Um yeah. He should get a valve job if he NEEDS one. Not because you told him to. There's no way to tell if it's even needed so the advice is premature. And considering I've hardly ever read/heard of a VQ30 having worn guides/seats, I don't know why you suddenly think it's the problem

10 year old car. How long do you think he can go until he needs one?

Needs what? Unnecessary work? A long time I would guess

What relevance does the age of the car have? The fact is its a Maxima and only has 125,000 miles on it. Apart from that we don't know the work history of the car prior to 88K, but do know that its maintenance in the last 37K has left something to be desired.

Would a compression test shed any light on the condition of the engine? Have any of the belts and hoses ever been replaced? When was the last time the radiator was flushed and the cooling system pressure tested? Has the car ever been overheated?

There you go. If I had just bought it and it started doing all that I would just go do as much as possible. Perhaps just a full overhall. If not the water pump and a few other things that could be done while replacing the gaskets.

I have never done it on my maxima and it has nearly 250k miles on it and it is a year older. However, I do not have an SE or manual. So, perhaps someone ragged it out. Just a thought.

There does what go?? He didn't validate your reasoning.

If it comes down to a "overhall" or overhaul, it's cheaper just to buy another used engine and swap. But we aren't at that point yet.

What does SE non SE have to do with anything. People rag on all types of cars. And conversely, people take care of sports cars.

Yeah and replace the exhaust system and the transmission and don't forget the radiator, might as well do that at the same time, too, WTF!

Good luck Jeff! You are trying to educate the uneducable.

Typo. Not really using logic with the word people. I am just suggesting with the word "perhaps." Like perhaps a Porsche Carrerra is not the same as a Yugo. Know what I mean, Vern?

Perhaps he should do a full overhaul? That's not really sound advice. As the costs of even a headgasket replacement is very close to an used engine/replacement cost. So if you add anything remotely close to a "overhall", it will no longer be a financially viable option.

So yes, I know what you mean. Just don't understand your logic. As there seems to be a great lack of it coming from you side of the screen.

How much does it cost? An accountant might want to know. What would be the expenses if someone else does it compared to doing it yourself? I really don't know. But I would bet you do.

I know. I bet if an accountant searched, they would know also.

LOL, I doubt it. If it isn't in the books it's just not there. Out of sight out of mind.

It is better to be thought a fool, than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt.

This thread has gotten really o/t! That's why I like it. I loved Canada back in the mid 90's to about 3 1/2 years ago. Wow did me and my buds live like kings, mostly in Mtl. Hand the girl $100, she handed back $161. Felt like $61 of Monopoly money gained. Ontario is ok but not much doing. Very orderly, however.

I act as the treasurer for a non-profit, don't mind it because it's not my field so it's not like real work and I like doing it. Like fixing up houses and tinkering with cars. But what always puzzled me is that the CPA is one of the hardest exams, yet they don't make any money. Maybe they need to learn from the actuaries and limit the number who can join, dunno.

I always thought a fool had the king's ear. I wouldn't know though because I don't live in Canada. Who is your Governor General btw?

Do you have to have a license for your job? I am so copesetic knowing what all those words really mean. I still don't know why they call it a Maxima and not a Cefiro or something more Japanese.

I've worked in the forest product industry for one of the largest forest products companies in Canada all my career, not in public practice so I've done just fine. And who wants to be an actuary and stare at mortality tables till their blue in the face, lol!
You should visit BC, Frank Fontaine. We've got a little event called the Winter Olympics here in 2010. Come on up to Whistler. Best ski bar in North America.

Actually, I have heard that Whistler is the best in North America, Tremblant and Killington both went back and forth for best on the East Coast. Yes, that sounds like a very good idea!

Oh yeah? I will be representing Antartica in the next olympics. I have a white flag and the anthem will either be Velvet Underground's "I Can't Stand It Anymore," or Tupak Shakur's "All Eyez On Me."

My guess for largest forest product companies would be Weyerhauser, especially since you are out west. I hear BC is very cool. I have looked into immigrating to places like New Zealand but I can't see swearing allegiance to the Queen.

I would like to give up the Maxima and Pathfinder and just ride the train like I was used to in jolly ole England. Sipping some righteous brews.

But as it stands now I will probably wind up in some jungle fight off king snakes and creatures that go bzzzz.

why not change all that crap that has been for a while not changed...it cant hurt, dont know if it will help, but its worth it...
im sure this problem is deeper, and i got no clue considering i got an automatic *thumbs up*


hahahahah thats the funniest thing ive read "good times" lol

Long time no see, mrgeek, how's school going? Your mechanical genius has been sorely missed the last little while, lol!

Hey

I leave for a couple hours and this place turns into a ruckus... lol

Yeah, I'm going to get the car checked out tomorrow or friday...
screw this ****... hehe Now i just want to get it checked out just to find out where the problem is coming from, and less just to fix the problem... hehe

luckily i've gotten a small amount more cash from my side business designing websites

Imagine me trying to explain to the mechanic the symptoms...

Yeah, sometimes I have full power with no stalling bucking... this can last for days... or in the last case, months... Other times, (like just today) I randomly lose power, wether hot engine or cold engine... I can floor it and still go, but it's as if i lost 50-100 horsepower... oh, and when i lose the power, and i floor it, I see white smoke from my exhaust, there will also be the smell of those old cars you see on the road burning oil... you know "that" smell. I also lose coolant, not very quickly, but every 3rd week i have to top it off...

BUT when i'm in "regular mode" (as I like to call it) flooring it, will yield no white smoke...

From reading here and through google, the only things I believe to check out are:

Coolant sensor, coil packs, spark plugs, valve seals, head gasket, what else?
notice the wonderfull order, from exterior of the engine to interior... yeah it's super great!

:-/

oh, and here's a fun one... today as i'm driving home, i'm at the light, in neutral, no stalling... great... i go to take off, at 2k my engine goes into turbo afterburner mode... I lose all power and smoke lightly comes from my exhaust... at this point, firmly stepping on the gas will allow me to atleast accelerate faster, as it does this, at 4k-ish, I hold it longer because i feel something is different... sure enough it won't accelerate past 4k... I change to second gear and everything is back to normal... with my loss of power, but atleast I can go past 4k as i tested...

that said, I've taken the regular care of the car over the period i've owned it... in the case of the clutch, alot of people will let the clutch ride out and replace it at it's end... this shouldn't harm the engine in anyway right? it's a seperate function.

oil, regular intervals, plus using amsoil oil... at 88-89k when i first got the car, I immediately replaced the spark plugs, with high quality ones, since i had more money back then... hehe

Never had much of a problem with it since then. it's really just hitting me harder right now...

Thank god i've only got 2.5k left to pay on this thing...

Well keep us posted, multiplexor. Our good friend Armelius must be tucked away safely in the asylum for the night, lol! With any luck they won't let him out on a day pass.

hehehe nice

no problemo... I'm very intrigued by this problem... signs point to one problem, whereas other signs point to a different problem...

I might have just struck bad luck and hit a pot load of problems at the same time....

More than likely you have a problem with your coil packs. Or even injectors. Either way Jeff97se says you are going to spend two thousand dollars on a new engine or fix. rmurdock says he needs more information because there will always be more or less beans.

Wait a second...your queen is giving me some dirt on the latest royal wedding...have to go and make a fool's errand.

What? I guess the Canadian exchange must screw with your logice because you are making NO sense. For someone that knows nothing about engines, you sure have alot of "advice" for the guy. You make 2damax seem like a damn F1 chief mechanic.

Yeah, while he is taking everything off to replace the gaskets he should test as much as possible. What do you think Jeff92se? Just don't worry about it and just replace the gaskets? How much does a replacement engine cost now? Remember you have to throw in lost labor and down time on the car.

Since he's taking the car to mechanic, this may be moot, but I have learned through experience that even if your cat converter is just a year old, doesn't mean it can't go bad. If you have an O2 sensor that's bad, (which he does), that's telling the computer that maybe it needs to richen up the mixture. DEPENDING on how long that sensor has been out could be a key factor. Rich gas mixtures CAN affect or break down a cat over time. Most mechanics here in NC knock on the cat with their hand and if they hear rattling, they say the cat is bad (substrate falling apart). HOWEVER, the only REAL way to know if the cat is working, is to test the INLET and EXHAUST temp of the cat itself. So you need a pyrometer. With car warmed up, the EXHAUST temp of the cat should be HIGHER than the INLET TEMP. If it's the same or lower, you have a bad cat. The erratic idling COULD be substrate that blocks the exhaust and as you floor it, it moves it out of the way.
As a sidebar, the car I discovered all this with was not a Maxima (no, I won't tell) and the shop I took it to, advertised that they "tested" cats. Well, their pyrometer had NEVER been used and had no batteries. I had to insist that they get batteries. Mine was clogged up and all the banging on the cat would NOT have told them a thing. Oh yes. The car would BARELY idle. You can probably guess I had been dealing with this issue for a while.
Sorry for the length.

Armelius, the omniscient eye, might beg to differ with this opinion.

Differing opinions always welcome. It wouldn't hurt to check tho. And it would a hell of lot cheaper than replacing an engine and coil packs and whatever else....Hopefully, the owner will let us all know what was found!

Sounbwoy, I was being facetious in my comment about Armelius. He is wet behind the ears and doesn't know his ar$e from page 4. I haven't heard from him lately ... must have slipped back into lalaland.

Oh! Sorry. It's that Newbie posting thing.....

Stay tuned, more amusement to follow I'm sure.

TEst yes, replace, no.

How are you going to "test" all that valve guide/seat stuff???? How much does that cost????? How much labor would it entail??? How much is that labor????
Cost? Research and find out? You don't even know how much it costs to "check" the above. So you don't know what is cost effective or necessary. Please stop giving advice on this. There are millions of people on Vulcan killing themselves

What's Vulcan?

lol

awesome thread i've started... hahahah

So yeah I've scheduled an appointment for tonight... 9:30pm oddly enough...

I really need to get this figured out... it's crazy how many different options i'm given on what the problem might be... hehe

This feels like it's going to be a 1500-2k cost in the end.... But it'll be worth it....

Good luck! 9:30 PM sounds awfully late to take a car in for an appointment. What kind of a place keeps those kind of hours - never heard of anyone staying open that late before. You never know - it might not cost as much to fix as you fear and don't tip your hand on that figure or you might get what you wish for at the shop!

Honestly there's not many places around here which i trust... I've been to a couple places which don't seem tooooo bad... but i've heard to many awefull stories from friends,collegues, family members about the mechanics around this area...

That said, sucks, but i have an appointment straight with the dealer. I've been a couple times for minor things, and they've been extremely extremely good with me.... Hell last time i went they looked at my car for 1.5 hours + plugged in the CONSULT tool and it only cost me 65$ CDN... I was like WOAH! hehe

But yeah, I was equally surprised... Tonight they supposedly are open until 1 AM... 1AM?!?!? crazy weird!! (repairs department only...)

Here'es the other weird part about this place... I visited a NAPA/UAP type place about the ignition coil packs on my car... I asked for 6 and the guy said they were 200 each... this dealership was selling them for 130$ each... I was like, how can a dealership sell coil packs for cheaper than a car parts store!!! hehe

anywho, i'm leaving my butt wide open for a possible butt raping on the cost... but who knows, i might be lucky

as usual, good times.... hehe

If you can avoid it, do not take your car to the stealership. Take it to anyplace else up to 50 miles away.

mini update...

thus far, the guy thinks it's the maf sensor... he knocked on it a couple times and reved the engine and the sensor went back to reading 100%... previously it was down to 75%... we took it out for another test drive, and i didn't lose power whatsoever at that point...

He also noted that the water pump will need to be replaced...

So i'm wondering if it might be a combo of both items...... somehow coolant is mixing somwhere causeing the smoke, and power loss from the maf..

He also said it could be because of my aftermarket air filter... some of them contain too much oil... It's an amsoil air filter... it's a possibility...

anywho, i've got a rental for now... screw it, i'm dying to find out what's going on with the car! heh

I haven't heard of too many 4th Gens having problems with their MAF because of K&N panel filters that are oiled. I believe the newer ones experience some problems in that regard. The water pump replacement may get rid of your leaky coolant problem.

You should also get him to do a pH test on your radiator to determine if it should be flushed and the coolant replaced. Have you ever flushed the radiator? Antifreeze breaks down after 2 years (maybe able to stretch a rad flush longer than that) and the older the rad gets the more susceptible it would be to corrosion and rusting.

Should anything else be done at the same time - plugs, fuel filter, PCV valve etc. If you need plugs ( I know you replaced them since you bought the car, but what with) you might just want to go with NGK coppers, which they might not stock, in order to save some cash at this juncture. Just a thought.

Maybe our good friend Armelius could weigh in on this, if he isn't locked back up by now.