1985 maxima, black, 5 speed, replaced engine 150k, new radiator, new water pump, new tires. now for the bad part, the prev. owner says the tranny is bad. is it worth getting for 200$? and what would a tranny cost me?

 

You can probably pick up a tranny for less than $100 at the pick-n-pull, assuming that the seller is telling you the truth and the tranny is indeed the problem.

 

im sure hes telling me the truth about it. i have seen the car run, started right up after sitting for about 1 1/2 years. but i have not tried to drive it because he says the tranny is bad. im going to check into it more tonight.

 

If I was in need of a car and could pick one up for less than 3 bills, I'd do it. Then again, I've never done a FWD trans swap. I am stricltly a RWD kinda guy. But hey, that's just me.

Check out your local yard, and if they've got what you need pick up the car and the trans and a weekend worth of labor and you'll be bombin around in a new Max!

 

I'd think about asking for receipts on the engine job as well!

 

NVM lzoolzolz

 

okay i got the car, it runs damn good and all but thhe transmission wont go into gear..like i cant shift it out of neutral...what could be wrong with it? simple fix or should i get a differnt tranny?

 

go for a new trans... probably easier & less costly than fixing the old one.

 

I'd suggest checking with whatever autowreckers you can find to see if you can locate a box from a low-mileage write-off. Good luck.

 

alright going to check with the scrapyards this weekend to see what i can come up with

 

sory for changing the subject but please post pics of the car.
kthnx

 

I'm still a noob here and can't post new threads yet, so I'm going to try to post a question in here...first I'll make an on-topic comment though

My second Max was a brand-new 1987 SE 5-Speed (first was an '82 with the straight six, auto I think. Wish I still had that one too). Anyway, the 5-Speed was fun to drive, and at 175,000 miles it still worked fine. Unfortunately the car got totalled while sitting in my driveway when some fool ran off the road. I think if I wanted to keep running a 5-Speed I'd pick up another tranny, pop it in, and save the original as a 'rebuild when I find the time'. I read in Consumer Reports that the manual tranny was very unreliable but that wasn't my experience - probably the market that bought these didn't know how to work a clutch properly and trashed a lot of them.

Now, my question: I've just bought my sixth Max - it was sitting in a Dunkin' Donuts parking lot for months, so I asked about it and it belonged to the manager. It has stripped teeth on the flywheel and maybe some other issues but aside from the carpets and some plastic discoloration, it's not in bad shape. I thought it was a 1987 or 88 but it's a 1986. Here's the kicker though - according to the Chilton manual, all the Maxima's had a "J" in the fifth position in the VIN for "Vehicle Line J: Nissan Maxima". However, this one has a "U". Does anyone know what this means? Mfg. date is 7/85.

 

Interesting - I should have done some Googling first but this is still odd. I found this at http://www.cherry-auto.com/nissan_vin_decoding/498.html :

#5 Car Line

A-Maxima
B-NX Coupe, Sentra, 200SX (95-97)
C-Van
D-Truck, Pathfinder (87-95), Frontier
J-Maxima
L-Altima (98-01)
M-Axxess/Stanza Wagon
N-Pulsar, Quest
R-Pathfinder (96-01)
S-Sentra, 200SX (84-88), 240SX
T-Stanza
U-Altima (93-97), Maxima, Stanza
Z-280ZX, 300ZX

So what is the difference between Maxima's with an "A", a "J", or "U" in the VIN? Or does it really not mean anything significant?

 

get the car dude, 200 bucks! that a major bargain man. change the tranny and u got ur self a daily car man.

 

When was the last time the clutch and throw out were changed? Could be that easy.

 

Aye, i've done clutch/tranny swaps on 4th gens...and it's actually very straight forward job for these cars. It may look a little complicated, and definately not for the mechanically impaired. If you have questions on feel free to ask.

S