Anyone with a 4th gen either from or living on a snow area knows of this issue. If not, you probably know about it - Corrosion (BAD Rusting) where the engine support bolts to the radiator core support.

I am curious how big of an issue this is. Who knows, maybe we can somehow prove this to Nissan and they can do something about it. I know its a little late, but it never hurts, right?
Better yet, is this an issue with other gens?

PS - My camera is being tempermental with my pc so I can't post any pics. Anyone that has some, post them if you can so everyone can see the diferent stages and ones from different areas.

 

I think there was a write up to fix not too long ago.

 

Yeah, I tried to fix the same way as was indicated in that thread, but unfortunately mine was to far gone. So I am currently saving up to replace it. No lowering for me until core support is fixed.

 

anyone got that link???

 

Are you talking about this ?

 

I live in NY and you can imagine the snow and salt here!! I have a problem in that area aswell as alot of maxima's. Fortunately mine isn't to bad but got me worried, so I'll just cut that area and weld a nice piece of steel in there. And of course get some rust prevention product around that entire support area.

 

Mine is rusted really bad. I don't even think those bolts holding the cross member up are even doing anything. I'm getting it fixed when I move back home so my friend at a body shop can do it.

 

my 96 is pretty bad - will need a repair within a few years for sure. it will come down to how long i'm keeping it, its on the list of "restoration" stuff (along with paint) that i will probably do in 1-2 years.

 

Yeah, thats it. Yours doesn't look too bad though. Early enough to fix. Mine is 'holy' the whole way across the support. So I need to fix it this winter. Or I will be ridin' the VQ to school!

 

you guys also need to inspect/treat/repair your suspension crossmembers...

 

where exactly is that at ^ ?

 

Heres my New Radiator support installed after the old was cut out

 

Thats part of the frame where the lower control arm bolts to

-matt

 

Scary, I don't think mine is rusted there. I still have to double check. I have progressively de-rusted my car. The whole underneath is 'Truck bed coated' and undercoated on top of that. After I wire wheeled the underneath. The front core support is all I have left, and its BAD.

Matty-> When you bought you're core support, Did you have to get a 'lower' piece, or did you just but the whole support?

The body shop is telling me I have to buy the lower part separate, I think they are nuts and want my money. I was just going to buy a whole support off ebay for $100 and take it to a different shop.

 

mine is rusted...but not horrible yet...I am hoping not to have the car long enough to replace it...if i do...no big deal....a few days of cutting...drilling and spot welding

 

Get just the lower section from Nissan for about $127

-matt

 

myne is rusting! i havent started working on it yet cause its cold out. anyone have a right up or video to repair - PREVENT - from further damage/rusting.

i was going to just scrape away the rust, and spray on some rustolium or something.

 

I don't really understand your logic here. Why buy just the lower piece for $127 if you can get a whole new radiator support for $100?

 

Putting the whole new radiator support on is a bigger job and chances are the rest of your radiator support doesn't need to be replaced. Doing just the lower section isn't too big a deal to do by yourself and it'll take care of the problem.

 

Beacuse #1 is an Ebay Part and #2 its the entire rad support and a HUGE JOB especially when the motor is in the car.

But do what you want

-matt

 

What did the shop charge you? The shop wanted $800 to fix mine with the full support. Thats not including the price of the support. So I have been saving.
So much for my suspension. Looks like I'm riding dirty for a while. Unless the shop would want significantly less to do just the lower piece.
Do you have a part # or a bill from when you bought the part? (If the shop didn't get it for you) The parts depts. @ the Nissans near me is full of mongoloids, they're useless.

 

mine is kinda torn out. How much did it cost to get yours fixed?

 

$800 Labor to install that entire front peice is a decent price. I wouldnt get that entire peice though. Spend $130 for the part from Nissan and the shop will probably only charge you $500-$600 to install it. Its ALOT less work to install the lower peice than the Entire peice

-matt

 

For those of you who have only done the bottom section, can you do a write-up for the rest of us. Mine is in pretty bad shape.

 

it's welded in my friend, uless you have a mig welder and alot of experience welding, i would leave it to pros.

i dont think anyone understands that in order to get to that piece, you have to take off the lights and bumper, radiator and condenser, evacualte and recharge the ac, replace the coolant, partially drop down the engine craddle, take off the old one, prep the new one, weld it on, seam seal it, paint it, and put it all back together. it'll take 8-12 hours to do, times that by your current labor rate, plus an ac charge, coolant, paint, seam sealer and the lower tie bar.....................well over 800 bucks.

 

mine was rusted through, I had it welded and its been fine since then, but its cause my guy did a very very good job on it

 

Your guy huh?..

 

This is what I need done on mine asap. 274k miles and if this is going to hit 300 it needs to be worked on.

Going to check on it Monday. Get some pricing etc. Xmas present for the car I guess.

 

i didnt find anything gay in that statement.

 

Mine was also rusted out - had it replaced for $500 (will post up pics later when I get home)

 

I found the whole piece on www.rockauto.com for about $60+s/h. Has anyone ordered from this site? Any recommendations outside of paying $800.

 

This probably could be reproduced with quality but if you are going to be the one putting it in then you might as well go for the genuine nissan part.

Granted whatever you buy you could do some additional rust proofing.

800 is approaching the overboard price on this car in my opinion. Too much other things I would rather do with the money like performance upgrades.

Go genuine though. I am suprised that radiator support isn't solid. Seems like it would do better in a crash.

 

Well $800 isnt bad at all considering you can be driving down the road at any time and your frig*n motor can fall out of your car. Thats why I did it. Rust is very unpredictable ESPECIALLY on a frame of all things.

Then $800 isnt too bad to spend, rah ??

-matt

 

what matty said, 800 in mods isnt going to get you anywhere if your engine falls out of the car.

have you ever tried bending a price of round metal bar? alot easier to bent a solid one than a hollow one. besides the fact that that piece if it were solid it would be over 200 lbs. not too many things on a car are built thick. they are engineered to be strong and light.

 

You would think they could fill the hollow tube with aluminum or build the damn thing out of titanium.

It's inexcusable to pay 28k or 26k or even 24k for a pos that is going to rust out in 10 years.

I hear plenty of people complaining about the paint job but this is way more important.

If someone is selling the same crappy part for 60 bux plus shipping and handling I think Nissan could of made it a lot more thicker or with more rust retardant (paint and primer).

 

Titanium ??? Yea that would add about $1500 to the production of the car.

-matt

 

i tried to knock all the chunks of rust off mine and coat it w/ underbody coating. i think it's prolonging the inevitable.

 

I'm dealing with the same problem right now... I can't even drive the car as my bolts have completely ripped out of the member.

So the general consensus is to leave this work up to a body shop? Thats a lot of friggin money for this work, I was working myself up to do the job on my own. Where's the write-up for this? Stickies?

 

Mine has a hole 1/2" x 3", so I need to get at this soon.
The lower support is $212 CDN (Oakville Nissan) so once again the US rules on prices...

I will be replacing mine in the next few months and will take pics and post how I did it. (I sure an glad that I picked up the MIG welder last year!)

If you have done it:
-How many spot welds did you have to drill out to get the lower support off?
-Was it difficult getting the bumper cover off? (many rusted & broken bolts?)

Thanks,
Frank
95 Maxima w/381,000 Km

 

I don't think Nissan engineered this part well obviously. My 99 with 54k miles has this rusting started too. I'd of never looked too close had I not seen it posted here a while back.

It's definitely a problem for 4th gens.