Icemule

Well the title of the thread tells you where I'm at but let me tell you how I arrived as a new member to this site. My wife was kind enough to blow up the motor to a 3rd car (98 Mercury Sable bought at auction for $1000.00,loaded) but we got 3 years out of it. So I headed back to Spartanburg auto auction with limited funds after I got our 2001 Kia Sephia with 80k and sitting for 5 years running(bought new) and was not able to get any of the cars i looked at before it started. So the last car came through and no one bid on it. Talked to the seller and bought it for $500.00 plus $98.00 in fees after he assured me the car ran well ect... Well I'm sure you know how that story ended as I'm here. When I drove it home it was smoking from a front valve cover gasket and I looked online on how to fix it and ended up here. So I decided to flip the car to make more money to buy another car at the auction,but while fixing all the small stuff(list will be below)I found myself starting to really like this car. The dark green was the kicker as that is my favorite color(green)and the car was in decent running condition and easy to fix so far and this website is a great resource. I'm currently reading thread NOOBIES "I'M NEW HERE and at post 401 and plan to read the whole thing which is over 107 pages and advise noobs to read this:

https://maxima.org/forums/4th-genera...e-posting.html

I hope that link goes live when I post but copy and paste if it does not. I learned a lot there. This website really helped to make up my mind to keep the car as it reminds me of when I was young (51 now) and driving pre 1970 VW'S in H.B California. While no internet then the VW'S are very popular out there. So that's the story so far and look forward to many more posts from myself,ones that are not so long.lol. Here is a list of things fixed so far and things that need attention and all done with the help of this site.

Driver side power mirror missing and replaced(junkyard)
Front valve cover gasket
New plugs(NGK Iridium 0.44 GAP ,should have got platnium hope i'm ok)
Power ant.(jy)
Left side ignition with the 4 wires which fixed a host of things like the Bose stereo working without having to turn the key back slightly to make it come on and all of the interior lights(jy)
Trunk light
Clock(jy)
2 tires used but in great shape
All fixed for around $300.00 bucks so i'm into it for $900.00

things i'm working on:
p0100-maf
p0325-knock sensor
p0600-tranny com line
p0302-misfire #2 cyl
p0340-cam sensor

I'm thinking if I replace the coil pack on #2 everything else except the tranny com line and the K.S will resolve itself. I'll post back after the 3rd when I get paid(Disability for heart and brain)if thats O.K and not against the rules.Sorry for the long post and hope I didn't break any rules,if so plz point them out.

Also is there any Maxima clubs up here where I live? I looked in the forums but all the S.C posts where 7 years old.

Icemule

O.K I guess this might be considered "bumping the thread" which is not my intent so here it goes.
It seems these cars speedos go out and thats the case with me. I have already taken it out and tightened the screws which has it working 75% of the time. I will replace it,but my question is (Ive looked every where for this answer)at what point do these speedo's tend to go bad? I ask as i bought this as "exempt" on the mileage and the miles are 225k. So who knows what the true mileage is.

Do they tend to go out around 100k,150k ect. Also and more important is,does the ecm store the real total mileage and if so how would one extract it. I drove a truck for 22 years and there use to be a gauge on the hub to give total miles before Quallcom was put in OTR trucks and that WOULD store total miles among other things.

I really would like to know the real miles because if its around 300k I might sell it and get another Maxima as I'm hooked on these cars and I don't want to start dropping tons of cash on a lost cause. But for what I have into it I would be happy if I got 2 yrs out of it. At that point I could part it out to members for cash to by another one.

So if anyone knows if it's possible to extract the mileage from the ecm or the tranny module or some other way please let me know or point me in the right direction as the threads seem a little haphazard to navigate,but that's probably a me problem at this point as I'm still learning.

Did edit and added $500.00 auction Maxima with $300.00 in repairs. Love the car.
Tried to get the pic to show as my avatar but did it wrong some how but will get it done tonight come hell or highwater,which means I will fail. LOL!

Icemule

I think I found a solution for the speedo problem where the speedo doesn't work or works erratically. I posted in an old thread as that is where the search engine took me but Wanted to post here as someone might know where to put it (if its worthy)as I can't make a thread. here is the post:
================================================== ========================================
I had the same problem and after the first pull out and tightening the screws I got it to work 70% of the time. So after doing more research I pulled it out again to replace the washers on the 4 screws holding the speedo on suggestion from another member and to check the solder points to see if they needed to be re-soldered as suggested by another member.

When I looked closely at the solder points I noticed brown corrosion around the solder points,so I used my finger nail to scrap it off on ALL of the solder points and put it back together and it worked. Look at the point next to where it says ABS. and you will see the corrosion,

Its been 4 days and all is well plus it got rid of codes:

p0100-maf
p0600-tranny com line
p0340-cam sensor

Now I did clean the maf the day before and didn't clear the codes until after I fixed the speedo. I'm including 1 picture. Would have taken more but didn't think of it until I was at the last solder point. Hope this helps and if this post needs to be moved then lets move it as I have not seen this solution to this common problem on these cars.

CS_AR

Welcome!

Icemule

Thanks to both of you. I have already did the download but I'm also buying the fsm from another member. Where just working on a price. If I get it I will be reading it from cover to cover as I like reading those kind of things along with computer tech stuff.

Much easier to read stuff on paper then a computer.

Im sure you read the story above. I don't normally get attached to cars as Ive owned so many over the years but this freaking car has me hooked for some reason and these forums helped with that.

I spend a few hours each day reading them in anticipation of future problems. Replacing right side axle on the 3rd when I get paid. Will let everyone know how it goes.

Icemule

Well I changed the r/h axle and also the inner and outer tie rod as it had serious play in it. All codes cleared after I changed #2 coil pack from junk yard for $14.00,axle-rebuilt for $36.00 and I think I payed the same for the whole tie rod. The inner tie rod was a pita to change where as the axle was easy. Also replaced arm rest. Those are hard to find in a jy in good shape. In fact it took 3 trips to find one. Here is a few pics. To make things clear I had fixed the other codes with the speedo cleaning and just had the misfire which the coil pack fixed. The car runs great now. Never could have done it without these AWESOME forums. Best $500.00 car I every bought. I also fixed a number of other things that where cheap to do with jy parts like ignition,power mirror,8 way power seat switch,2 shorts and a few other things. EVERYTHING works. Cig lighter was the last thing which I did tonight. Thanks to everyone reading my long posts but I'm really into this car and these forums helped make that happen.

Icemule

I had to post one more picture and thank member supraturbo94 for selling me his FSM at a great price. while I have everything fixed I'm sure it won't be long before I will need to use it as the car has 225k on it,but with everything working it runs great and the motor and tranny feel stong (now that I said that,the motor will probably fall out of the car tomorrow) Picture of FSM posing on my 97 SE. WARNING:PHOTO IS A LITTLE RACY. Hope you get the joke. Funny thing happened when I took this picture,the car was to close to the house so i went to unlock the car from the p/s to turn off the alarm and move the car back. Well when I did that I had left the book on the roof by mistake and it slid off of the roof and hit the p/s wiper and broke the tab holding it to the arm. So I took a blade off of my 2001 KIA and it fit perfect. Book is very heavy to say the least.

Icemule

Well I popped the trunk and lifted the trunk by the wing and it snapped off. I guess it was barely hanging on. I looked in the trunk and saw that someone had screwed it on with some dry wall screws in some small holes in the trunk. Went to junk yard but couldn't find a green one like I was able to do with the d/s mirror. So just for fun I stopped at the dealer down the street to see how much a new one would cost.

I'm trying to stop laughing so I can type this, so I ask for the price and the dudes laughing and gave me the number which was $643.00 before tax.

Well I took a couple self tapping screws and some epoxy and got it back on and it ain't going nowhere now, small gap on right side but you need to be right up on it to see it. I'm going to borrow a screw gun to get it flush. I will post a picture in this post later tonight.

$643.00 ****'S must be on the rock. Stealership put the pipe down!
So the point is, dont lift trunk by the wing.

Buck96

iTrader: (2)

Icemule welcome to the forum , seeing you're in the Carolina's take a moment to introduce yourself in the SC forum we have going. It's quite but we are there.

Maxima.org SC Region Discussion

Buck96

iTrader: (2)

BTW, are those stock shocks I see go ahead an put some Tokico Hp Blues on there while the suspension is apart

CS_AR

I'm kind of partial to Blues. I've got a set on my I30 and Q45. No complaints.
The Maxima SE 5MT has set of KYB AGX adjustables with H & R lowering springs -- but that purchase was driven more for AutoX use than day-to-day driving.

Icemule

Thanks for the post. Ive been looking everywhere on this great site for a S.C maxima club but everything I found was years old, not that my car is anything special but Its my first and the first time is the best time

But I'd like to see other Maximas and be able to ask questions and so forth.

As for the shocks I already put it all back together and would love to lower the car 1.5 to 2 inches but it would not be a good idea as places I go I would never be able to get into the parking lot because of the steep angle from the road to the lot like at pinewood shopping center. It scraps as it is even when driving at an angle and I don't even have a lip clip on the front.

Plus my wife tends to destroy cars.
Kia Sephia-left side was side swiped at a funeral and no one left a note so not her fault.
Toyota Corolla-A girl didn't put her car in gear (VW) and it rolled backwards 50 yards and hit rear end but was OK because I only paid $600.00 and got 1583.00 from her insurance and drove it another yr without fixing it and sold it for $600.00 and that car 3 yrs later is still on the road unfixed (sold to a friend) not her fault.
80's model Supra she blew the rod.Man I liked that car.
80's ford van,blew a rod. And that was AFTER she backed it into a cop car. It wasn't our main car but still.
1998 Mercury Sable. Car was low on water so I said I would fill it in the morning but she forgot I guess and drove it and blew the head gasket.

But I only paid $900.00 at auction and got 2 yrs out of it and parted a few parts and sold it for $365.00 and with sold parts and $$$ for the cats I cut off I ended up with close to $600.00 which I used to buy "Green Max" the first car I ever named.

So as you can see that lowering her would only lead to tragedy

Icemule

I'm going to post this in the noob thread also

https://maxima.org/forums/4th-genera...e-posting.html

but wanted to try here also to increase my odds of an answer. What is this plug for. Its under the cup holder and I'm thinking its a connecter for a phone Im going to put a multimeter on it to see if it has power and then figure out what I can hook up to it like a dvd player or something.Yes its dirty there,thats why i was in there.