I'm back! I bought another 92 SE 5spd black with grey interior, no airbag, ABS with 94k original miles. It has a few problems though. This car has a clatter at start up which is light then it starts getting louder at slow speeds, but once I get on the gas and start moving the sound goes away. It idles at 700 flat. I already saw a broken exhaust stud in the front near the A/C compressor. i suspect that exhaust leak, bad knock sensor, VTC, maybe bad timing chain guide? could even have some bad injectors but i wont know until iits taken apart. the gas tank has a small leak at the filler tube. One weird thing is the a/c doesn't work when its on fan speed 4, the a/c completely turns off, and the fan stops blowing.

 

sounds like a bad vtc to me.

does the AC light actually turn off? when I switch to 4, my fan shuts off, but the light stays on. (list of things to do)

 

The A/C thing sounds like a problem with the climate control unit itself. Mine does something similar. Jiggle the switch when you have it on fan speed 4, you'll notice there's a little bit of movement/play in the switch. I bet when you jiggle/move it just a bit the a/c will come back on.

The clatter certainly sounds like a broken exhaust stud. Of course, ticking VTC's could contribute to that. If it were me, I'd ground the VTC's and see if/how the noise changes then you can at least rule the VTC's out of the equation

And glad to have you back. Post pics!

 

thanks.. now there's one black SE 5spd sitting my drive way. and a new black 5spd SE coming along!. i plan on grounding the VTC's first. BTW how did everyone change their studs without taking the a/c unit off? i remember when i did it, i took off a/c compressor, radiator, lights and replaced ALL of my studs at once. Now that i have a working SE, i'll fix the other nonfunctional (hesitating/bucking) SE. I'll definitely mess with the a/c switch. the A/C completely shuts off. the fan doesn't blow at all and the light turns off

 

Just out of curiosity, does the clattering get quieter when you press the clutch in?

 

If you have one VE that has the hesitation/bucking and one that doesn't, try swapping all 6 coil packs and see if that does the trick.

 

ITS HERE! but so much bird poop stains that ate through the clear coat on the hood... =(.. how do i remove this? do i need a polisher?.. btw.. the a/c switch on 4.. still has the A/C light on.. but no fan at all.. how do we remove the A/C unit itself?

 

If bird stains ate through the clear coat then you can't "remove" it because think about it, the clear coat is already "removed". To fix it you have to "add" something (i.e., clearcoat if you want it the right way)

At this point it sounds like your a/c problem is the actual fan motor itself

 

How bad are the bird poop stains?

You might be able to buff the clear coat. If done right, you can take a thin layer off and smooth it out really nice. Check the detailing section for DIY.

Actually, it might be worth it to call around to some detail shops or body shops and see what they charge to have them buff it out. It might be worth $100-$200 to have it done right.

As an example, a couple of years ago I hit a deer with my QX4. The body shop had to replace the hood, left fender and left door. To make sure they matched the paint right (black) they had me bring it back maybe 30 days after they painted it (so the paint could cure properly) and they buffed out the entire car. It looked showroom nice, even the parts they didn't fix.

I am very, very tempted to have the same shop buff out my Maxima.

 

the bird stains are pretty bad.. but i wet sanded a spot and buffed it and it looked like it can be repaired.. Totally took apart the interior today. Took out the A/c climate control unit. the harness was burnt stuck so i suspect the climate control unit had a short, the harness on the car is slightly burnt. I also took out the carpet to vacuum and wash. Seats were scrubbed down, but needs another rinse. Looks like the Sunroof drainage system was clogged, (btw where is the drainage? i saw two holes in the front of the sunroof track that looked like drainage holes so i put a air compressor to it to clear it out. Still not sure if its cleared) Anyways, there is a missing exhaust stud in the front next to the a/c compressor. There is also a different clacking noise which leads me to think its the VTC, but it goes away intermittenly. i'll upload the video soon!

 

never mind...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxB-a7C_H20

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxL0U8rev7o

here you go guys.. this noise goes away when i get into higher gear.. i'm gonna ground the VTC's soon

 

Those are definitely the VTC's, albeit, that is some pretty darn loud VTC clack.

Anyway, why haven't you grounded them yet? It literally takes like two minutes

Also, I didn't know you were in Texas. What part?

 

i'm in houston. yea.. is it normal that the vtc stops clacking when i get into higher gear ? imma ground them and when i have time i'll do some maintenance. powersteering pump is leaking somewhere, and my windshield fuild tank is broken and leaking.

 

where in hou are u located?

 

Alief southwest

 

Well, it's not that it "goes away" when you get into higher gear, it's that it a) as the RPM increases, the "clack clack" noise isn't as distinct because it's clacking faster along with the engine (i.e., the "clack clack" itself is in faster intervals making the actual "clack clack" noise less distinct), and b) the engine noise simply drowns it out

 

You aren't that far from me or Cmax03

 

Me too, Alief (Hwy 6 and Bellaire area)

 

Me 1... VTC clack 0! I WIN, grounding the VTC totally worked.. but i might as well rebuild the VTC in a few thousand miles. I live on eldridge and bissonnet, i normally drive my other car (white mazdaspeed 6 ) anyone want to help a brother out and help replace the exhaust studs?

 

Wish I had time! I would do it for you! But me plate is so dang full, I might need to clone myself.

 

haha its all good..at least this car is SMOOTh as butter! does anyone know how much a JY a/c climate controller is? .. houston is so hot right now...

 

did u advance ur timing too as u grounded the VTCs?

 

actually.. i didn't advance my timing.. do i need to? BTW.. how do you adjust timing for the VE30s? i've been searching for CPS adjustments, but i can't find anything. i think my other maxima is also having timing issues. someone please tell me how i adjust timing! =D

 

Loosen the distributor retention bolts and rotate the distributor to the desired timing setting...you will need a timing light!

 

Unacceptable to have no A/C in Houston.

 

thought the VE30's dont have distributors?

 

VEs don't have DISTRIBUTORS...they r direct ignition system....u dont have to advance ur timing but wen u ground ur VTCs they r stuck open all the time for high rpms and it results in loss of low end torque...when u advance ur timing u compensates to get ur low end back but u GOTTA run high octane gas to give more resistance in the combustion chamber so ur engine wont knock...plus a bad or working sometimes knock sensor can give u pretty bad low end which u cant do anything about but change it...(i didnt say anything about a resistor lol)

EDIT: now follow this to advance timing on ur VE.....

http://www.geocities.com/craigbrace/index.html go in HOW TO and find it

 

They don't, but it's still basically the same method. Loosen the CPS bolts and adjust it accordingly. Make sure to mark/scribe the stock timing position.

Otherwise, even with the timing light, it's virtually impossible to get an accurate timing reading on the VE, so you'll spend the rest of the cars life not really knowing what the timing is actually at.

For what it's worth, I never really noticed a difference with advanced timing. I just recently took my timing back to stock and even with grounded VTC's I still noticed virtually no difference power wise

 

i'm only wondering, because i think the other maxima has a timing issue.. it misfires at a certain RPM and misfires at idle, i've replaced everything such as injectors, coilpacks, tps, ptu, sparkplugs, maf. i'm considering checking out the timing because i haven't done that yet. plus i think the CPS was moved before.

 

update, i just fixed my A/c climate control unit, there was a melted connector inside the unit itself that controls the fan speed. those that have a problem moving the fan switch from 3 to 4 and 4 to 3 should check it out. the tab that makes the connection to the switch was melted and pushed down, therefore, there was no connection whatsoever. i however have bought another a/c control unit, so this one will be spare just incase.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/41574853@N08/3838155847/

 

hey guys, how much tranny fluid do i need to buy for the 5spd? i can't find it in my haynes manual. i'm going GL5 amsoil

 

nvm found it! Search is friend =D

 

just experienced a sudden jerk while driving.. i was in 3rd gear doing half throttle and i felt a sudden jerk. but only happened once

so far i've fixed the cracked coilpacks with black RTV and did the knock sensor resistor until i can collect all the parts to recondition the car.

what could this jerk be? there's no missing..all injectors are 12ohms.. disconnected the coilpacks individually to listen to misfiring and all checked out well.

 

motor mount?

 

i know the motor mounts are bad, but the car almost died in the morning while warming up. it'll almost die and the rpm picks back up. drives fine, i guess i'll buy some injector cleaner

 

sounds like a lot of things need to be fixed. I would recommend fixing the obvious stuff (mounts, knock, coils) before going into the not so obvious stuff. many issues that seem unrelated to an obvious flaw may be.
Example:
I had an 86 Subaru GL10. The car had trouble staying runing. I had no oil cap on the car. Put a cap on and viola' it ran perfect.
Same car, it died when I went around corners sometimes. Turns out the computer wasn't bolted down tight. Tightened it down and voila' no more dying.
get my drift