Larry H

This once mirror-smooth VQ now rattles! I went home and drove this thing for the first time in months, and there is a distinct rattle at idle up to 2k rpm. It's subtle enough that someone who'd never rode in a max before wouldn't notice, but if you hold the rpms at 2k while accelerating you can hear it distinctly. It drives perfectly besides that. The car has about 81k on it now.

The 60k tuneup was done about 10k late, and the car wouldn't start without being gassed when I drove it last week. I immediately took it for an oil change (4k overdue) and a fuel injection cleaning. That solved the starting problem and the throttle response improved, but the rattle is still there.

I did a forum search, and it sounds exactly like a 3rd gen VTC failure, but is that possible? Someone help please!

Daniel B. Martin

4Gen Maximas don't have Variable Valve Timing. The rattling sound could be the symptom of a broken timing chain guide or a loose (worn) timing chain. It could also be some other engine part, such as a loose heat shield on the exhaust system.

It is important to identify the source of the noise. A four-foot length
of small diameter rubber vacuum hose will help you do this. You can buy
the hose in any auto parts store. They typically sell it in bulk for about
US$0.50 per foot. Start the engine and let it idle. Put one end of the
hose in your ear and the other end near any suspected source of noise. The
engine compartment presents a cacophony of sound. The benefit of the hose
is that it isolates the sound from one specific area.

You may find it interesting to explore the sounds of your engine with this
inexpensive tool. Each moving part has its own characteristic sound. For
example, listen to the muted clicking of the fuel injectors. They should
all sound alike. If you find one with a different sound (or no sound at
all) you have found a problem.

The dealer's service department is equipped with high-tech diagnostic
instruments. These are wonderful devices but they are expensive and the
dealer has to recover his cost by charging you for diagnostic time.
Sometimes the home mechanic can do legitimate diagnostic work with nothing
more than a rubber tube.

Larry H

I'll give it a try the next time I go back there.

If it is the timing chain, how much should it cost to get it replaced?

NmexMAX

iTrader: (22)

At Melloy Nissan here in santa Fe, the costs for 'timing chain service' was around 4 billz, pretty high. Mine also does that when your first start for a few minutes(1-3) but it and subsides when the engine is warmed and ready to go.

Jeff92se

iTrader: (82)

Dan is probably right but more specificly I think he's referring to the timing chain tensioner or the assembly. Either the plastic or ceramic tension block is really worn down or the oil feed to the tensioner is getting clogged.

It also could be a sticky hydraulic lifter gummed up by non-regular oil changes or etc...

You could try an engine flush product to try to clean the oil gallies or loosen up the varnish on the sticky lifter(if that is really the problem) Good luck

Larry H

I was looking at getting a prelude, but the quality of this board alone makes me get a max. Have you ever seen the superhonda.com prelude board? It looks like PeOPle's sHiFT KeYS aRe BRokeN. As usual the responses here are ever-helpful.

Anyway, I spoke to my dad, and he's going to take the car to his mechanic friend, or rather schedule an appointment so I can take it in for him. Whatever the trouble turns out to be, I'll be sure to post it here to provide insight for anyone else who may have a similar problem.

My parents are terrible at maintaining their cars. The max was OK when I was in high school and college when I could still take care of it semi-regularly, but now...My dad is trying to dump the max on me so he can get a 540i or an E430. It'll be painful to see me more fine machinery being subjected to non-regular maintenance. Ah well. Thanks again.

Larry