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Ugh, sorry for the incoming long post, but I didn't want to make a new thread just for this and I could really use some diagnostic help with an ancient 4th gen Maxima that's got some serious issues. This is a family member's car that's been neglected and beat to hell, and I'm trying to help her (cheaply) get it back into more-or-less driveable condition. Odds are it'll be gone within a year, but for now it's being daily driven and that's... not great in its current state. When I got my hands on the car it had no power, was leaking insane amounts of oil, hesitating, and stalling almost any time it came to a stop. It was throwing knock sensor and camshaft position sensor codes. So far, this is what I've done/diagnosed: 1) Checked and replaced the CPS first. The o-ring on this was bad too and it was dumping oil out from around the sensor hole. 2) Replaced the valve cover gaskets, intake manifold gasket, spark plug tube gaskets, and valve cover grommets. This VCGs were the other obvious oil leak. It's probably still leaking oil from somewhere, but it's not losing a noticeable amount anymore. She was losing something like a quart per week before replacing the CPS and VCGs. Blame this car for our dying planet. 3) Did a bunch of maintenance crap: spark plugs, fuel filter, pcv valve, some clearly hosed hoses, air filter. Fuel pressure was very low after the fuel filter; turns out it was the original 19 year old one. Anyway, the car ran much, much better after all of this. I'm pretty sure the fuel filter was the biggest culprit here, but I'm an idiot so maybe not. Spark plugs didn't look too bad for not having been changed in a decade. 4) The belts are all kinds of hosed, probably because the busted CPS o-ring was pissing oil all over them. Getting around to this next. 5) Haven't done the knock sensor yet because it's a pain to get to and I don't think (but maybe I'm wrong?) that it would cause stalling or stumbling. I'm going to pull it out and check it anyway, but I don't want to do that until I have a replacement ready to go. 6) There's an exhaust leak somewhere around the flex pipe that I'm having her take it to a shop for, because I'm not dealing with any of that exhaust poo poo. So, right now, the car is only throwing a knock sensor circuit malfunction (P0325) code. Performance is vastly improved and it's not constantly stalling, but it's still not doing too well. The biggest problem is that it'll stumble a bit under light throttle, either when accelerating from a stop or when already at speed. The RPMs dip and there's a clear loss of power. It'll stall if you leave it, but punching the gas corrects the problem. It won't do it under moderate or heavy throttle, at least as far as I've been able to reproduce. I haven't been able to get it to stall at idle, but I'm told it's still doing it very rarely. Idle seems kind of high (around 1000rpm) in park, but is pretty rock solid at ~700rpm in drive. I haven't driven an automatic regularly in a long time so I honestly don't know how normal that is. It's still down on power too, but I'm thinking maybe the knock sensor is to blame there? That's not a huge issue, anyway. Aside from the belts and knock sensor, I'm open to any suggestions for what to check next. My lovely little bluetooth OBDII scanner died on me and I'm waiting for my new one to get here, so I haven't been able to check fuel trims or (easily) make sure that the throttle position sensor is behaving properly. Other than, I'm not too sure where to go next and I'm not too keen on just blindly throwing parts at it.
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Apr 6, 2015 22:47
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some texas redneck posted:That generation shouldn't turn on the check engine light for the knock sensor either - the stock tune can handle the knock sensor disappearing without any concerns. Yeah, I figured the knock sensor code was a bit of a red herring, which is why I've been putting off doing anything about it. The CEL was on for the camshaft position sensor code, but stayed off once that was cleared. quote:First thing to look for is the tube that runs between the MAF and throttle body. I'm betting it's cracked or leaking, which will cause a lot of hesitation (especially while accelerating). Probably should have mentioned that I checked the intake boot last time I had it off the car. It's hard as a rock, but there aren't any obvious cracks or tears. I was thinking of replacing it anyway since it's pretty cheap. I did notice that the gasket/o-ring, uh, thing on the output side of the MAF was crumbling, but I haven't been able to locate a replacement yet and I'm not sure if it's bad enough to cause any kind of significant leak. quote:The stalling really sounds like the IACV or a sticking EGR valve, though the computer should toss an EGR code at you if the EGR is sticking open. Should doesn't mean it will, of course. Time to look into testing procedures for the IACV and EGR valve, I guess. At least I have a plan of action now. Fuel pressure at idle and revving in neutral seemed good after replacing the fuel filter and I think the fuel pump was replaced on this car sometime in the last few years. Thanks a lot for the advice, I appreciate it. 
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Apr 7, 2015 18:46
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Fucknag posted:A MAF sensor gasket can absolutely cause a vacuum leak; replace that first since it's probably cheap, definitely cheaper than anything EGR. You can spray brake cleaner (or any sort of flammable aerosol chemical) around that pipe joint, if the idle raises you've found the culprit. (beware of false negatives though) HotCanadianChick posted:Yup, those symptoms he described are almost textbook vacuum leak. Alright, cool, I'll check out the intake boot and MAF gasket a little more closely and see about ordering replacements this week. I guess I wasn't really thinking about a vacuum leak too much since there's nothing audible in the engine bay and the idle (aside from being high) is reasonably smooth and solid. Here's to hoping it really is something that simple.
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Apr 7, 2015 22:49
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Anytime I've had a paint panic moment, I usually just clean the spot really well, hit it with a claybar, and then do some light buffing/polishing if whatever is still there. Your best bet is to just tackle one of those spots (probably the worst one) with progressively more aggressive methods and see what happens. Honestly, it doesn't really look like clear coat peeling and it doesn't make sense that that would happen all over the car instantly anyway.
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Apr 13, 2015 22:19
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A while ago I posted about a family member's ancient '96 Maxima that was suffering from intermittent stalling/hesitation problems. You guys gave me some good direction, but unfortunately this thing is still being a huge piece of poo poo and I'm losing my mind. Basic rundown is that the car has a noticeable lack of power/hesitation problem that comes and goes, as well as intermittent stalling. I've only ever personally witnessed the car stalling at idle, but I'm told that once or twice it's stalled while coming to a stop. Of course, half the time it runs like a champ. I've had the stupid thing idling in my driveway for half an hour or longer and been totally unable to make it stall at all. I've never actually been able to do anything to directly cause a stall - it stalls when it loving wants to. Here's the story so far:
At this point I'm not really sure what to do. With no codes or other information, I feel like all I can suggest is blindly replacing either the MAF or the IACV and hoping that's the problem. I loving hate the idea of just replacing parts that might be good, but I'm not sure where to go from here.  Edit- One thing worth pointing out is that when it does stall, it'll usually stall two or three more times immediately after starting before it idles properly again. It always starts back up, though, and doesn't have any problems with long cranks or other weirdness. Paradoxish fucked around with this message at 00:05 on May 16, 2015 |
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May 15, 2015 23:57
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Slavvy posted:So...did you replace the cam position sensor? Yes. The only known bad part that hasn't been addressed is the knock sensor.
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May 16, 2015 07:43
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Yeah, I really should just suck it up and replace it to conclusively rule it out as the cause of all of this. I've mostly been holding off since it's a pain to get to and everything I've been told is that knock sensors in Nissans of this generation generally won't retard timing enough to cause significant or noticeable drivability issues. The knock sensor code actually won't even trigger the CEL on its own.
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May 16, 2015 07:57
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some texas redneck posted:(on the KA24DE, under the intake manifold between 2 runners - book labor is something like 4-6 hours to replace it, or you can get under the car and knock it out in 15 minutes if you have skinny arms and a really good flashlight) Yep, it's under the manifold on the VQ30DE too. You can get at it from the top of the engine without pulling the manifold, but it's still a massive pain in the rear end.
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May 16, 2015 14:51
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Leperflesh posted:I'm just spitballing here but have you checked the fuel filter? Yep, took care of it along with a bunch of other maintenance junk before moving onto more serious diagnosis. Made a huge difference and fixed some nasty sputtering (it was apparently the original 19 year old filter!), but didn't solve the stalling issue.
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May 16, 2015 21:42
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The only proper answer is to go through his insurance. That doesn't mean this guy is trying to screw you or that he won't pay, but if your primary concern is making sure that your car gets fixed properly then you really need to just suck it up and hope you're not loving the guy who rear ended you too hard.
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May 23, 2015 17:46
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So, a friend backed into my car and did some very minor paint damage. I'm not interested in going through insurance or getting any money from her or anything, but I would like to fix this as best as possible.  It's kind of difficult to tell from the picture since the car is sitting in direct sunlight, but the damage seems to be 100% paint. There's no dent and the panel hasn't shifted. There's another, similar scratch on the rear of the wheel well that I didn't bother taking a picture of. The paint is kind of curled up around the damage, so I'm assuming my best bet to touch this up would be to sand it down first? I've done chip and scratch touch up pretty successfully in the past, but this is more severe than anything I've had to deal with so any advice would be appreciated.
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Jul 10, 2015 18:49
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Thanks for the advice, guys. I hit that section up with a Magic Eraser this morning. It cleaned it up a bit, but the paint is still obviously raised/curling where the damage is: Here's the slightly more serous damage on the opposite side of the wheel well:  That black mark is right down to the plastic. I can't feel any of the scuff marks with a fingernail, so I'm hoping buffing will at least minimize them. I'll reevaluate that section after I get a chance to do that. I'm still not quite sure how the damage turned out this way without there being any dents or additional body damage, but whatever.
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Jul 11, 2015 18:38
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BadSamaritan posted:Am I right in just walking away from this bs or is it a reasonable delay for a credit check? I'm just surprised because I thought it was a decently respected dealership but I don't really want to give them money if they're jerking me around like I suspect they are. There's absolutely no excuse for being treated this way. I bought my 10 year old 330ci from an Audi dealership that had, like, six used cars in total on their lot. There was no pressure, no run around, and they were even happy to drive the car over to my preferred local mechanic for a pre-purchase inspection. Tell the dealership that you're walking unless they cut the poo poo and be prepared to follow through. Also, follow Motronic's advice if you possibly can.
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Jul 25, 2015 06:23
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IOwnCalculus posted:I haven't tried it in my CR-V or WJ yet. I will say that the CR-V is the first vehicle I've ever owned that will downshift on its own to use engine braking with cruise enabled on a long downhill. The automatics in new-ish Focuses will aggressively downshift anytime you tap the brakes in sport mode. I had two of them as rentals when my car was totaled earlier this year and it was... kind of disconcerting, actually.
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Aug 4, 2015 06:10
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powderific posted:My wife and my father are convinced I'm going to die if I get under my Miata while it's on jackstands. Weirdly, my dad knows 4 different people who've died in his 800 person town from cars/tractors falling on them over the past couple years so I guess it's a pretty real danger in his eyes. My safety plan for now is to get jackstands with pins in them instead of just the rachety thing, shake the car a bit once it's on stands to make sure it's stable, and then stack spare wheels under the car. You've got the right idea. In addition to the spare tires, an additional option is to get some ramps and shove them under whichever side of the car you need to be under. Last time I had to have my car completely in the air (for a transmission/differential oil change) it was up on four jack stands, had ramps under the front wheels, and my winter wheels stacked underneath it. If you have enough stuff to catch the car in the event that something fails there's really not much to worry about.
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Aug 20, 2015 18:06
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BrokenKnucklez posted:I'm not advocating any wrong doing, but you can "sell" your car to your friend for a very low amount and just pay a tiny amount of tax to keep it legal. Around here its $6.75 per $100, you need to transfer the title anyways, I'd just make out a bill of sale saying "I sold this car for 100 to this person etc" Make sure you check with the DMV or whatever wherever you live, though, because you can't always dodge out on sales tax. In CT, you pay sales tax at registration and the DMV will use either the bill of sale value or the NADA value, whichever is higher.
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Nov 10, 2015 06:02
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Suicide Watch posted:If I want to do something like an oil change or fluid flush at home, how are you supposed to dispose of the old fluids? You can check to see if your town/city does anything too. My city does a hazardous waste disposal day four or five times a year where they'll basically accept as much oil, as many car batteries, etc. as you're willing to haul down to the transfer station. I usually just hold onto old oil until one of those days aligns with my schedule and then bring it all down. Autozone/Advance Auto should definitely take one oil change worth of oil in a single visit if that's not an option, though.
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Nov 12, 2015 00:28
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