OWhatAThrill

Well..drove the "new" 93 GXE to Huntsville this weekend(2hrs), great cruise, just a little shimmy between 70 and 80 occasionally. Highest I got it was to 85 but was being cautious because I hadn't received the new sticker that would update my expired license (12/29) and still had the drive out tag.

My brother in law, who used to have a 300ZX drove the car today. He came back in and said "can you take it back?" :-(
He said he would lay money that I will need a new transmission or a valve job in 6 mos". Said it might also drive another 100,000 miles but he'd bet on the former. Said the tranny seemed to be slipping in 1st gear but only 1st and that he heard some clacking which he thought were the valves.

My ex can do all that..or rebuild a tranmission anyway so even thought about maybe trying to find one and have him working on it...lol I've noticed something....not quite sure with all my auto knowledge :-(, just that the engine reminds me of a 5 speed when you're taking off..slightly noticable shift especially the first one, but nothing major it seems to me just like it takes a moment to catch up with you. Son was all over the car since he had nothing else to do at his aunts house. Washed it, cleaned inside, took all kinds of things apart, even said it looked like there had originally been a clutch in the car, said there was a hole in the floor for it. Even finished the car off with a harley bullet hole sticker on driver's door. :-(

He reset the number on the keyless entry but wasn't success in figuring out how come the horn doesn't work. Couldn't get the alarm to go off but can unlock the doors, trunk and all with the keypad. Will try a new fuse on the horn but don't know if I"ll get lucky and that be all it is.

Not even really worried about the transmission at this point, will work first on just getting that bushing changed that you guys talked about. He didn't even dampened my spirits much. I thought about it b4 I got it and thought even if I have to put a new tranny in, its a very kewl car. :-)

Naptime!

-L

Brandon90gxe

to get hte alarm to go off you have to wait like 30 seconds to activate, i think when the orange light on the dash goes off. open your windows, lock doors from the button, and wait a bit, then open the door from the inside, and it should go off, if your horn doesnt work, it should still cut the ignition. try it

SkyMax

I doubt the car ever had a clutch in it. All 89-94 GXE maxima's have automatic transmission. Auto Transmissions in the 3rd gens are known to be weak. There are many people here who had to replace the auto tranny.. but other then that, they are pretty reliable cars.

OWhatAThrill

I wonder why anyone would put holes in the floor then? I was kinda leary when he told me this, as I don't think I want a car that had been a manual and was switched to an auto. Personally I'd rather have the manual. I assuming the auto was standard in the Maxima's because they were considered "sedans"?

I was reading some of the older posts today about the VTC's if that is my faint clicking noise when it's cold, and even mentioned the transmission possibility to my ex. His words were..."guess I need to get a manual on a 93 Maxima, eh?" Ain't he a sweetheart!!!! Bless his heart, he was gonna put new lifters in my jeep, the first repairs done to it and had JUST bought a repair manual for it. He told me he had a "spare cherokee" manual if anyone needed one. lol He was so busy at the time I needed the lifters and I didn't want to be "carless" that long, so I had someone else do it. A very nice set of new lifters on that totaled jeep. :-(

Don't think the ex knows much about Nissans altho he did work at the Nissan plant here in TN twice...as engineer in the power plant tho. :-) He knows motors tho, so hoping he'll be able to help if I need some of this major stuff done.

brubenstein

The engines in the GXE's don't have VTC's. Only the 92 - 94 SE's had the VE engines which have VTC's. Since the manual and auto cars are the same there was just probably a rubber plug in the firewall for the clutch linkage in the auto cars.
I don't know where the ticking that your hearing is coming from

OWhatAThrill

Are you serious????? I've been trying to read as much as I could on the VTC issue and I didn't see anything that said the GXE's don't have them, matter of fact, Ithought several people mentioned them in relation to the posts I've made about this new purchase..but then, I'm kinda "blonde" when it comes to car stuff. If that is true..and I'll start searching immediately..then YIPPEE!!, that rules out one expensive thing I won't be encountering. Come here..I wanna kiss ya!! It'll just be a friendly one as I'm so happy so girlfriend/wife shouldn't get upset...

I did find out today..the plate inside my door says 8/92 and someone mentioned the timing belt in relation to the date which will mean I can find a little more out about this engine.

I was *****ing the other day about how dim the lights were on the inside and the son thought they'd all been changed to some blue color, and I know different struts "had" been on the car to lower it, I just wish I knew enough to see if anything had been done. lol Thats certainly a disadvantage when you do not purchase it from an individual.

Thank you for your response, I will investigate that ticking from another standpoint now.

max95q

iTrader: (10)

working. My car ticks its normal thats what everyone tells me its only noticeable when you open the hood though.

brubenstein

An 8/92 mfg date means your timing belt has to be replaced every 60K miles.
Even with the hood up, it's hard to hear the injectors with the 3rd gens. The 2nd gens have much different intake plumbing which, I think, blocks the sound (we have one of each).

flyry110

all nissans tick eventually. it's kind of a character trait. my best friend is a mechanic at a nissan dealer, or was untill he quit like 2 weeks ago. he said most nissans eventually tick. i guess it's just the way it is.

OWhatAThrill

Since I don't know when this timing belt was last replaced I already talked to my ex about changing it for me.

I can hear the ticking if I roll down my window..is that how loud "all nissans tick"? lol It goes away though. It just when it starts up for a mile or so.

OWhatAThrill

Since I don't know when this timing belt was last replaced I already talked to my ex about changing it for me.

I can hear the ticking if I roll down my window..is that how loud "all nissans tick"? lol It goes away though. Its just when it starts up for a mile or so.

Tom

Your ticking may be a broken exhaust manifold stud. This happened to me 2 years ago. Common for 3rd gen Maximas

As for the hole, the previous owner may have drilled a hole to accomodate wiring for fog lights. Just a guess.

Matt93SE

iTrader: (44)

The ticking you're hearing is probably the exhaust studs.. as has been said, they have a tendency to break on our car. It's recommended to replace an entire side at once.. the parts are about $50/side, as you need 6 studs, nuts, washers, and the manifold gasket.

My valves tick a little bit, but it's barely noticeable unless you have the hood up. the loud tick you're hearing is probably the above..

I dunno about the hole in the floor- could have been from stereo wiring, fog lights, or something of that nature. definitely not a clutch though.

The tranny thing is something I'm not sure on.. I'd have to drive it to be able to tell you if there's anything worth worrying about. mine has been acting very strangely for the last year, but still works just fine with the exception of a weird 1-2 shift when it's cold outside.

The timing belt should be replace every 60k as has also been said. maybe you can find that info in the maintenance books (if there were any).
also check with the place you bought it to see if you can contact the previous owner about it. the dealer here has never had a problem giving me the phone # of the previous owner, if it was available.

On tot he struts issue.. Nissan OEM struts are black. Tokico aftermarket struts are bright blue on the front. I think KYB are orange, or gold, and Monroe are yellow or gold.
Koni struts (the best available) aren't really struts- they're inserts that you put inside the oem struts after cutting the top off. you can't tell if these are in there or not.
All the rear struts are inserts because of the way the car is designed. you will only see the black tube on the struts in the back.
the fronts will be the ones with the colored parts. that should help you determine what struts you have on the car.

hope that clears up some stuff.

OWhatAThrill

Shew..whole lot cheaper than VTCs, I might have that in my budget. :-) I noticed today...parked the car about 3 PM, left work around 6:15, started it..ticking..rev the engine..louder...by the time I got 1/4 mile down the road and stopped at stop sign..ticking was gone. I drive the car very easy when I hear the ticking, but I noticed on the same drive home, it had great pickup 1/2 mile down the road. Smooth and quiet, doing around 35 getting up to 50. Had to stop at that point cuz I was almost home. :-)


Well..sure wish you were here to set my mind to rest...come on down! lol..asking alot, eh? Actually I'm a little more reassured each day. The ex is picking up some furniture for me in the next day or two so I'll see if he has a few minutes so he can take it for a spin. Don't know how much experience he has with Nissan's in general but he knows engines anyway. Gotta have a better idea than anything I can describe.

I have his name on the title..and address..need to run that thru switchboard, see if anything comes up.

Thank you all for being so patience with me and explaining things. It's frustrating to want to know all this AND understand it. I saw the invoice where the new struts were put on. The dealer told me beautiful new yellow ones were on the car and he just replaced them to make the car "normal". I will look and see if I can tell anything by your description.

Gets a little clearer everyday, with reading posts and searching older posts. Thanks again to all who have responded to "elementary" posts. While my son is searching on the web for lights, strobes, gear ***** and spoilers, I'm trying to learn about the real important stuff. I came home from lunch today and he grabbed the keys and before I knew it, had the 5 inch JBL out of the living room speaker and into the back of the car. Speakers in there work fine, I tell him I gotta concentrate on oil changes, and that timing belt, etc., long before I deal with swapping out speakers.

-L

brubenstein

The ticking is begining to sound like lifter noise. The engine has hydraulic lifters, and it's taking too long for the oil to get into the top end after starting the car. One of the most common reasons for this is the oil filter. Not all oil filters have an anti-flow back valve in them, so the oil can drain out of the top end. Most of the better filters have them: Nissan, Purolator. Usually though, the ticking only lasts for a few seconds when this is the cause. You may have the wrong weight oil in the engine (too thick); it should be 5W-30. You may also have some sludge in the engine preventing the oil pressure from flowing fast enough when first starting up. You might want to change to Mobil 1, synthetic oil until the weather warms up. (Synthetic oil flows much better when cold, and will also clean out some of the sludge and gunk.)