Hi,
I havent been on maxima.org for awhile but I used to own a 90 Black SE 5spd and ended up getting rid of it because the rust was out of control. I miss that car so much! I have a 95 accord coupe vtec now. Anyway... My friend finds this car for sale that really got me interested. On the side of the road he found a 94 Red SE with the automatic tranny. The guy wants $500 for the car and it has 89,000 on it and it was hit in the front. The damage didnt look too bad. Im thinkin good deal right? So I went and checked it out. The first thing I noticed when i saw it on a level surface is that it looks like the frame was moved upward a bit on the left hand side. The front of the car has a twist too it and the camber seems to be off on the left front wheel. When I started it up the engine had a little trouble starting but it fired and when it did it sounded great. That didnt last long... It started making a loud rapping in the front valve bank after about 5 minutes. This was also accompanied with a fluttery miss and power loss. Now I have dealt with the fuel injector problems in my 90... Could this be the same problem? Also maybe something about the coil packs? Doesnt have a sunroof either... interesting. Anyway... Does this car sound like its worth the 500 bucks and the labor to get the frame pulled, parts, and engine labor?

Thanks....

 

sounds like a $50 car that's being used as a donor to rebuild another max with a straight frame

 

Word. That's a cheapie parts car right there.

 

....Hm and I need a cheap 5speed parts car....too bad Im in columbus,ohio. Any one know how close it is? (6-8hr isn't a problem) My mom has a truck I can borrow too....

~Alex

 

The car is an auto:

 

it's not a 5speed

 

Beat you sucka!!

 

that's what happens when you work for a living :P

 

So no go?

What if i could get him to give it to me for like $300?

And about that engine noise??? My max had the VG in it... I have heard good and bad things about the VE with the auto... Any word as to that noise and the fuel injectors???

Thanks guys...

 

PS... I worked at an auto auction where we had tons of these bad boys go through with bad trannys.... It has the switch with the power and comfort settings...

 

You guys dont think its worth it?

Any ideas about the engine noise?

Maybe i will make a trip to Chicago and put the two together ....

thanks guys...

 

Doh! Thats what I get for having a bunch of pages up...

Slippyrocker- Thats what mine has. The only thing wrong with mine is the switch and It just changes how fast and what rpm the tranny shifts. Power shifts later and harder/faster and comfort shifts sooner and slower so the car dosn't jerk as much. Mine still shifts fine, and Im going to see if the switch is working or not. I dont know if it makes a diffrence (I know it did when we first got the car 7 years ago) but the only thing wrong with it is the Power led dosnt work so maybe it dosnt affect shifting any more, but it dosn't matter as its too cold here to work on it

~Alex

 

ya know I like my accord... but it has 172,000 on it and it just doesnt have the ***** that any maxima can produce... I miss the scream of that high torque V6...

There is just too many questions about this one to put the money in it and too cold to work on it now...

 

I don't think I would buy it unless you already had a car to swap parts onto or a garage/shop to use while parting it out. Without actually seeing/hearing it, it is hard to tell for sure. Bent frames aren't cheap to fix unless you know someone with a frame machine.

The noise you heard is either the VTCs ticking or it has broken exhaust manifold studs. Both are pretty common problems and there is a lot of information in the stickies.

One thing that is a bonus about that car is that it has low miles, thus it has a low mileage tranny, although from the sound of things the car wasn't taken very good care of. There seem to be lots of AT guys that need new trannies and I am sure you get get several hundred bucks for that. With a fluid change, the tranny would probably be OK for several years.

 

yeah
the noise def. wasnt the manifold studs or a ticking... it was a rapping that you could actually feel hammering in the valve pan.

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