I'm new to the forum and made a couple posts, but I can't get over the fact that all my questions from the past couple months can finally be answered...so here goes another...

Got my first car (92 max se man) in may 04, had 77.5K back then, now in sep 04, has 90.5K on the odometer. I find myself on the road for hours and hours just to drive sometimes...along with a few road trips. My question, should I cut back on the road time, is this hurting my vehicle?

I change oil every 3K, what else do I need to do. I have been using premium (usually 93 octane) since it's either that or 89, I can't find 91 anywhere (91 was suggested in the manual)? Does this matter, in the long term...my young opinion (I'm in my young 20's) is that the lower detonations at 89 will have a bad impact given time.

As I mentioned I just purchased the vehicle in may, this is my first self-purchased car, I've been lucky enough to drive my parent's corolla(s) before this. This has been my goal for years, and I finally found the 3rd gen 92-94 se with a manual tranny (took more than a year and a half of serious searching to find), so it had to be bought. It is also my daily driver right now. I plan to keep this vehicle till my last breath, which I know is easier said than done... Therefore, until I get another daily driver (I expect to shave some road time off the max after that) what kind of planning/maintenance do I need to do?

Next up, is there anyway to find the reccommended shift points for a 92 manual. I don't drive it hard or aggresively, maybe occasionally on some open non-deer/people filled roads. My guess is that in MPH it goes like this?

Gear MPH
1st 0-5
2nd 5-15/20
3rd 15/20-30/35
4th 35-45
5th >45

I have no basis for these guesstimates, but I would like to know if anyone has any other ideas....

In RPM, I would guess that keeping it in 2K to 3K is fine...once again I like to cruise more often in the crowded city and highway than burn down the roads...I know this is nowhere near the redline, so should I be going higher in the RPM's?

Thanks for any info...

Got a little long...

 

Putting miles on your Max is perfectly fine as long as you keep her maintained. I bought my 92SE manual w/ 67k and a year later it had 88k. As long as you change the oil regularly and don't neglect her, you should be fine. One thing I would suggest is to use the Toyota oil filter (check the sticky above) to prolong the life of your VTCs (the one major repair our cars face if they go bad and you want them fixed). I rev the engine to 5000+ RPMS in 3rd gear nearly every time I merge onto the highway. As for shift points, I usually shift at 3200 RPMs in 1st gear, 2800RPMS in 2nd, and then from there I just go with the flow. This engine isn't like a domestic V6 with gobs of low-end torque, so you have to rev her a little to get her going. I'm glad to hear you love her as much as it sound you do. Sometimes if I was bored on a nice summer evening, I would just drive down the highway and get off at random exits and "explore" and then drive home, just so I could cruise the highway with the moonroof open and the white-faced gauges lit up.

 

I do the same thing at night once in a while as well, glad I'm not the only one that does this

 

My car has over 215,000 miles on it and I take it to the local road courses several times a month.

Keep up with maintenance on it and the thing should last forever. 90k is just starting on these cars!

you will be fine with 89-93 octane fuel. I've got advanced timing and even I run 89 octane in it on the street. when it's really hot outside or when I go to the track, I'll fill it with 93, but otherwise I put 89 in it and spend that extra $2/tank on a gatorade and candy bar for me.

shift points.. these engines LOVE to rev. usually I shift around 3500-4500, but I hit redline several dozen times daily. Shifting at 3k is babying the car for me.. don't worry about exact speeds- just shift when you're comfortable and traffic allows. if you're pulling onto the highway, don't even think about shifting at 3k. worry about getting up to speed and shift when you need to.

 

freaks..........j/k...lol
i do the same when i have nothing to do

 

I have a 94 se 5sp with 266,000 on the clock and it still run great! One of the most dependable cars I have ever driven.

 

sounds like ur enjoying ur great purchase..driving the car sweetly does not hurt it. dont neglect the prev. maintanence that follows ur car since ur drive alot.have u tuned up ur car recently?theirs an org member here that sells genuine parts for a great price. dont be shy to go rev happy once in a while on the highway ( especially when its empty)

 

crist man your car will last forever shifting that low

my shift points are as follows

1st-2nd 38mph
2nd-3rd 65mph
3rd-4th 96mph
4th-5th 135mph

 

Lol, you redline 1st and 2nd everytime you drive the car? How is your fuel economy?

 

Something wrong with redlining? BWhahaha.

 

I used to drive like that lol


now I go

1st gear
2nd gear
4th gear

holla!


3rd gear gets lovin on the highway

 

you're slow.
1-2.... 40mph
2-3.... 72mph
3-4..... 105mph
4-5..... above 140.

 

Daily driving I'm usually at:
1-2@2,500rpms
2-3@2,200rpms
By now I'm at 35mph and still with traffic and start to cruise
3-4, then 4-5

No wonder I've been averaging 23mpg in just city driving these last two gas tanks I have 156K miles on the car, and since I've gotten the car, I've changed plugs, cleaned the throttle body, advanced the timing and run 91octane safely. The only thing I still need to do is clean the EGR to see if I can make it more frugal. I do go WOT at times just to feel the push in 1st gear, but thats a rare occassion (once every 2-3 days)

 

Well my Maxima is an auto, but in the Porsche, I generally shift around 4k for normal driving, and like 5.5 if I'm pushing it hard.

As for aimless drives at night...

I used to take spirited drives down my road at pretty high speeds, untill I blacked out the other night and lost control of the car... and I'll tell you something, the Porsche 944 is one of the greatest handling production cars of all times... it is not easy to get that car to slide...

But in the Max, the guages and the sunroof open is key while cruising around.

 

im puzzled on how you shift that late but i have come to 4 conclutions

1. you have 7200rpm redline

2. very tall tires

3. 2nd gen final drive gear swap

4 one of our speedos are way off

 

stock tranny internals, stock ECU, stock redline.

tires don't make a difference in speedo reading unless you change the calibration on the speedo- and my speedo is pretty accurate since I've checked it against a police radar @75mph. (friend is a cop)

 

I can't seem to get above 65mph in 2nd before hitting an indicated 6,500rpm redline Maybe my tach is off?

 

Matts numbers seem on par with my car

 

I shift from 1-2 at 20mph, 2-3 at 30mph, and then to 5th for my next shift

 

the tach is usually about 300rpm off. the ECU won't be though. rev limiter is at 6700. run it up there in 2nd gear and see where it actually stops on the tach. usually the speedo is more accurate than the tach, but the ECU will always be dead-on 6700 when the rev limiter kicks in.

 

Mine limits at about 6000-6300. BUT it's also a vg. sigh....

 

I see now, It does bring me to 70mph. 65mph was somewhere around 6,500rpms. It was freaky seeing the tach go into the redline

 

i can't wait to see that my self....

- I'm going to pick up my VE 5spd this weekend! but before i buy the car, What are some common signs of excesive ware/abuse on the VE? I plan to do a big tune-up, flush and fill everything! Clean the TB and use some seafoam in the tank and the engine. I don't know much about ignition coils,(link me?) and im not sure what type of plug is used for the engine.
-already got a fidanza flywheel and exedyclutch

 

I just bought NGK V-power copper tips ($1.98 a piece) The label on the air-box recommends using platinum tips though

 

you should see what one with a JWT can do

 

I go 6k into second, 5500 into 3rd, usually 3-4k into 4th, My transmission knows whatw best for me

 

Waaahh! Now I want a manny Max! Maybe to go looking for one?!

Here's one near me(what does everyone think of this deal?):

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'91 nissan maxima SE - $2000 (redwood city)

needs trans axle. 85K miles. 6 cylinder engine runs great. 5 speed with brand new clutch. fully loaded, leather, tinted windows, sunroof, power winows and locks. charcoal gray inside and out.
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"Needs trans axle" must mean it needs a new 5spd tranny? It musta been driven hard to blow a tranny at 85K miles. Worth taking a look at?

 

for that price, it better have a working tranny in it.

often, the problem with them is the input shaft bearings are dead. pics here:
http://mattblehm.com/pics/car/tranny/

a good DIY can rebuild them in the garage, but I wouldn't recommend it it you still need an FSM to change the clutch.

 

Matt where is your flex section

 

That's the new "prototype flex section" that WSP is trying out.. they sent one of them to me as a guinea pig.. works just fine, but those gaskets wear fairly quickly if you tear your exhaust off as often as I do.

 

To those who posted back........thanks......helped me get an idea.......

New Q: I have read that skipping gears while shifting (such as going into 5th from 2nd or 3rd) can be harmful for the clutch/tranny/etc....

Any truth to this? Again, I'm concerning myself with the current and well as long term planning.....

I did check for the VTC tick before I bought the vehicle.......seems to be silent compared to my friend's max (93 se). Having read online and the threads here, I will be using the toyota filters. Summer driving........its great.....put the roof back, cruise the open roads, and watch those whites doing their thing.......

Thanks all..........

 

As long as you arent forcing anything theres no problem. Actually it's probably easier on everything just as long as your not lugging the engine.

 

I could wind mine out a little higher but even with my JWT ecu, that's way up there. But I run 245-45-17s so mph will be a bit slow vs someone running 235-45-17s or equivalent

 

I'm aching to try that 4-5shift that Matt's talking about