I have been having front end trouble ever since I got my MAXima back on the road this year! Tranny died on me in October of 2009. It sat until febuary of this year. Before the tranny died, I almost had a whole new front end, with the exception of the driver side control arm and strut. Now I get the car back and it rides really sloppy. I already know that it needs to be aligned. All wheels are balanced, and the tie rod ends are new. I checked to see if the ball joints were worn today and they are good. I also noticed that when the car was jacked up, and I was turning the passenger side wheel back and fourth, that there was alot of movement from the engine and transmission, as if one or more of the mounts are bad. If that is the case How difficult is it to replace one of the mounts. I think the front mount is bad on the engine, I didnt really notice if any others were bad. I also get this sloppy steering, and I can feel the wheels moving at low speeds like they are on whopsided, and not on straight. I checked the lug nuts and they are on tight. The passenger side wheel has developed a noise, but im pretty sure it may be premature failure of the wheel bearing. ALso both control arms(especially the passenger side ) seem to make a cracking sound when ever I hit the gas, even slightly! There is a leak somewhere near the bottom of the power steering pump. I thought I fixed it when I replaced the power steering return hose( but I guess not) . Then the rear shocks are shot, but someone told me to stiffen them and not to replace the shocks themselves. I want to keep the car, but all these repairs may not be worth it, then again they may be. I dont know

 

Also I dont know if they took the tie rod ends out when the tranny was replaced, but from the looks of it, it seems that there is no grease in the boots anymore, and they are less than a year old.

 

Here is what I think of as I am reading your post.

1. Power steering fluid may be deteriorating the control arm bushings.
2. The tie rod boots should have grease inside them unless they are torn or ruptured; if you have them disconnected from the knuckle, try moving the threaded portion around by hand, if it is fairly stiff but movable with a bit of of force, it is okay. If it doesn't want to budge or is incredible loose, it may be a supporting cause for wobbly steering.
3.It isn't incredibly hard to change the engine/tranny mounts, but it is important to have sufficient support to hold the 600lb. combination (if running an auto vg). I have some laying around I can send you, but a lot of people are refilling theirs with poly urethane, or buying new ones like me. If you don't see major cracks or tears, it shouldn't be an issue.
4.Before you get it aligned, check your bushings and mounts -engine /tranny mounts
- steering rack bushings
+if the rack moves while turning with car not moving, then
this needs to be replaced
-control arm bushing
+any movement beyond normal rotation is no good
-strut mounts
+cracks, tears, or movement of strut within mount is bad
-ball joints
+use method described above
5.If all of these check out, then try the alignment, but don't waste 30-50 bones on an unnecessary alignment if you have to do some suspension/steering work.
6. The rear shocks may need oil in them, as mine have leaked in the past, but also try bouncing the car until they may become stiffer (it's magical).
7. Old tires make driving difficult too, if it has sat around for a while, as the tires on my Max which has been posted up for more than a year are flattened out on one side.

 

I'd probably start with the struts since those are mainly what are causing the sloppiness and then proceed with the rest.

Best way to test the mounts is so have someone in the car shift through all the gears from Reverse to Drive and check for movement of the engine and trans. You can also have him/her hold the brake firmly and accelerate a bit while in gear to see if the engine lifts up.

When you say the tierod "ends" were replaced, is that the INNER tierod ends or OUTER tierod ends?

 

you ****ed the geometry when you changed teh trans.
get an alignment.

 

Yeah I replaced the outer tie rod ends with new ones. Once I got the car back, she vibrates soo badly at speeds above 75mph, almost like it wants to fall apart, even the slightest bump in the road, makes me nervous, as it will feel like im going to loose control. I remeber my 87 max had similar issues, and when I fixed the rear struts, she rode like a champ.

 

Oh yeah I sometimes pop the hood and revv the engine, and I can see it lifting up from the front, probaly meaning the front mount is going bad.

 

I would also take a look at sway bar and sway bar links to control arms while your looking at everything else mentioned in this thread. I had problem with control round turns, especially when it was wet out plus over little bumps. One of my sway bar links broke off and that cause ball joints to wear/ strut mounts to wear and tires were worn on inner tread.

 

I replaced the front sway bar links with a rebuild kit sometime last year. The passenger side strut seems to make some clunking noise everytime I hit a bump, it seems to be coming from near the mount area( its the only strut I did replace) Gotta go grab another front strut off of a GXE maxima like mine so that the front can be balanced a little more. I currently have a front strut off of an SE maxima on my driver side( im saying this because someone said that the spring heights are not the same)( SE has stiffer springs, GXE springs are a little higher). But I will have to invest in one of those 3ton jacks to make my work a little more easier( 2 ton jacks are a joke on this beast of a car lol) then I can do more to it. IF I can find leak on the passenger side of the car, I can replace the control arm. where else could it be leaking from? its not coming from either the pressure or return hose. I will most definetly check those tie rod ends, and take them back because they are still under warranty. Also going to replace the wheel bearing, the guy at the parts store was like its not worth it.

 

Yea, you more than likely have to get your alignment done (or redone) and definitely get new struts. You shouldn't be doing 75+ with all those issues. You can go over a bump or something which can cause your rear end to fishtail violently and cause you to lose control.

Take care of those two first but try to get the lifetime warranty alignment from Firestone or the 5 year warranty from NTB so you can get an alignment later one once find out what the other issues are and get repaired. THEN change the motor mount(s)

 

Thanks for the advice. I didnt know they still had lifetime warranty alignments.

 

No problem, check their website to get their pricing for your location... here in Chicago a lifetime warranty alignment is 159.99, it may be different out by you.

 

Another thing I forgot to menchen was that the upper intake manifold gasket is broken and missing in places. The engine now makes this humming noise at idle. Would that cause some power loss??

 

I would replace upper strut mounts/lower since they would make that noise also but if your doing struts anyway I'd do the strut mounts definately.

 

some, yes. the engine is getting more air than the computer thinks it is. a temp fix may be to try duct tape (wouldn't trust more than 15 minutes; engine heat will melt the the tape, and cause a big, nasty mess).

 

Ohh I thought so, because even though I have an aftermarket cone filter, I can still hear the humming, but I will stop by the dealer and get another gasket, because mine is beyond repair. Im going to the junkyard today also to pick up a gxe front strut, and a hub.

Update: I got a new intake manifold gasket and cleaned the middle plate thing, and even cleaned the upper manifold while i had it off. Its amazing what one bad tire can have you thinking! I replaced the rear driver side tire( which was smaller than the rest of the tires on the car) Thats why I was getting that sloppy steering on the driver side at times. Now I can cruise at 85mph plus with ease, although it is still something shaking a little under there on the driver side, but its not as bad as before. I will take it out on another drive this afternoon when it gets cool to see how she performs after I cleaned the throttle and intake manifolds.