First is easy - the hood won't stay up. Is it easy or inexpensive to find new pistons to hold it up? Will a place like autozone have them...?

Second: that's a picture from one of the wheel wells. Each have the same issue - the boot there is cracking. How serious is this and estimated repair costs? Is it a difficult job to do myself (my skill level is only changing brakes/plugs, etc.).

BTW for those interested I replaced my 93 sentra with a 97 dark red maxima SE. 77k miles, ALL maintenance records, fully loaded 5 speed. Leather is impecable. Power seats, auto climate control, etc. Price? $6,000! I now have it and my 00 maxima. I loves them

 

The hood pistons are pretty easy to find. Your local auto store should have them, and they'll pretty easy to hold up, just make sure you have a good hood prop because that hood is HEAVY!

 

I wouldn't worry about it. When it comes time for new struts, get the boot/bump stop assembly then. They aren't exactly cheap. At 65k miles, my boots were all cracked and falling apart completely. Yours actually look really good!

 

If I were you, I would chekc if my CV boots are ripped. www.motorvate.ca tells you how to check,.

 

Thanks guys. I did a quick check on the CVs. they looked ok but I didn't get under the car - I know I should have had a mechanic check this out - but I was unable to due to time constraints. I did do the tight cornering at low speeds to check for clicking.

So, the recommendation would be to leave these until they start to go on me? The car drives _so sweet_. It's as nice as my 00 in driving (though it feels a touch lighter/nimbler, and accordingly a bit lighter on the highway), which is worth twice as much

Anyway I was just looking in haynes and it seems that this problem in the picture is a strut assembly, correct? Taking one apart and fixing it looks like a difficult job, but simply taking it off and replacing with a new OEM one looks easy, with an extra tool or two. Is that the case, and how much do new strut assemblys cost?

Thanks

 

If you are gonna replace hte struts, you might as well lower it too.
http://maxmods.dyndns.org/index.php?MaximaHandling

 

Bumpers

 

Looking for any last input on the strut

 

i would leave the strut alone. the boot looks pretty good. i would not suggest doing it yourself just for the boot. compressing springs can kill you. when i did my strut bearings i ended up having my brother in law mechanic do it for me and even he ended up getting cold feet halfway through it and ended up bringing it to a friends shop because they had a professional spring compressing machine to do it.

i originally bought replacement 'struts' to hold my maxima hood up for $40 but took them back before installing them. i just made a prop out of sturdy wood trim cut to length and keep it in my trunk. others on here use a mini pair of vice grips clipped to the old struts to keep it up.

 

Vice grips would have worked well...I ended up already having bought new hood lifts yesterday. $20/piece "Max lift" gas filled ones from autozone. They hold up the hood nicely.

I was reading haynes about strut replacement and you definitely do need a spring compressor from what it looks like...Maybe I'll ask more about that specifically and whether it's safe to do or not before I end up getting that strut placed, in the future when it goes on me. Thx!