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Thanks for the info! Enjoyed the link!
Darn, I wish we had fixed that slave cylinder at the first sign of slippage!!!
minimus
Here is my situation:
I had a 88 Max. During the first 5 years of driving, I would smell the gas in the cabin on and off. Checked edmunds and there was a TSB out for the fuel valve, but because it did not happened all the time, I just ignored it (not too smart, I know). Then one day it got so bad I brought it in. Found out that the TSB has turned into a recall. Got it fixed for free after 5years.
I got another 2K Max. Now there is a TSB for the ignition coils. The engine knocked all the time. The problem occurs all the time, so I called Nissan and want them to pay for the fix and took it in the dealer. They said my car has 59K on it so too bad, so sad.... I had to pay for the fix.
My point is, if they have a TSB out for a problem, it is for a specific problem. Be it design, manufacture, fabrication problem it's still a problem.
They don't just put a TSB out for regular problem do they? so when an TSB is out, there is a big problem that enough people has experienced. They need to fix the problem and pay for it.
Poor smuck like me had to pay for it until enough people complained about it then they will do a recall and fix for free.
So as far as I am concerned Nissan did a poor job of dealing with customer satisfaction.
BTW, my wife and I have bought 4 Nissan sofar, 88 max, 2K max, 89 Stanza, 03 Murano. And I cosigned my friends to a Nissan Quest and Sentra. After I told the Nissan CSR about all these cars. They still said, too bad, so sad....
At this time, I don't think the next car will be a Nissan at all.
Your car is under warranty and this is a bad situation because Nissan can accuse you of "modifying" the brake system if something goes wrong, and void the warranty. The best bet would be to request that Nissan dealer apply an anti-squeal paste to your brake pads.
One more comment. Nissan used to sell (until recently) two different brake pad types for Maxima. One set was the original replacement set, the other was an economy set, which cost roughly one half of the original replacement pads. When I bought replacement pads for my 98 Maxima recently, Nissan told me that they discontinued the "economy " version of the pads because they had all kinds of squealing and uneven wear problems with them. Just something to consider: could it be that Nissan used similar "economy pads" in the new 04 models? This is one question I would ask. The OEM pads on my 98 Maxima never squealed and the OEM ones I put on recently do not squeal either, and I did not use the anti-squeal paste on them. The OEM pads for the 98 model are a Hitachi brand made in Japan. Would you believe that Nissan actually eliminated a squealer (wear indicator) on one of the pads? So now you have only one squealer on one wheel. Just how much money can they save on one squealer? These pads go for about $ 60 a set. I bought some NAPA brake pads for $ 8 a set that have squealers on both sides. I installed these on my 95 Nissan 4X4 pickup, have about 30K miles on them and they have performed flawlessly so far - good braking and no squealing at all. Go figure.
Maybe one solution to your problem is going to aftermarket brake pads. But there is this pesky warranty issue again. You can suggest this alternative to your Nissan dealer, who will most likly tell you that they cannot use anything but Nissan brake pads for warranty brake problems.
My '93 Max needs some TLC. I believe I have broken some studs in the exhaust manifold... Should I tackle it myself, or is this going to require a torch and several 300 pound men?
Can anyone suggest a good source of discount exhaust parts. I'm guessing when I pull it apart I'm gonna need everything from the manifold back (although the muffler is only 1 1/2 years old).
dklanecky, you had a post mentioning the Nissan service manual (#1517), is this something a slightly above average DIYer could make good use of?
And one last dumb question, my car runs like you-know-what (rough idol, no power, tranny hesitation...), but I can't ever recall the service light coming on. Would it still be worth taking to autozone to see if any codes are stored? It's a '93 so ignition coils can't be the culprit, but I don't know what it has for O2 sensors, MAF, etc.
I don't normally do this sort of thing, but I just went through a lot of the old posts screening for those most relevent and just had to hollar out a general THANK YOU!
And p100, man that tire balancing post was a cold splash of reality!
I haven't been able to isolate the problem though.
I'm sure someone here will have had success fixing such...I hope.
But its not the same working on these cramped engine compartments as it was in my '72 Dodge Dart with the infamous slant 6 (you could crawl inside and shut the hood!). I was trying to avoid the burnt arms, fingers, wiring, etc.
But your probably right, a little burn salve is probably better than a broken exhaust manifold stud ;-)
will I do further damage if i keep driving it? ...I mean ...like another day or two. Long enough to get me to work tomorrow and then to the mechanic?
Seeya
you can find me at gymshoe42@yahoo.com
What's very interesting is...my problems happened last night. This morning, turned the car on and it's running smoothly. SES light is still on solid, but car runs fine now...no shaking. Drove to the gym then to work out ...still no shaking. What the heck is going on?! ..it's like it can't decide if it wants to break down.
red?
or green?
seeya
I believe that if you use tap water in your system, you will get a lot of mineral deposit buildup in time, no matter what kind of coolant you use.
anyway to keep it on?
I recently purchased a 2003 Maxima SE with 15,000 miles also and I noticed the same sort of "popping" noise when I go over bumps. I am having problems with a vibration around 60-65 mph which according to the NISSAN dealer is not related to bad tires, balancing or bad rims. Would it be possible that a defect in the CV joints or shafts are the cause of both problems (popping noise and vibration)?
DD
Howver, the only 2 problems I have so far were my driver window suddenly stuck, it couldn't roll up or down... Just want to know if anyone has same problem? will it come more? (hope not) Not good in winter with icy road! It couldn't move when the road was very icy because its head is too heavy! Now only slight snow, I am ok with it :-)
I wonder if anyone has the same problem, and what is the solution.
Since it doesn't happen all the times, I really don't want to bring this up to the dealer. I'm afraid they gonna tear up the dash, and only to create more creakings and rattlings later on.
Anyone with similar problem and a fix?
Besides this little annoyance, the car has been flawless. I only wish that I had gotten a 330i instead, for the smaller size and a bit more nimbleness. :-(
Ironically, for two straight mornings I saw two different 330i convertibles, all are 2001+ models, left on the side of the same stretch of road w/ their emergency lights blinking. And then I started feeling better about my max again.... :-)
It is in the Automatic Air Conditioner section (ATC-pages 85-94).
As I read through this section, there's a lot of potential problem areas with this system, temp sensors, dual controls, remembered settings, etc.
I'd call the dealer and tell them you specifically want them to run this section to resolve the issue, not just say it's a Nissan, that's BS, IMO.
As you can imagine, the dealer hasn’t call me back with an answer to that one yet!