want the exact opposite! Surely the dealer would have enough cars on the lot that he could show you what both interiors look like, even if it's not the exterior color that you want?
Whatever you buy, I think you'll enoy the Maxima. Good bargains to be had on price right now too.
any solutions?
i heard that they could be the bushings in the suspension joints and so on.
i'm debating if i should keep the car or get rid of it. its still very reliable and drives good except the bumpy ride lately.
car still running on original battery since july 1994 as a 95model and the above indicated kms.
Does any one know which aftermarket 6-CD changer works with the 01 Maxima GLE? I know Honda head units work with Alpine, but I don't know which brand matches Nissan.
It would be very helpful if you could tell me the brand and model number.
Thanks!
Dealer has aligned it twice, and gives me a Factory handout about road crown causing pulling to the right. All the other cars I drive also pull to the right but not nearly as much, the Hondas seem to go where you point them, same for my camry and most rental cars.
Dealer says only "toe" is adjustable - is this true I though camber caused pulling?
- do maximas have caster and camber adjustments?
Seemed odd the dealer had a handout on road crown - like maybe they get a lot of complaints.
Anyone else had this problem/
thanks.
I think the problem is in the rear alignment. Basically, I have a fairly large negative thrust angle, and I believe the main reason for this is that I have a toe in on the right rear wheel, and a toe out on the left rear wheel. Both values are just within the specification limits – but only just. However I’d rather have toe out on both rear wheels or better still – a toe in on both of them. The pull to the right is particularly exaggerated under acceleration, when both rear wheels experience more load.
Unfortunately, there is no easy way of adjusting the rear toe.
Right now all camber, caster and toe settings are within their limits, and this is as far as most dealerships will go to adjust the alignment. The car still pulls to the right, though. I believe a good alignment specialist may be able to fix this by adjusting the toe on the front wheels, even if that means setting the front toe out of specification.
I am mostly speculating here – I am not a mechanic.
And I also believe that decent alignment job may help, but I didn't succeed to find a good specialist to do that.
In my case I believe it is camber on front and rear, which is inside specification brackets, but not equal between left and right. That is, I have more negative camber on left front then on right front, and vise versa in the rear. And yea, only toe-in is adjustable, not camber (at least, without some special quirks).
The few times on other car I had any alignment problem, I had it aligned and the problem went away.
Angles are commonly described as positive or negative, not left and right.
If you stand behind the vehicle and imagine the thrust line vector pointing forward, then if it points to the left of the centerline, then you have a negative thrust angle. (And conversely for a positive thrust angle). If the centerline and the thrust line coincide then you have a thrust angle of 0. (Hope this helps, as I have no way of drawing a diagram.)
I am aware of torque steer, and I can actually experience torque steer under very hard acceleration. Then I have a pull the left not right.
Under slow to moderate acceleration the torque steer is negligible, and I get a pull to the right - again - I believe because of my negative thrust angle.
As the rear toe is not adjustable on the Maxima, the only other way to adjust the thrust angle is to adjust the centerline, which would imply adjusting the front alignment.
Btw, the Bear and Hunter machines which I use daily in the motive power dep't of the college I work at do NOT refer to rear thrust angles as positive or negative, but left and right. Most other angles such as camber, caster, SAI, included angle, toe out on turns, etc, are referred to as positive or negative degrees and/or minutes. Setback is in inches.
Have you looked into aftermarket rear adjustment kits? Not familiar offhand with the Maxima rear suspension but shim kits, eccentric bushings, etc are available for many makes. Recently had to install rear camber adjustment offset lower arm bushings in my Taurus to correct the -3 degree camber which was, obviously, eating the inner edges of the tires.
I think positive/negative is more confusing then left/right (for thrust angle) or in/out (for toe). But whether you call it negative thrust angle of left thrust angle you still have to be able to quantify it. If you measure the angle between two intersecting lines (e.g. centerline and thrust line) in degrees, then I know exactly what you are talking about; on the other hand if you measure it in inches, then you have to specify how far away from the point of intersection you take your measurements. I guess there is some implicit standard when it comes to measuring vehicle toe, thrust angle, etc.
Anyway, my right rear wheel points in (toe in), my left rear wheel points out (toe out) – so my rear end has a tendency to go left and therefore push the front of the car right. I have a substantial negative/left thrust angle.
The Maxima has a non-adjustable rear toe, so I think that I can align the front wheels to fix the thrust angle – I probably need left front toe out, and right front toe in. (In any case the total front toe should be in.) Then the car will go slightly sideways but will not pull to the right.
The idea of adjusting the front suspension in order to correct the thrust angle of a car that has a non-adjustable rear suspension can be found if you go to this site, for instance:
http://www.gemini.goodyear.com/education/walignment.html
Nissan acknowledges some of the problem through a service bulletin and they recommend first replacing the solenoid, which the dealer did and nothing changed, so then they replaced the transmission control module, which also did not correct the problem.
I am at my wits end and don't know what to do. The service manager is going to have a technician ride with me Monday to check it out, but they have offered no further advice.
Anyone have any similar experiences?
This poor car has only 3,100 miles on it, already has paint chipped in four spots, had rust all around the trunk from shards of metal left over from the spoiler being installed, has started hard at least 40 times (meaning it takes at least three tries to start it) and is making a weird clunking sound when I turn corners.
Do I have a lemon on my hands?
Seriously--I am so heart broken over this.
I don't mean to whine, but my level of frustration is increasing to the point that I am truly considering selling or trading in this car, even though I love its comfort and know that financially I will take a beating to get rid it.
Any advice?
Re torque steer, a large number of fwd vehicles have an offset differential, resulting in unequal length half shafts. It's not the length difference of the shafts as much as the unequal CV joint angles that generates torque steer. Typically, manufacturers compensate by using a solid short shaft which will "wind up" a certain amount, and a tubular long shaft which doesn't. Other strategies include an intermediate shaft and outer hanger bearing on the long side, with both halfshafts now at equal length and angles (Chrysler with higher torque engines), and a built in differential extension on one side of the transaxle which accomplishes the same thing (several GM models). Take a quick look under yours and see which side the diff's on, and halfshaft types.
In any event, good luck with it and rotate the tires regularly. :-)
the factory tsb says the pull can come from the rack having unequal friction right to left. The TSB says take off the tie rod ends, start engine, run it a little , stop engine, and use a spring scale to measure the pull required to move the rack right, then pull it out left and measure that. If unequal, within some range you adjust it.
How common is this rack problem?
edwardh5, now I am thinking - maybe my problem is in the rack having unequal friction right to left, as you described above. Could you please post the TSB, so that I can check this with my dealer? Thanks.
I meant wheel rotation. Sorry.
you can request it from the nhtsa.gov agency though.
My problem is not torque steer. and its not tires, as I have done several tire rotations and it does it no matter which tire is where.
That leaves brake drag and alignment.
My guess is that there is some generic problem and due to Nissans poor financial shape last year (tho getting better now) they have told the dealers to stiff people on warranty problems to save money. I too have driven demo/loaner cars (Infiniti gives you a loaner) and they don't pull.
There's TSBs out on both the front end noise (others report strut replacement fixes it) and the 5 speed problem shifting problem. All us 5 speed drivers have the same issue in varying degrees (lurching in low gears, engine revs when shifting, etc). Check the M&R forum for Nissan 5 speed problems. This TSB involves reprogramming the engine computer, not parts replacement. If your car is an automatic, there's a TSB out that fixes the problem on the automatics as well. Check with the regular Maxima forum, maxima.org or the NHTSA web site for the TSB numbers since you may have to enlighten your dealer.
As to the rust problem -- I assume that's a dealer installed spoiler. You'll have to take it up with him. (But that's one reason I didn't have a dealer installed spoiler on my GXE).
Walter
Sterling w/ black leather.I'll use the premium gas as you recommended for better performance.
I'va already waxed it and put a "protection" on the dash surface. Love it... a real eye catcher. I'll say you live a little "south" of Boston MA. ( in Virginia!!)
Don
I went to Kelly Nissan in Lynnfield MA. The salesman's name was John Pashby and I was treated
very well.
I checked at Quirk in Braintree but in the long run they didn't come through with as good of a deal that I got at Kelly of Lynnfield. Here's the number 781-598-1234. And ask for this salesman. let me know how you made out..Thanks!
After 3 dealer tries to correct a right pull, I took my 99 to a private mechanic who's computer machine said that the rear wheels were in spec, the right front was in spec, but the left front even though in factory spec (which is very wide) varied from the right so much that that was causing the problem of right pull.
How to adjust? His solution which worked, was to grind a very small slot on the strut bolt hole, allowing the needed adjustment.
Car tracks great.
Dealer would not do this and wanted me to put up with the right pull (their thought was: if its inside the spec range you should put up with the pull)
Beware of this at dealers.
Thanks for the help!
recently the gas pedal on the maxima has been reacting weird.
when you press the pedal it will resist. in simple words, the more you press it the harder it gets and the more it resists the applied force.
i'm not sure how exactly gas pedals operate
i doubt that the problem is mechanical (as in
obsticle or bearings and stuff like that).
pump or something? which? your assistance is appreciated.
details
1995 maxima GXE
original owner
187,000kms
great car
relatively problem free
I detached the rearview mirror on my 1997 maxima to glue the glass back in, now i can't seem to get it back on the arm...
there is only 1 screw on the back of the mirror.
any ideas?
thanks
Bill
I would also like to know when my car was actually built. I couldn't find a date on the window sticker. Can I use the VIN to find out the build date of my car?
Thanks, Cus