Without any mention of mileage, they could be 1k or 100k miles old, we have no way of knowing.

At that sort of mileage, assuming OE coils, I would lean towards a coil failure. You can try to test them with a multimeter, but there's no definite way without a scope and an amp clamp.

Did you do anything, have anything done, or has anything happened before you noticed an acceleration/idle issue?

 

The plugs are less than a year old.

 

Nothing significant. in the few months we've had it, there have been occasional points where it doesn't get up and go very well, and if you turn the key too far it won't start properly, but that's less an issue anymore.

 

And as I said before, a year could be 1k miles, or 100k miles.

We can't help you if you don't provide any information.

Factory coils?

 

Yeah, I still don't know what those are. I'm getting all previous maintenance questions secondhand from someone who doesn't have a great memory.

 

Hey guys im the next "NEW GUY". This place has helped me a bunch in the past so I am turning here for help. I have a 96 with a 5 Speed. I had a bearing go out on the final drive. I have replaced all the bearings and seals in the transmission. My question is how do I time the counter shafts in the trans? Any help would be awesome! Thanks!

 

I don't know the answer but here is a link to the transmission section of the service manual:

http://boredmder.com/FSMs/Nissan/Maxima/1996/MT.pdf

Maybe the assembly section starting on page 35 will help you.

Here is the link to the entire service manual:

http://boredmder.com/FSMs/Nissan/Maxima/1996/

Good luck!

 

Hi guys so I have a '98 Maxima. It is normal for when manually unlocking the drivers side door from the inside after the doors have been locked (say the window was down) the alarm to go off right? Horn honks repetatively, and car wont start.

Well today, when i went to unlock the car from the outside with my key, the alarm started going off as if I had unlocked it from the indside. I thought that was weird, but when i went to do the standard nissan procedure of inserting the key into the driver side door and turning to lock and unlock- IT DIDNT WORK! This method has always worked for me in the past when i accidentally set off the alarm.

Any ideas what might need to be replaced?

just thought to go test the battery voltage, will update
:update: voltage reads 12.54v after messing with it a lot all day. seems about right?

:update:nothing i'm trying is working, cant stop alarm or start car. thinking of replacing the one door/lock assembly component that has an electrical wire going to it, hard to see up in there, but looks like its all connected (well one part really) with the actual key-hole with the pins and tumblers. I can't find it online, as i have no idea what its called. I'm finding lots of parts that look like they 'could' be it...

i guess that would leave me with a different key for that door, but do you think there would be an 'compatability' type problems as long as it the exact, working replacement part?

i really need to get to work, please, any help would be GREATLY appreciated

:update: ok so i found the alarm system in the link to the FSM thanks to DennisMK! looks like the 2 parts that could be causing the problem are either the: Door Lock Sensor, or Door Key Cylinder Switch, as according to EL-250.

Neither of the procedures in the manual (using key in driver door, or trunk) are working for me. The trunk lock has been busted since i bought the car and only opens with the button on the door. It kind of hangs out sometimes, and I may have tried pushing in it because I saw it hanging out right before I unlocked my door with my key. The alarm didnt sound until i unlocked my door WITH the key, and I cant seem to get it to turn off via normal methods that have worked for me in the past.

Now just looking for ideas to try to fix them, or figure out which one to replace!

 

Probably a stupid question, but just you see it in movies doesn't mean its true...

Can you hotwire a 98 maxima to bypass how the alarm disables the starter? I have the key so the steering lock won't be an issue.

 

fakie knows a bit about the alarm systems

I love my A32

 

Yes you can. I assume you have an auto trans because the stock Nissan alarm system does not prevent the starter from operating in a manual trans car.

Go under the hood and pull out the ANTI THEFT RELAY by the power steering reservoir. Then put a jumper in the socket between pins 3 and 4.

I can't remember if there are numbers in the socket, but the relay has pin numbers on the bottom of it, reeeel small numbers.

 

Makes me not wanna post on this site at all but I understand why you do it, they get spam all the time at the crxcommunity.

Anyway I'm just a dude that ran into a bad problem while trying to remove the water pump. I'm sure there's an alternate way of getting the pump out other than walking it out with the two screws. I got pics too don't worry.

 

That 15 posts thing was abolished maybe 2 years ago, but the notice about 15 posts was never deleted. You can start a thread as soon as you register.

I would be interested is seeing you alternative for removing the water pump.

 

Hello,
I recently purchases a 97 SE that I intend to race on a track. I'd like to get bigger rotors and calipers. Does anyone know if there are stock parts from other cars that are larger than oem rotors and calipers?

A neighbor has a Quest with rotors and calipers from a Supercharged 88 Thunderbird. Wondering if there's anything comparable.

Thanks.

 

Here is something that another member did to his 96 Maxima.

https://maxima.org/forums/4th-genera...96-maxima.html

 

Hello everyone, first of all thank you for such a wonderful and helpful forums. They have been so helpful in starting my journey in "plusing" my 1999 Maxima. The question I have is there any form of a digital instrument cluster (it can even be after market) for my vehicle? I saw this one and I kind of like it. But I am not sure if it is compatible with my vehicle?

 

Hello. Recently I replaced my coil packs and spark plugs for no other reason than hoping to gain a little gas mileage, and that it could possibly fix a miss that I could hear coming from the exhaust. Everything went well, and the car drove fine after I installed them.
I was on a 600 mile road trip back to where I work, about 400 miles into it, when I stopped for gas. I noticed the gas mileage was a little better, but not that much difference, so I thought what the hell, and put a bottle of sea foam in the fuel to see if it may get me a little better mileage yet. Everything still ran great.
About 100 miles later, I pulled off the freeway to get food, and when I got to the stop sign on the off ramp and went to pull away from the stop sign, the car started sputtering, just about stalling (with the gas pedal down nearly halfway to keep it from stalling), and eventually took off and drove to where I got food.
I popped the hood while getting food to let it cool down, then checked all of the connectors on the coil packs (one felt a little loose but not unplugged, so I pushed it all the way in) One of the screws holding the coil packs was tight, but not very, so I tightened it more.
Anyway, I took back off, and had to hold one foot on the brake, and one foot on the throttle to keep it from dying while pulling away from stopsigns while getting back onto the freeway. While on the freeway it seemed to run fine, but in the final 200 miles of my journey, anytime I had to slow down for a stop sign or to turn a corner, it would sputter and want to stall, but eventually kick in and go.
So 2 days ago I put the old coil packs back in, and I thought it was running right. I took it for a short test drive, parked it but left it running to run in and grab my gym bag, and when I came back out and put it into drive again, it sputtered and died immediately. I could then start it and give it gas to keep it running, but when I let it idle below 700-800 it sputters, and when I put it into drive it quits immediately.
I let it cool down for a few hours and now when I start it, it idles just fine until it gets up to temperature, then it starts having the same problems. Not until it is up to temperature though.
It is throwing codes:


P0325 (Knock Sensor) (And it's been throwing this code for a while)
P0170 (Fuel Trim Malfunction)


Oh yeah, 95 Max GLE 3.0 Automatic


Does anybody have any ideas for me? I've got normal NGK spark plugs on order to reverse the work I did (I put Splitfires in while replacing the coils), to reverse the work I did. I'm wondering if the can of Sea foam maybe loosened up some junk and I'm having an injector getting plugged? But why then, would it only idle rough and shut off when it gets all of the way up to temp?


Help please! Any ideas are appreciated!

 

This sounds like the MAF sensor is dying. You can get a can of MAF cleaner and see if that helps, but it is only a 50/50 chance. You may still have to replace it.

Unplug the MAF and start the car. If it idles OK, then the MAF is bad. But you won't be able to drive the car with the MAF unplugged.

 

Okay Thanks, DennisMik. I just put a new MAF in that I got off ebay. It said it was new, and looked brand new, but I also hear that these can be kind of hit-or-miss.


One more thing. I let the car warm up on idle again today, and it took about an hour for it to start acting up again, but once it did, I noticed black/dark smoke coming out of my tailpipe (from my rear-view mirror) when I revved it up. Then I noticed white smoke also coming from inside the engine compartment. Upon closer inspection, I looked under the car and it looked like the white smoke was coming from the catalytic converter.


I've noticed that the black smoke from the tailpipe and the white smoke from the catalytic converter happen every time the car begins acting up like this, but not before, when it is idling normal and not warmed up yet.


Does this bring up any other red flags to you? I appreciate it.

 

Also, I noticed that the twin fans behind the radiator stay on when the car is wanting to quit, but running and I have to keep revving it to keep it running. I thought I read somewhere that these are used by the car only when it gets a message that the engine heat is very high. The temperature gauge in the dash stays at about half though.

 

The black smoke means that the engine is running VERY rich. That black smoke is unburned gas.

The white smoke is the catalytic converter overheating. A catalytic converter is supposed to burn any unburned gas from the engine. A good running engine does have a very small amount of unburned gas in the exhaust. But when there is an excessive amount of unburned gas like you have, the catalytic converter cannot burn it all and it comes out the tailpipe as smoke. But in the process of trying to burn all that gas, the catalytic converter becomes extremely hot. It rarely happens, but it is possible for an overheated catalytic converter to catch the car on fire. What will definitely happen if you drive the car like this for a long enough amount of time is that the catalytic converter will use up all its chemicals and plug up and the engine can't run.

That MAF you got is no effing good. You are going to have to replace it again.

 

The fans behind the radiator are there to cool 2 things - the antifreeze coolant in the engine and the refrigerant gas (R134a freon) in the air conditioning system.

The fans will run on a properly working engine. They turn on when the engine coolant reaches 203º F and turn off when it gets down to around 185º F. So the fans will cycle on and off as a normal happening.

Howsomeever, since the fans do double duty for the a/c, when you have the a/c on, the fans run constantly, regardless of what the engine coolant temperature is. This is a requirement of air conditioning, whether it be for a car or a house or a refrigerator.

 

Thanks again for the information, DennisMik! I just wrote a long reply, and then lost it because I had to sign in, so I'm gonna keep this one shorter.


Anyway, I drove it last night 7 miles and back to warm it up so I could troubleshoot it more and it finally threw a P0130 - O2 sensor 1 Bank 1, and that seems to make sense if the catalytic converter might be plugging up and not taking care of un-burned fuel.


Let me know if that gives you any more ideas. I will definitely replace the catalytic converter and the MAF again, and will let you know the outcome in a few days to a week or so.


Thanks!

 

I don't think that you need a catalytic converter. If the catalytic converter were plugging up, nothing would be coming out. I would replace the MAF and see what happens.

But the O2 sensor is another thing. With the MAF screwing up, the O2 sensor code might be false, but it could also be real. Sensor 1 is a critical sensor. It tells the ECU to either inject more fuel into the cylinder or less fuel. The sensor 2 is more or less a confirming sensor. A sensor 2 doesn't have any effect on the car's performance.

Popping up so late in the history of the problem makes me wonder if the O2 sensor code is false. I have a 50/50 chance of being right/wrong.

 

...So I replaced the MAF with one from a Maxima in a junk yard. The car seemed better for about a week, but the MIL was still on. Codes were P0150 and P0155. After some time, other symptoms started. Rough idle with stall and delayed throttle response is gone. At this time, she would just die without warning. Pull out onto a street, die. Turn on the AC while in park, shift into reverse, die. Driving in any gear/speed with some degree of throttle or acceleration, and the RPMs drop once or even several short times in a row causing a stuttering. Checked the codes and got P0150 and P0147. I thought my next move was fuel injectors; my gas mileage is getting worse and worse. I'm officially at 12 m/gallon. Recently she started not wanting to shift into 3rd gear. So I checked the codes the other day....P0100 and P0733. P0100 is a MAF code...like strictly bad MAF or connection. WTF!!! That does not make sense. P0733 is 3rd gear malfunction. I have NEVER had any problems with this tranny in the 8 years I have had her, and my BF always has mentions it was tight and strong. Checked the tranny fluid, and it is clean and full. WHERE DID THE FUEL INJECTOR CODE GO [P0150]? I did not do anything to try to fix that, but it is gone. Is this a case of a bad ECU? I know it is a rare occurrence, but everything just seems so random and erratic. The car is falling apart according to the computer [first fuel related, now tranny]. I read somewhere that someone had a sun roof that was not working and not completely sealed, so when it rained, the water traveled within the areas of the car body to under the hood, and it caused a shortage somewhere in electrical. I too have a non working sun roof that is not perfectly lined up. Someone please HELP:confused :

 

P0150 and P0155 are codes for the same oxygen sensor, the upstream sensor on bank 2 by the radiator. And you have the P0100 MAF code. These are both thing that the ECU uses to determine how much or little fuel to inject into the engine. Bad signals from these means the engine won't run properly.

Could a sunroof leak cause a problem? Of course it could. So could running over a chewing gum wrapper on the street. Neither are that likely, though.

Changing the MAF had the car running good for a week and then problems came back. Makes me wonder if the used, beat-up MAF from the junkyard reached the end of its life. Unfortunate, but always a very real possibility.

So, I would try another MAF and a bank 2 (radiator side) upstream oxygen sensor. But don't do the oxygen sensor from the junkyard. rockauto.com has about the best prices you will find.

If the transmission is shifting normally again, I would take a wait and see position on that, at least until the other problems are resolved.

In the spirit of electrical problems, here are 2 checks for you to do.
1) When the engine is running, check the voltage in the car's system. Measure across the battery (or anywhere you want). You should have about 14 volts, give or take a tenth.
2) Set the voltmeter on AC volts and measure again. It should read less than a tenth of a volt.

And out of curiosity, what rpm does the engine idle at?

 

Engine idles between 400-600. The O2 sensor codes are not coming up recently, and right before they were, I had replaced both of them from a reputable seller on Ebay...I believe called Detroit Motors....and the transmission is sometimes shifting normally from 2nd to 3rd. The car can perform perfect one trip, then the next trip be completely sloppy all over the place. Also, I should add...I smell gas sometimes. Well I don't know if it's sometimes or all the time and I've just gotten used to it....but it's the strongest inside the car while the AC is on.

 

I don't have a solution for this. So I'm going to resort to thinking out loud, so to speak.

You have poor gas mileage and you can smell gasoline in the car. These go hand in hand. The engine isn't burning all the fuel, so it is going out the exhaust pipe. You only smell it with the a/c on. Maybe this is because the windows are closed. But maybe this is because there is a fuel leak. If so, is it under the hood or has your gas tank sending unit cracked? I think we have to follow the engine is not burning all the fuel.

The engine idle is low, should be around 700 rpm and not waiver. At 400 rpm, the engine has a tendency to die. 400 is borderline for staying running. Sooo many reasons for this. I doubt that I can type fast enough to get them all down before I die of old age. But the poor gas mileage and gasoline smell could mean that the engine is struggling to stay running from too much gas. It's like drowning.

The thing to do is remove all the spark pugs and see what color they are. If the tips are black, there is too much gas being fed to the engine. If there is way too much gas, the tips will be wet. If all the spark plugs are black, we have bad information going to the ECU and it is telling the fuel injectors to squirt too much gas. This is something the MAF could do. If all 3 spark plugs on one side of the engine are black and the other side is the normal light tan color, the ECU is again getting bad information, but it is something related to only one side of the engine, like an oxygen sensor. But if there is only one cylinder where the spark plug is black, then we have a fuel injector that is stuck open. Got to get this checked out.

Another thing to figure out is why all of this is intermittent. Is this car a snow belt car? The ground connections could be corroding and losing contact, especially the one underneath the battery. Then we have the possibility that the lower radiator support has rusted out and the engine is dropping down, pulling on all the wiring.

Enough thinking. I need hard information.

1) what are the results of the voltage check I asked you to make in my previous post?
2) Remove the spark plugs and inspect them.
3) Check to see if the lower radiator support is still intact.

 

I had a '96 Quest, that vehicle was built by Ford as a direct clone of the Mercury Villager. The drive train was Nissan, but everything else, including the brakes, was FORD.

 

Anybody ever put speakers in the rear doors? There is a hole there already.

I want to put some shallow 10" subs in the rear deck. I'm thinking I can put the 6.5s in the rear doors.

 

never seen it done - why do you want speakers in the rear?

do you have rear passengers often?

ive run components in the front and 8in subs in the deck for a while with no complaints.

 

I'm putting the 10s in the deck so I figured I'd move the rear 6.5s to the rear doors. I guess I'll figure it out, looks like there is plenty of space. I did something similar in my truck using 8" mids that turned out pretty good.

 

I've got a 95 maxima gxe, 272k on the dash but the car has an infiniti motor in it, it looks just like every other vq30 but how do I tell the exact year motor this is? Or is that not feasible. I'm having some trouble with this car and it caused some confusion and embarassment at the parts store when I went to buy a starter only to find the starter for any 95 maxima/i30 not fitting at all, instead having to opt for a 12 tooth starter from an 01, the only thing that bolted right in (any idea why the starters from the model year of the car do not bolt up and only have 8-10 teeth?)
Since changing my starter I had to also change my battery out (i have a no start, which I'm trying to track down and it's breaking the bank). Anyone have suggestions on where to start since I've already dropped over 350 into this for no reason? It cranks and I can hear the starter whirring but the car will not turn over and start. Will be changing the fuel filter this afternoon. I've verified that my grounds are not the issue anywhere, and I'm skeptical to drop another 80-100 for an ignition coil only to get no results. Buying a code reader this morning to check my CEL and hope that points me in the right direction, but last time I checked I only got 02 sensor and knock sensor codes. I'm the 1,500,055th owner of this car it seems and I've had it up to my neck with the thing, I love how the vq feels and this car handles like a dream (I'm a mopar guy who has a Nissan fetish and dailys my 9 MPG ram, so I'm new to actually driving a car, it's a hard adjustment for whatever reason) but this is just becoming too much to figure out. Might just take the 15" out of the trunk and scrap this thing, it's a crying shame. Another thing worth noting is I have to replace the ignition lock cylinder because turning the keys yields no results unless I'm pushing slightly up and forcefully, but I really doubt this is in any way connected to my problems.

 

check codes first, is the fuel pressure correct? also one bad coil won't cause it to not start and i doubt they're all out, pic of the engine? might be dek swapped which would explain the starter. bad ignition switch might be the problem but I'm not sure if that would cause no start If you can get it to crank. most likely fuel pressure issue imo

 

I've been leaning towards an issue with the fuel pressure/delivery as I've practically gone through all the ignition possibilities with a fine tooth comb and getting spark doesn't seem to be an issue. I will post pics of the engine bay a little later when I'm off this double shift. Thanks for your input, I'll be working on checking out your suggestions this afternoon.

 

The engine serial # won't tell you much. It starts out VQ30 for a 3.0 liter or VQ35 for a 3.5 liter engine. Then there are 6 numbers that are a sequential serial number. The last digit is a letter, but I have never found anything to say what this represents. FWIW, my Dec 1996 manufactured 1997 Maxima ended in a letter A and my May 1999 manufactured 2000 Maxima ends in a letter B. By looking at some of the parts, you may be able to place it. The 2000 & 01 engines had a black plastic intake manifold. 1999 and earlier had cast aluminum. That's about all I know.

The infiniti and the maxima use the same starter.

The starters on the VQ engine originally had an 8 tooth gear. It was discovered that some of the starting problems were caused by the starter not cranking the engine over fast enough for the crankshaft sensor to develop a 1.0 volt signal that was needed by the ECU. Nissan felt that the starter motor was powerful enough, so they experimented with more teeth on the starter gear until they reached 12 teeth and decided that was good enough.

I don't know why a starter that is supposed to be for a 95 or 96 won't bolt up. When the starter on my wife's 97 took a dump, I put the starter from my 2000 in it. I then cleaned and lubed the 97 starter and put it in my 2000 and used it for over a week before it totally died.

If you want something to think about, when you look up Nissan part numbers for starters, the part number changes over the years. I don't know for certain, but I believe that it may have something to do with the teeth on the starter gear as Nissan experimented with it. But parts get discontinued and replaced by another version. In the case of the starter, Nissan has discontinued all the original part numbers for the 1995 through 1999 and replaced it with the starter for the 2000 & 2001.

There are 3 things an engine needs in order to start - air, fuel and spark. You need to figure out which one you don't have. Air can probably be crossed off the list. So you need to see if you are getting spark and fuel.

Remove a coil pack and its spark plug. Keep the wires and the spark plug plugged into the coil pack. Make sure the base of the spark plug is grounded and have someone crank the engine while you watch the spark plug.

Has this car run since the engine was changed?

I seriously doubt that a new filter will help, but it is good maintenance. You didn't say why you need a new ignition coil but it it not the answer to a no start situation. The engine will start on 4 cylinders and many will start on 3.

You can get codes and clear codes without a code reader, but the reader is much more convenient.

While the ignition lock cylinder may be screwed up, it is not the ignition switch. The ignition switch attaches to the lock cylinder, so if you can get the key to turn and the starter cranks the engine, this isn't the no start problem.

 

Wanted to make a new thread to see if anyone recognized this maxima on youtube but didnt want to get bashed for making a thread on that so i guess ill post it up here to see if anyone recognizes whos maxima it is and if they know the specs on it.

 

Thats Ironlung, that video is quite old and hes long gone.
Those are JWT cams.

 

Hi..i have 98.. i have got a problem about this...is this temperature normal ? or low ?.. İs this problem about ects , thermostat or gauge ?.. İ dont know..Because when i connect to the obd i saw 92-95 celcuis..

but the gauge seems like this ;

 

You don't have a problem, this is the way all the cars run.

The temperatures you saw with the OBD reader are also normal. Nissan has designed the engine to run in the range of about 88ºC to 95ºC (190ºF to 203ºF).