Hey. I was wondering about the reliability of 3rd gen Maximas, specifically the 92-94 SE's w/ the ve's? How has your cars been treating you guys? I need to buy a car for my job this summer (starting co-op), and I want something that'll last me 2 years (preferably more) without having to spend a ton on fixing it when it breaks down. I used to have a 1st gen Altima, and it held up beautifully, I drove it for 60,000 km, and it had over 200,000 when I was done and not a single problem. Is the 92-94 Maxima SE's a good way to go or what?

 

If you take your time and find a one owner car that was taken care of it can be extremely reliable. Even a car that has been around some but at least the oil changed in can be a good car.

 

areas of concern:
Window Regulators
Fuel injectors
Coil packs
Bose stereo
VTCs making noise

other than those problems the cars are solid

 

In my case that car I was given needs (possibly) head gasket,window regs(all 4) and I think that's it,untill the Z-tech tells me tomorow. But the car was from Califorinia as of I think 8 months ago and teh owners has FULL records of it's health.

Only has 144,XXX miles on it,so it's a good car !

 

Thanks for the responses, it makes me feel better With the VTC, is the noise a problem, or just an inconvenience?
Any trouble spots on the body of the car itself, like places I should be looking for rust?
As long as the Window regulators, coils, and fuel injectors don't all go bad at once I should be good

 

Rust...not to bad on these as long as it was taking care of. As for the stuff to look out for that goes bad,yeah,as long as it's good you're good !

 

rust by the filler neck, in the rear wheel well

 

At this point almost any car that's over 10 years old will depend on how the previous owner treated the car vs the make/model of the car. But in general, Japanese cars will have the best general reliability and cheapest repair costs. Honestly if you just need basic transportation, a Honda accord/civic etc... would probably be the best bet. Just won't have the power you might like.

 

If you can find one in decent in/out shape, with a recent injector job and strict proper-octane diet w/ regular oil/fluid changes, you are SET.

 

Jeff is right. Another thing to consider is they don't get great gas mileage because they are a V6 and the owner's manual calls for premium fuel. The VE is a lot faster stock for stock than any of the Honda products from the same era, though. They are also more comfortable on long trips and come loaded with creature comforts. Power windows, mirrors, AC, CC are standard. A large percentage of them have leather and moonroof, too.

If you just want a solid work car, I would say buy a Civic, Accord or maybe a Sentra with air conditioning. One with service records would be preferred. They will run a long time, get 30+ mpg and if something goes wrong they will be cheaper to repair.

My first Maxima (Gold 1992 SE 5-speed) I absolutely babied. I bought it in 1995 with 50k? and drove it to 160k and you would have thought it just rolled off the showroom. My current Maxima (Red 1992 SE 5-speed) has been beat on pretty hard and the VTCs were knocking something fierce before I had Jeff install the JDM engine at about 149k miles. There were some other issues involved there, but all-in-all they are very solid cars.

 

Might be easier getting into Area 51.

 

if you want a reliable beater to get around. you can pick up a perfectly good ford escort for a few hundred bucks. they have very tough engines. watch out for electrical problems though.

 

and **** trannies.
expensive ignition switches
usually not maintained because they were sold as disposable cars.

 

I would go with a '89-91 SE or any 3rd gen gxe. The VG engine is likely the best engine to ever be produced in Japan. As long as you change the timing belt the thing will run forever. I have looked at many '92-94 SE models and no matter the mileage, as low as 72,--- on one vehicle, the VTC's rattled. Unless you have a friend at nissan that is willing to loan you the special tool needed to replace this item, I would shy away from the '92-94 SE. You could always ground one of the VTC's and more or less reduce/eliminate the noise.

 

I have 133k and no VTC noise.
and you don't need special tools to redo the VTCs.
I believe craigB has or is working on a writeup on redoing them

 

I'm at 166,XXX I think, no VTC noise to speak of. I would say mine has been reliable, aside from replacing the starter, but that was probably my own fault as this is my first manny tranny car and I basically taught myself on this car...lots of stalling...

Things I still need is a front passenger window regulator, but its winter so no worries right now for one. Its never left me stranded in the south dakota chilli winter this year yet.

 

Reliability means different issues to different people.

If reliability is that whatever mileage between oilchange, not one drop has to be added, buy Maxima. If want to add oil every second tank, buy GM Opel, half gallon oil with 1000 miles is 'normal'...

Basic construction is good and component MTBF =meantimebetweenfailure is high. However, the ship is loaded. When u load u ship, its gonna have glitches more that a very basic mechanical diesel...

I would not buy ten yr old maxima for commuting although I very much like its handling; more practical rigs are available with nissan or whatever... But if u love luxury, and gas consumption does not bother: GO for Maxima!1

Think about THE loaded computronics center:
http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/748507/14

 

Wow, thanks for the advice guys. Gas mileage is not a HUGE problem for me, but I am not about to go out and buy a 5.0L mustang or anything (my buddy used to get 8mpg w/ his!).
Reasons I was looking at the Maxima:
I like luxury (leather, 4 doors, etc..)
They look very nice and classy for their era
I also wanted a bit of base power (i.e. the VE).
I love Nissans
I love cars, and I would be modding the max, albeit very slowly. If I am going to buy a car though, I want something I can have a bit of fun with as well not just something for getting around (if I am going to be driving it for a few years). Thanks for all the responses

Edit: I don't need to worry about the sound system either, I have a HU, speakers, amp and sub waiting for a car to be put into.

 

Well said....

 

Everything internetautomar mentioned

plus all 3rd gen Maxes seem to have rather weak trannies.

 

They are one of the most reliable cars on the road.

 

I got nearly 30 mpg in my 5.0 convertible (5-speed with stock 3.08 gears) on the freeway and about 20 or so in town, so your buddy must go through the rear tires, if you know what I mean.

Just buy what you think suits you. Maximas are overall very reliable. It all comes down to what you want and what the car has been through. Buying any used car is a crapshoot, it's just your odds are better with something that has a proven record of reliability, like the Maxima, Camry, Civic, Accord or Celica. There are thousands and thousands of owners of these cars over 200k miles with the original drivetrains.

 

Did you have anything done to your 5.0?

I know a few modded ones that only get 10-12mpg.

 

275,000 Miles and still going strong!!!

 

that is true at one point but i hear that the '92-'94 GXE auto trannies r stronger than the '89-'91 GXE autos. now if ur referring to the 5-speed trannies i think someone on here said that they r pretty much the same on both VE and VG trannies. other than that this car is extremely reliable plus alot of things u can swap out/in and do nice conversions to as well.

 

Wow, that was the mileage my altima got, lol. no he had a 4.10 diff in the rear, heads, headers, exhaust (X pipe, no cats) w/ super traps w/o covers. Intake (mani.), CAI, port & polish, near perfect compression, ignition, 255lph fuel pump, and a bunch of other crap I know I am missing. He had 3 sets of wheels (not including his winters), so yes, de did go through tires Car was one of the fastest I've been in, it pinned you to the back of your seat.

 

What's the tranny upgrade for our cars called and what was it good for power wise ? I remember looking in the photo gallery on turbomaximas.com and this guy had something called the level 10. Can anyone tell me what the hell this is and where I can get it ?

 

level 10 is a valve body upgrade if im correct. im not sure if its good or not but i think it has something to do with ur gears goin' through fast or something like that. i also think that u have to ship out ur valve body to get it done and shipped back to u. i wouldn't know much about this cuz my car is not an auto anymore so im not sure if its an excellent upgrade. u can ask internetautomar about this to help u out or other .org members that have one in their trannies and tell u where they got it from.

 

Will do,


I wanna know what I can do to beef this tranny up..

 

Valve bodies are an INTRICATE network of channels (holes) with little ball bearring and **** in it, partly controlled by solenoids that shift the transmission into different gears. I imagine a valve body upgrade would probably result in different shift times at different loads.

I think anyways... lol, I worked for a summer rebuilding automatic Subaru transmissions and I still don't know

Upon looking at turbomaxima.com, that level 10 thing looks like a gear set. Those suckers are a ***** to pt back in, especially those clips that hold em in place

 

Automatic transmissions operate on black magic. Simple as that.

 

valvebodies are normally "reprogrammed" by enlarging holes and changing the springs within the valvebody. sometimes they will reroute or even block off fluid passages.
I sold trans parts for 8 months and I actually learned a thing or 3.

 

i hope ur referring to the valve body cuz they r not a b!tch to put back in.

 

154,000 miles and counting

 

....................?

 

214,000 miles engine still runs great. all that has been done was replace the timing belt, water pump and tensioner pulley.

 

and that would be because you have a VG not the VE e's asking about

 

its still a max

 

so was my L24

 

Sticking your hands in a 5-6" tunnel about 10" deep to get a gear in is a ***** to do. Getting the clip in is even worse. Maybe I just sucked at it.