Hi all, I just wanted to step in and introduce myself. My name is Ahren and I live in Kingston, WA and I will shortly be the new owner of a 1991 GXE with 103k miles on it. I'm doing some work on a friend's car in trade for it.

I am in no means new to cars and working on them, but I'm curious what I should look out for. According to the friend, it has a couple issues but I was unable to confirm them when I looked over the car. (2 cylinders not firing, leaking head gasket...)

Either way, if they need to be done I can do them. I just wanted to know if there are common issues or maintenance I need to do. I tried to search "what to look out for" but didn't come back with anything.

thanks in advance

-ahren

 

"What to look for" is not important since you already have a contractual arrangement to get the car in a trade. When you get the vehicle, it has to be determined if the head is really the problem or it's the injectors that are causing the misfire. There are numerous posting on how to check the injectors. These engines are tough and other than injectors, vacuum leaks etc, there's not much else to worry about. Of course, depending on how it was treated/maintained, it could very well have head problems. Very rarely does the engine goes before the tranny though.

 

That's good to hear. I haven't had a chance to do any tests or anything, but it seemed to run really smooth if two cylinders are misfiring. I suppose I will have to wait and see.

Thanks for the info!

 

injectors are a common problem on VG, headgasket on VG30 isnt very common unless the engine was severely overheated. weak spot is the VG auto trans, cant abuse it. otherwise see when the timing belt was done last

 

So I picked the car up yesterday. Water pump leaks like a sieve. Looks like the rear Trans mount bolt was stripped in the past as the nut was missing and bolt had worked it's way out of the mount.

Also, while inspecting, seems the coil wire had a short in it, when I went to remove it to inspect it, the whole wire broke off at the boot and left the metal connector in the distributor cap. After removing the connector it appears as if it were arcing as there are scorch marks on the inside of the connection point on the cap.

Has a pretty bad exhaust leak as well, doesn't smell up the cab but it is quite loud. That appears to be at the rear manifold to downpipe connection.

I don't see any leaking oil or anything and I checked the oil and it wasn't milky at all.

The stereo is a Bose unit with what sounds like one working speaker, which sounds crappy so I'll be in the market for new stereo gear too.

 

Distributor caps, spark plug wires and the rotor do need to be replaced every so often. I remember that one night I opened my hood while the engine was running and saw sparks jumping from tower to tower on the distributor cap, even though I thought the car was running fine.

Another little irritating thing is a bushing in the shift linkage of the automatic transmission. You move the shift lever to Drive and the transmission is in neutral. The bushing is on the end of the shift lever that comes up into the car. The part number of the bushing is 34552-D4000. It's about $2 at the dealer

 

Thank for that! It did that to me one time on the way home yesterday when I was messing around coasting in neutral.

 

So I started tearing in to her to repair the issues and when I took the timing belt cover (upper) off I found the belt was really loose between the camshafts, like it actually sags in the middle. May be the reason it didn't seem to run 100%.

Either way, just an update.

 

It sounds like a timing belt will be in order immediately! There are some great write-up's linked here both in the sticky's or through using the search function. If you get into a bad spot with it just post up here and someone will have an answer.

I too had that same wire to the distributor basically fall apart on me. The autoparts store had a generic connector that I bought and crimped down that has been working great ever since. It's an easy fix.

Automatic transmission is definitely a weak spot on these cars. Losing a timing belt is always a concern as well (but it sounds like you're already on that).

The bose speakers gave up the ghost in my car as well. It's an age thing.

Injectors are a common issue. It sounds like you know what you are doing and how to test for a bad injector. Two of them have been replaced on my Maxima.

They really are great cars, so long as you keep up with the maintenance. My max is sitting at 203k now and it's been my daily driver for almost 10 years and 60k miles. I've grown quite fond of my Max! The engines themselves are bullet proof. They are made to handle a lot of punishment. It's the same motor that went in the 300zx of the same generation. I have one of those as well, and in that circle I have friends revving them to 7k every day without concern.

If you can do the work yourself this will be a slam dunk. Enjoy your new Maxima and welcome

 

Good job for getting in there immediately as far as the timing belt is concerned. Sounds like you may have saved that engine.

 

The Bose head unit (radio) is not something that ages well. The original Bose head unit in my 94 wouldn't play through certain speakers when using the radio and didn't play through a different combination of speakers when playing a CD.

What I'm trying to say is that your speaker problem may not be the speakers themselves. Look at the paper cones in the speakers. If they are not ripped up, the speakers may be good. Since you have one working speaker, swap it with a non working speaker and see if the working speaker still works in another spot.

 

I would second that. I bought the '94 new and have original speakers. The original Bose headunit only lasted 10 years. Another 10 years life on the OEM Bose replacement which cost me an insane amount (like $700). Stupid. A year or two ago, I went to Crutchfield's website and for a total of about $150 shipped ended up with a Sony headunit with bluetooth, USB, MP3, radio data service, the mounting sleeve, antenna adapter, bose speaker adapter (tamps down the output out the back of the receiver, since the Bose speakers are individually amp'd) and a Siriusxm adapter. Best thing I ever did. Wired the Bluetooth mic up the A pillar to the rearview mirror and the Sirius box and speaker adapter fit nicely in the dash, with the antenna easily wired to the inside back of the car by the speakers. Only tough part was getting the Bose out of the mounting bracket, which you still need. You can do it yourself with the instructions from crutchfield and a video on youtube: