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Nissan Maxima Maintenance and Repair

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Comments

  • actionjactionj Member Posts: 1
    I have a 97 maxima and i drove home from work and it was fine but when i went to start it up again it would not start. So i got out my ohm reader to check the battery and my battery is full of life. it seems like something draining the battery because all of my lights are dim. whats going on with this thing?
  • dmaljunkdmaljunk Member Posts: 160
    try cleaning the battery terminals, they oxidize. Take the wires off, clean everything and screw wires back on.
  • nickadams24nickadams24 Member Posts: 1
    I have a '98 Maxima with 196000 kms. all of the lights surge wether it is under load or not. i have cleaned the battery terminals and coated them in dielectric grease. my fear is that it is a bad ground. is this a common problem for this car? PLEASE HELP
  • majikmajik Member Posts: 1
    I recently purchased a 1990 Nissan Maxima SE for $500 and after putting a healthy $1000 into it, it is running...roughly but actually not that bad. However, when the guy sold it to me, he explained that he had an issue with a fuse blowing and the car not starting. Last night was the first night driving the car, and it died on me and wouldn't start. Luckly my friends helped me get the car to his garage, and we discussed it and he checked the fuse this morning and it was blown again...Anyone with any ideas what could be causing this 10 amp fuse to blow while driving? Do I need a new fuel pump relay? New Engine Computer? Stack of 10 amp fuses? Overall the car is in nice shape for a $500 car, and I would like to figure out this problem and drive it for a few years. Any assistance is appreciated.
  • dmaljunkdmaljunk Member Posts: 160
    My driver side window sqeeks when it's dry. It's fine when it's raining. I am thinking that the rubber edge needs to be lubricated. Any suggestions what to use as lubricant?
  • slowdiveslowdive Member Posts: 2
    hi dale-
    i am having the same problem with my 2000 maxima. Did you ever get it resoved???

    thanks
  • dianew1dianew1 Member Posts: 1
    My son may have pulled up too hard on the emergency brake handle of our Nissan Maxima. Now we cannot get the emergency brake handle to go down. The release button on top just won't press in to release it. Any suggestions?
  • canddmeyercanddmeyer Member Posts: 410
    Hmmmm.....my reply disappeared, so here I go again. Pull up while releasing the brake. It should (easily) release. Good luck.
  • slowdiveslowdive Member Posts: 2
    hi -
    my maxima 2000 se standard stalls when i pull it out of gear and into nuetral - but not all the time!

    it never does it if i have the Air Conditioning on.

    It happens mostly in the morning or when the car has just warmed up.

    It seems like the idle is a little low.

    It seems that the whatever controls the idle isnt catching it after i pull it out of gear, the rpm drops very low and recovers or just stalls out.

    also, i need to find a honest mechanic in the orlando area!

    thanks for your help!
  • mj9981mj9981 Member Posts: 11
    Mine does the same. Get some dry lubricate.
  • iluvmartyiluvmarty Member Posts: 1
    I just purchased a 2007 Maxima. I'm trying to figure out if it's possible to make the doors lock when I place the car in/out of gear. Does anyone know how to do it??
  • mbrown4mbrown4 Member Posts: 1
    I have a 92 Nissan Maxima. Sunday night it started making a awful noise, sounded like metal scraping asphalt under the front of the car. I had been driving it earlier so I have no idea where it came from. It started at turning the car on and the whole 2 miles home. the slower I drove the more noticible the noise, scratching horrible loud noise. I parked and looked under the car, nothing was hanging down or abnormal. I decided to try to start it in the morning to see if the noise persisted, and it did upon trying to back out so I just parked it and it is sitting.
    Any suggestions? does this sound normal to anyone?
    Thanks.
  • biancarbiancar Member Posts: 965
    What is dry lubricant? (lubricate??)

    My driver's side window does the same thing, very annoying squeek.
  • fcostellofcostello Member Posts: 3
    I just leased a 06 Max SE, Demo with 7900k on Aug 8, 06. Last week (9/10), my check engine light came on. Called the dealer,the told me to make a appt for service. Went, and told me they are going to have to get me a rental, because they need to replace a part-some type of converter, and the mechanic does not want me to drive the car. They say something to do with the sensors if I continued to drive. I told them I don't want the car, there was another demo on lot, 06 Se with 5000k. I leased the car through Nissan Motor Corp., but have not made a payment. The dealer told me that I would have to terminate my current lease. Any thoughts.....
  • everclear806everclear806 Member Posts: 7
    Hey I have a '01 maxima and i had the same problem with the window squeaking. I had some body work done on the door and I asked the body man to look at it. when I picked up the car, the noise was gone and he said that the window tracks get dry inside the door...not the rubber edge as I suspected. He said all he did was squirt some lubricant on the metal track and the noise went away. Its been 3 months and the window is still quiet.
  • everclear806everclear806 Member Posts: 7
    IM sure you have gotten it fixed by now but my 2001 did the same thing, battery light and brake light came on and eventually the car died...unfortunately i was 2 hours away from home on a saturday night. I had it looked at the next day at firestone and they condemned the alternator. $525 later i was back on the road and no problems since.
  • everclear806everclear806 Member Posts: 7
    Alot of times when i start my '01 Maxima, when i shift into drive, it doesnt seem to go in right away. When the symptoms are present, it feels kinda like its im driving a manual and the clutch hasnt fully engaged, but after a few secs its fine. Any suggestions or has anyone else run into this?
  • mj9981mj9981 Member Posts: 11
    You want a lubricant that has no oil residue. Check around and see if you can find a spray on silicon that dries clear. If you spray WD-40 and such on your seal, it will stop squealing but will leave and oil film on your windows when they go up.
  • lansdalelansdale Member Posts: 7
    Hello, I was wondering if you ever got your car fixed. My Nissan Maxima 93 had the exact same problem. It took about 6 months but the Nissan dealership told us it was the Engine coolant Temp. sensor and the O2 sensors that were bad. so far, it is working a ok.
  • lansdalelansdale Member Posts: 7
    I have a question that a few of us are arguing about. Will a bad O2 sensor make the gas mileage bad? I have a 93 Nissan Maxima. We just had the Engine cooland Temp. sensor replaced because it was stalling and surging really bad. They told us that the O2 sensor was bad also. Any more ideas or thoughts on this? :confuse:
  • everclear806everclear806 Member Posts: 7
    the O2 sensors can directly affect the gas mileage, but they generally will not cause a stalling or surging problem. Did the CTS take care of that?
  • dannylevindannylevin Member Posts: 1
    I'm having the same kind of problem started doing it tonight. If you find out any thing please let me know. To me it sounds like the shifter cable but I'm just not sure. My shifter just wont shift i have to wiggle it a bunch of times and then it will go out of park.
  • biancarbiancar Member Posts: 965
    Is spraying this lubricant on something that I can do without taking the door apart? If so, where do I spray it?

    Sorry to sound like such a dolt. I'm one of those who usually takes the car to a mechanic or the dealer for whatever is needed.
  • lansdalelansdale Member Posts: 7
    Well, I figured it did. Its not stalling anymore or surging like it was. It's surging a very little bit when sitting still. We are having the O2 sensor replaced this week. Then if it doesn't work back to the dealership it goes. :confuse:
  • everclear806everclear806 Member Posts: 7
    its gonna be on the front side of the window, thats where mine was squeaking...the guy told me he sprayed some "watered-down"
    Armor All down the window track and that apparently took care of it. Probably best to do it with the window all the way down and apply it to the front side of the window edge and just let it run down.
  • dmaljunkdmaljunk Member Posts: 160
    nothing wrong with getting the parts replaced, it's a lease, you are covered all the way even if it breaks again. But if you want to foce the dealer to replace the car then look into the lemon law for your state. Generally if you get a car with excessive issues then lemon law could apply.
  • dmaljunkdmaljunk Member Posts: 160
    I saw many questions on O2 sensors so I figured I'd put in my 5 cents. O2 sensor measures the amount of oxygen in your exhaust and depending on that amount it determines if your gas-to-air mixture is lean or rich. The mixture will never be perfect and the the O2 sensor will send a signal to the computer to increase or decrease the amount of injected gas to bring it as close to perfect as possible. This happens many times per second and a good O2 sensor will make the computer constantly switch from lean to rich so that in the long run you get close to perfect mixture. So, yes, bad O2 sensor will cause an incorrect amount of gas to be injected, most likely more then necessary. A non working O2 sensor actually causes your car to go into the closed loop and the most gas is burned. O2 sensors start operating at high temperatures and therefore they don't work when you start the car in the morning. This is why you get high rpms in the morning until the car worms up and starts using the O2 sensor.
  • mindless06795mindless06795 Member Posts: 1
    Hello, I have a 2000 Nissan Maxima Se. Very Recently the clutch start to feel very spongy. Now, when pressed it will not come all the way back without me pulling it up. And when fully depressed it is hard to get the car in gear.
    Does anyone know what this might be?
    Thank you.
  • ccmbduong1ccmbduong1 Member Posts: 49
    I know that premium grade is recommended, but not required. I've been using mid-grade (between premium & regular) for over a year now and it's been running fine. I am thinking about switching it to regular grade since it's a 10-yr old car now. Any pros and cons? BTW, my friend at work has a '96 Maxima and he has almost 300K miles , amazing engine... According to him, nothing major has been done to his car
  • ray_h1ray_h1 Member Posts: 1,134
    Wait until you're low on fuel and then pump in about half a tankful of 87 pump octane regular grade. Several miles should tell you whether the motor will ping on the cheap juice. (On a high mileage car, it might because of carbon build-up on combustion chamber surfaces.) If no pinging occurs under heavy load, you're good to go - the knock sensors are telling the ECM to dial back ignition advance enough to avoid damaging pre-ignition. All you give up are single digit amounts of top end power which is unlikely to be noticeable unless you drive competitively or haul heavy loads. However, if you do hear staccato pinging (sounds kinda like marbles bouncing around in an empty tin can - more intense when you floor the accelerator), fill the tank up the rest of the way with 91 octane unleaded premium. The mix will effectively end up close to 89 pump octane mid-grade. Thereafter, stick 89 pump octane mid-grade.
  • poetic1poetic1 Member Posts: 2
    I have a 2005 Maxima that I purchased brand new about a year ago. I have really enjoyed the car and the service that I have been receiving from the service area at the local dealership dispite the constant vibration I have been having. I have had all of my scheduled maintenance performed on the car with no problems. I have about 18K miles on the car and about a month ago all hell broke loose. My brake light and battery light came on and would not go off. The TCS off light, slip light, ABS light also came on and sporadically came off and on during driving. I have taken the car in several times to have the car worked on by Nissan technicians with no result. They have replaced several parts on the car that did not need to be replaced as the Nissan Engineers instructed the service technician to do so when trouble shooting. The gauge board was replaced and they said that this would fix the initial problems. Well it did not fix it. So I take it back in 1 day later and they keep the car a couple more days and then they say Oh the alternator has to be replaced. I'm thinking on a practically brand new car. Once that was replaced that fixed the battery and brake light problem. I went to pick up the car and the same day the TCS off light, Slip light, ABS light and the Brake light continued to come back on and remain on. So I take the car back to the shop the very next day and they have to keep the car about 3 more days and then they tell me the Control Amp has to be replaced in order to fix the problem. They perform the work and then I go to pick the car and not 5 minutes later after I leave the dealership/service area all the lights come back on. I immediately turn around so that I can show them the lights are back on. So now have my car, which they have stated, they need to keep for another week or so. As stated by the service advisor the technicians have been on the phone constantly with the Nissan Engineers and they state that now the Wiring Harness that needs to be replace in order to fix the problem. I am so frustrated that I literally pulling my hair out. So my next step I have to complain and voice my concerns with NissanUSA Consumer Relations and expressed that I purchased a brand new car with the expectations that I would not have all these problems. My thing is that my car will never be the same now that all of these major parts have been replaced and several parts, which did not even need to be replaced. I thinking about if I keep this car what other problems will I have later that are a result of the current problems I am having with the car after the manufactures warranty has expired. I advised them that I want the car I paid for and obviously it is not the one that has been in and out of the shop. I am pulling my hair about this because my car will never be the same and when it gets to the point that anything wiring has to be replaced I am seriously worried. So I asked that NissanUSA replace my car with a new car. Which I am awaiting for a response. I'm in NC so I may need to pursue the lemon law on this with the dealer. If anyone can provide me any advise or elaborate more I would really appreciate it.

    Thank you, :lemon:
  • drhagenmayerdrhagenmayer Member Posts: 11
    My service engine light came on and I took it to Autozone to have them read the code. They said it was a Electronic Level Control (ELC) error and didn't know what the fix was for this. I don't have ELC on this car. Any suggestions?
  • dmaljunkdmaljunk Member Posts: 160
    This wording is wrong, may be electronically controlled engine mount? Each error has a code associated with it. I would go back and ask them to scan again and give you the actual code.
  • ggillieggillie Member Posts: 1
    I've got a 1997 Nissan Maxima with 170,000 miles and I've loved it since the day I got it, but recently, I took the car on a cross country trip and encountered some problems along the way. About 200 miles or so into the trip, my check engine light came on and the car began to run a bit rough. I was able to limp it a few miles down the road to an Autozone where it was diagnosed that there was a misfire on the number 1 cylinder. I took off the coil pack (which came out in pieces... had to be replaced) and soon found that the spark plug inside was covered in oil as was the lower portion of the coil pack. The spark plug had broken somewhere in the middle, leaving the ceramic portion still firmly attached to the engine. When I finally removed the spark plug I had two pieces with a third piece lost into the engine. Here's what I had: the ceramic piece attached to the threading, the top metal piece that makes contact with the coil pack (which could easily be removed from the ceramic) and the tip of spark plug was lost. All that being said, I was able to replace the plug and coil pack and then get back on the road for another 800 miles without any problems, but now a month later, I was doing some routine maintenance (plugs, air filter, pcv valve, etc.) and I realized that there was again a large amount of oil on top of and surrounding the spark plug, but this time, the spark plug was intact. My question is why in the world is there a buildup of oil. The coilpack was submerged in oil and frankly, I'm surprised that the car is still running okay. Any ideas???
  • redhead4redhead4 Member Posts: 16
    My 2000 Maxima SE (95K miles) has recently started to make a scraping noise when turning right in parking garages etc...
    I have been unable to find anything that may be hanging down for the wheel to rub against. Are there any known causes for this?
  • just_philjust_phil Member Posts: 86
    Go to groups.google.com and search for 'maxima oil in spark plug chamber'. Click on the first item in the list, it contains a pretty good description of what's going on.
  • poetic1poetic1 Member Posts: 2
    I had the same problem on my 2005 Maxima and I had to have the alternator replaced as requested by the Nissan Engineers during trouble shooting steps with the technician at the dealership. So you may want to take it in to be sure.
  • siridrissiridris Member Posts: 3
    I just purchased a 2006 Maxima SE, brand new. Driving home I felt a vibration in the steering wheel. It happens at various speeds and on various surfaces. I'm going in on Monday to the dealer to try and have the issue addressed. I was told that it could be that the wheels need to be balanced or the rack needs to be tightened. Does anyone think this will fix the problem? Are there other questions/issues I need to ask/raise while I'm there?
  • doiturslfdoiturslf Member Posts: 3
    Wonder if this is a known problem (my car is a 95 SE).

    When I use the key fob remote to open the doors, they often relock themselves a second later. It happens right after the second button push to open all four doors. I don't thonk it happens when I do a single push to open the driver's door. I do think it has happened when a door is slammed closed (after all four are unlocked).

    Anyone dealt with this before?
    Thanks.
  • dmaljunkdmaljunk Member Posts: 160
    I saw some comments from people who had hood bras on late model Maximas and that caused vibrations on highway...
  • ebonydiamonzebonydiamonz Member Posts: 2
    how do I fix windows that wont go down on a 95' Nissan Maxima....Its just the psnger side and 2back windows that are not working ......driver side works just fine.... what could be the problem?
  • ebonydiamonzebonydiamonz Member Posts: 2
    how do i disconnect an after market alarm off of a 95' Maxima .......how do i completely take it out!!! :confuse: :mad:
  • dmaljunkdmaljunk Member Posts: 160
    Hi, I know that 2000 Maxima doesn't have a replaceable transmission filter and it's supposedly a metal screen. The trans fluid can be drained just like oil through a single plug on the buttom of the pan. I saw that part stores carry a transmission filter kit for this car. Anyone knows if the transmission filter can/should be replaced or may be it could be cleaned if I remove the transmission pan?
  • puchatekpuchatek Member Posts: 1
    I have 2005 Maxima. I bought it brand new and after some time it stared to get a vibration while driving over 65 mph. Nobody from service dept. knows what is causing this vibration. They have checked everything, wheels, steering, the whole suspension. I even had rims replaced lately hoping this would solve the problem. Had anyone have the same problem and knows what might cause the vibration? I am desperate since I have been trying to have this problem fixed for over 4 months already...
  • bellorushabellorusha Member Posts: 10
    do you have steering wheel locks? take it off and you have no problem. i had the same problem for 2 years and nobody knew what was the problem.
  • mj2000maxsemj2000maxse Member Posts: 3
    You can only mess up the starter by doing that but it has to be over time. If you keep doing it. Once or twice is not a problem. Just try not to do it again or else the starter may go bad.
  • wbenedictwbenedict Member Posts: 27
    I've got an 04 SL and just in the last month, a vibration started. I had to drive to North Jersey for work. In the am, no problems. In the pm driving home at about 80 on the NJ turnpike, I started hearing/feeling a vibration sound. For about 30 minutes I had no idea where it was coming from. Finally, I noticed that my hood was the thing that was vibrating. I pulled over at the next rest stop and found that the hood was secure but on the driver's side of the grill, the hood had a larger gap than on the passenger side. I guess at higher speeds air is getting up under the hood causing it to vibrate. Since this happened, any time I get over 65 I have the same vibration. Unfortunately, the warranty period just ended. Any thoughts on how to fix?
  • niurouniurou Member Posts: 1
    I just got a 1995 nissan Maxima, the check light is on, so I asked a guy who works at Acura to check it with computer.
    There were three problem code, 1. P0115 Collant Temp Sensor Prob 2. P0325 Knock sensor Problem 3. TCM-ECM coummunication Line Prob. That guy told me the first and second prob was not a big issue, but the third prob he was not very sure. So does anyone here has that problem? How do you deal with it? Thanks a lot
  • dahuberdahuber Member Posts: 53
    You are right about the metal screen. When I changed the oil and filter on our 2001 Maxima, the metal screen looked really clean. I changed it anyway since I had the pan down, but you could just flush it under the sink and reinstall.

    I'll probably change the screen with every other trans fluid change in the future and save the $25 for something else.
  • mikel9mikel9 Member Posts: 5
    the same thing happened to me yesterday. i changed the battery and the lights were still on and then went out and came back on. i noticed on one of the terminals that there was a lot of corrosion could that be the problem? :confuse:
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