Well went this morning to where the car was broken down at and got in and cranked right up. Stopped a few places and it cranked fine. Went to a friends house and went to leave would not start. Same symptoms. So we took off the air cleaner assy. Friend had me turn the key and he verified power going to starter. Then he tapped the starter while I had key turned on in the start position and it cranked right up. So went and put on new starter.

 

hello i have a 96 maxima the car ran great but one day i decided to clean the engine bay with gunk. i read the instructions covered up my fuse box and battery terminals applied gunk then sprayed a light mist of water and then dried it all off. then when i went to start the car it started sputtered then shut off. so i figured something wet needs to be dried off then let it sit untill the next morning. next morning i tried starting it and its the same thing. went to autozone and they told me to let the car sit with the hood open to air and dry out. so i did that and got same symptoms. i found the org used the search button and members have said to change the spark plugs. when i removed the plugs they were fouled out with the gunk. so i went to auto zone bought ngk threw them in and the car started and ran great! the next morning i went to start it and im getting the same thing starting sputter low idle then shut off. i came back on here searched then decided to take off throttle body maf sensor and iacv. i did that then bought crc maf carb and throttle cleaners to clean everything up after putting everything back together the car is still acting the same way! im sorry this is very long but im getting frustrated as i have tried everything i can! thanks

 

I have a 96 maxima gle and was wondering if a bose oem stereo can fit?

 

Bose was an option on your car, so it can fit. BIG however - if your car wasn't equipped from the factory with Bose, there are a lot of pieces that are different. Bose speakers are compatible only with Bose. And probably most important, the wire harnesses in the car are different for Bose and non-Bose.

If your car did not come from the factory with Bose, I don't think the amount of work to install a Bose is justified. There are a lot of excellent radios that will go in with much less work.

 

I have several issue to ask. Last week the alt/brake light was coming off and on, when they would come on the car would try cutting out. I felt it was a Voltage Regulator going bad, so I replaced it and the knock sensor. It ran fine for about a day then other issues started coming up.

1. ABS light flashed on and off several times over the last few days.
2. Bose Radio was working fine then the radio plays but no sound then it comes back. The really strange part is I can push and release the brake pedal and the speakers come on, hit the gas and they go dead. I can do this every time.
3. The brake came on this morning and is staying on?

Thank You Matt C.
Sorry yes I replaced the entire Alt.
new issue just came up I opened the hood and found 1 of the battery covers off and fluid around it.

 

Have you tested the charging system? It sounds like that's where your problem is.

Did you replace the entire alternator, or just the regulator? I'd be surprised if you were able to find the parts to do just the regulator.

 

Hello everyone! I have a new piece of info about our car problem.

As I've described in my previous posts here, there is a leak at the top of the radiator. There is a long crack in the radiator. The water sprays from it and leaves white stains on the battery and hoses. The car has also started eating more gas, and my dad estimated that it uses 16mpg, that is city and highway combined.

The new piece of info is that there is now water coming out of the exhaust pipe. My dad said it is an unusually large amount of water that sprays out of there.

The yellow check engine light is off. However, it does light up with all the other lights when the key is in the "on" position just before turning on the car. The yellow engine light was on about a month ago, it stayed on for a while and then went off, and has not turned on since.

My questions:

1.) What do you think is wrong with the car?

2.) Should I try to find the codes by turning the screw on the ECU even though the yellow engine light is off? Will codes still show up?

3.) Some of you mentioned the ECTS could be bad, how do I check it?

4.) Could having too much oil in the engine cause any of this? My dad always poured a bunch of oil into it, way above the "high" marker.

 

In order for water to come out of the tailpipe, the engine would have to have a blown head gasket between one of the water passages and one of the cylinders. When this happens, the water turns into steam when the spark plug fires and you get steam coming out of the tailpipe. If it were a really bad head gasket, the cylinder might not fire and you would have a "miss" in the engine. To check for this, you need to take a compression reading of all the cylinders. The one where the head gasket is bad will have a low reading. You might also be able to tell by taking out the spark plugs and looking at the electrodes. Normally the electrodes are a tan color, but if you have water being burned, it will be white. Another thing you can do is to put you hand in the exhaust gas. If you are buring water, the antifreeze will make the steam feel oily.

You can check the ECU codes if you want even if the check engine light isn't on. There are a few codes that will not cause the light to turn on, one of them is the knock sensor. If there are no trouble codes, you will get a 05 05 pattern.

The ECTS is tested by measuring the resistance. You need an ohmmeter for this and it needs to be decent quality, not the $5 Radio Shack special. At 70 degrees, the resistance should read between 2 and 3 ohms. To locate the ECTS, follow the upper radiator hose to where it connects on the engine. Another 2 inches after the end of the hose are 2 sensors. The 2nd one with 2 wires on it is the ECTS.



If you put too much oil in the engine, it will most likely leak out. Other than that, it doesn't cause problems.

 

Thanks a bunch for your response Dennis!

I explained what you said to my dad. He said he doesn't have anymore antifreeze in the engine because it all leaked out and he just replaced it with water for now because the radiator is leaking.

He also said that the coolant is not getting into the cylinder because he did not find any water in the bottom part of the engine where the oil collects (sorry dunno what its called, but its the part where you drain the oil from). He said the water would sink under the oil, and the oil level would rise, but the oil level did not rise. He also said that if coolant would be getting into the oil that the oil would turn whiter, but the oil is normal color.

What do you think about this? Is he right?

 

The bottom part of the engine where the oil collects is called the "oil pan". What you dad said abou what happens when water gets in the oil is true. But a blown head gasket will not always allow the engine coolant to get into the oil. It all depends on the exact spot where the head gasket goes bad. There are 4 possibilities:
1- engine coolant only goes in the oil.
2- engine coolant only goes into a cylinder.
3- engine coolant only leaks out on the ground.
4- engine coolant does all of the above. This is a really bad, extreme case.

If you have excessive moisture coming out of the tailpipe, you really should get a compression check done. Also, running straight water in the engine for a long period of time is not good. You should go to an auto parts store and get som water pump lubricant. This will stop the electrolytic action of the water between the aluminum engine block and the steel water pump.

 

Ok so I found this Maxima for sale and want to know what I should look for when I go up to check this car out this evening.

1997 Nissan Maxima GLE 127k miles. Manual Transmission. loaded with leather seats, sunroof, CD , power seats,power windows and locks.

Thanks,
Scott

 

yo man, u have to look under the car at the transmission housing and make sure its not wet or leaking. If it is leaking, DO NOT buy that car unless u want to purchase a new tranny. The 5spds are notorious for premature failure.

If u do buy, replace the tranny fluid. the best place to go is valvoline instant oil change. They got synthetic tranny fluid and its good.

O wait a min. GLE models only come in AT. either someone did a tranny conversion to MT or they lying about the model.

Other than that, check for rust on the underbody and at the lower radiator support.

The car shd have plenty of power. Power like u never seen before lol. If so, buy it and enjoy lol.

 

Anyone from Texas with an aftermarket y-pipe have problems with passing inspection?

 

Y-pipe dont cause emission issues. It may give u a lil more noise, but u shd still be able to pass with no problems.

Get warpspeed and u good.

 

That's what I thought at first. But some of the shops I've talked to said my check engine lights are going to come on if I get rid of the OEM y-pipe and the car won't pass inspection.

 

The factory y-pipe has O2 sensors in it. Not all after martket y-pipes do. So the mechanics are assuming that you will not have those O2 sensors and the check engine light would be on. If you do eliminate the O2 sensors, than you will need to get an O2 simulator.

 

i need new struts for my car and i was wondering if the gr2's in this link are what i can use. i am asking because they are shocks and i need struts i cant tell if they are the same thing or not

http://www.andysautosport.com/nissan...nd_shocks/kyb/

 

The picture that the web site used is not the correct one and this led to your confusion. But the part numbers used are the correct ones for a 4th gen Maxima. The first picture, the red unit, is a rear strut. The gray unit below it is a rear shock absorber.

Good catch on noticing that and asking questions before blindly charging on. The terms shock absorber and strut get used interchangably and most people let it go. But technically they are different things

 

I have a question. I drive a '96 nissan maxima, 5-speed. I've had different issues and things replaced. My latest issue has been thought to be the clutch but the mech said it was only the hydralic hose and not the entire clutch. Driving to class this morning I notice a very small difficulty getting into gear. Had stopped at a red light and took off like normal then when I went to shift into 5th my pedal got stuck in the down postition, I couldn't put it in gear and I heard a whining noise come from the front. Any ideas what it could be?? I need help ASAP!

 

Have you checked the fluid? Likely it's leaking at the hose (as you've already been told). Filling the reservoir and bleeding the system will get you going again for now, but the leak needs to be fixed.

 

its either master cylinder, slave cylinder, or the hose itself. One of these is either leaking or broken. your mech should be able to look to see if the hose is leaking. If its not then your slave or master is going. They are bout like 50 bcuks. I wd replace both jus to be sure. But its prolly the slave.

 

I have a simple question this time. How do I change the spark plugs?

More specifically, what is the round thing that he shows in this video at 3:59. Does it go on the spark plug somewhere?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-iM5...el_video_title

 

As explained in the video, that's a gapping tool, used to set the gap on the plugs.

Did you watch the entire video? As far as 'how to change the spark plugs'...that's what the entire video is about.

 

I have a 1996 Maxima with the 6 disk cd changer in the trunk. I've never used it before and decided to finally listen to some cd's, so i popped one into the changer and went to listen to it and it wouldn't read the disk and start playing. it would just blink on cd #1 for a bit then cycle through 2-6 and then go back to blinking on cd #1. I tried changing the position of the disk, but then it would blink on whatever position I put it in (so if i put it into slot #2 it would blink on #2 inside the car, ect...). so I tried putting in a few different disks to see if it was just the disk, then i got a message saying "ERR 3" on the display inside the car.
Someone please help, I just want to listen to some decent music.

 

And according to the manual, we use platinum tipped spark plugs, which should be pre-gapped if buying Bosch or NGK. I always double check, as every once in a while, one is off.

 

I was changing the oil today on the Max and I noticed that the cover that protects the serpentine belt from the right wheel well was half missing. I tried some googling and checking courtesy Nissan to find the part number with no luck. Anyone know the PN or know where to find it?

EDIT: I tried doing a search on the forums for a good resource for looking up part numbers with no luck.

 

http://www.courtesyparts.com/64836-c...-p-126593.html

Best bet is just grabbing one from a junkyard, if you really want one. They really aren't necessary, just a precaution against something getting up in the belts, and keeping too much water from splashing on the front of the engine.

 

1996 Maxima

Hi I am working on emissions issue and the Self Adjusting Screw fell inside ECU. This is a car my step son purchased and the screw was already messed up. It is currently not in the correct mode for the check engine light to display upon starting, so it will fail emissions immediately for bulb check. Is there anyway to get in the correct mode without using the screw? I checked with one shop an they said there scan tool could not do it, an didn't know of anyway. I unhooked the battery overnight ( just the positive ) an that didn't work. I looked inside the ECU hole an don't think I could even get it back in there if I took the ECU out which I tried doing.

 

No, there's no way to change the diagnostic mode via scan tool if it has been set via the screw.

You're pretty much limited to trying to fix what's broken, or replacing the ECU.

 

Thanks pmohr, not the answer I was hoping for but it is what it is, perhaps the emission station will give me a break if there are no codes showing.

 

What do I need to look for if I swap out the ECU does it have to come from a AT model if mine is AT an the same year? Thanks

 

I just cleaned the throttle body and IAC valve. Now the idle is a bit high. Will this autocorrect with more driving or do I have to tighten the screw?

 

It would be best to find an ECU of the same year and trannsmission.

 

Is the little oring/gasket on the oil drain plug a universal component? Is it something I can specifically ask for at an auto parts store, or where can I find a good replacement (OEM or makeshift)?

 

Good day all,

I have a pair of glass Cefiro headlights. Only the glass not the whole assembly. I know this will fit I30s from 1996-1999 but what about Maximas?

Will it fit a 1995-1999 Maxima headlight assembly with no problem?

 

And emissions spec, if you can get a yard to find that information.

You can get a 10mm drain plug gasket at most any auto parts store, but I've always preferred the OE gaskets if I'm going to be replacing it.

All dealers sell them, it's the same part for pretty much every Nissan out there.

 

1996 Maxima

I am looking to try to compleate the drive cycle so I can go in for emissions quicker has anyone done this an if so how precise do you have to be ie when it says drive 3 minutes is there some room + /- also I am in a city so I have to try an find a road that will allow me to do the steps with out interruption ie stoplights, traffic.

http://lyberty.com/car/maxima_tsb.html

http://lyberty.com/car/Maxima_A32_docs/NTB98-018c.pdf

Thanks

 

all u do is drive the car maybe 100 miles.

 

Newbie here, with absolutely no mechanical knowledge of cars. However, I have a 1995 Maxima GLE with problems and need some guidance. Wanting to sell it, but first need to get it to run - no funds at present for repairs. Battery dead. When jumpers clamped on, security system starts going off, therefore vehicle cannot be started. Need to 1) get vehicle started and battery charged up, 2) get into trunk to remove personal items.

Where do I start to disengage the security system alarm and stop honking my neighbors off?

Thanks in advance!

 

Ok with teh security system enabled, i am pretty sure u will not be able to start the car.

Or wait a sec, there should be a valet switch somewhere near the floorwell of the driver seat. Find that switch! When u find it, try to start the car. THe alarm will go off, keep the key in the ON position and press the switch. The alarm should turn off.

If that dont work, remove the Anti-theft relay from the passenger side fuse box. TO start the car with the relay removed u will have to jump 2 of the contacts. Idk which ones and dont feel like lookin. You will need the FSM for this.

No matter what u shd be able to get into the trunk, its not powered.