Looking at buying a black on black 96 GLE. Owner said the Check engine light was on, codes indicated a knock sensor.. but then their 'friend' was messing around and 'broke' the check engine light. I have confirmed there is no CEL when you turn the ignition to ON and all the other lights test. Owner said it's the bulb that's messed up and they had ordered a new bulb... anyway, it's being inspected now as the whole thing seems a bit odd. Any ideas what would cause a dead check engine light, and how much effort a repair (including just replacing the bulb) might involve? Car seems to run decent.

Thanks!

-Chris

 

See interior information sticky

 

Thanks for that info! Anyone have any ideas what might kill the light other than a burnt out bulb or pulled out wire to it?

 

A hammer!

I can't really think of anything else at the moment. The deal sounds kind of fishy to me too.

 

I believe I've heard issues here of people going past the stop on the ECU diagnostic screw, and no longer having a functional CEL.

 

yea. in my used car quest over the past month i saw MAxima after Maxima with "broken" check engine lights - probably around 15 of them, and most were at lowball dealerships. its an easy way to trick a moron into thinking a car is in good shape.

i wouldnt buy a car that has been tampered with like that.

 

Yeah normally I'd pass on it, but other than that, the owner is 2nd owner, and has a stack of every every *every* single maintenance, repair, etc record done on the vehicle in the past 7 years, it's extremely well documented. I'm guessing that the 'going past the stop' may be the culprit, since I think the 'friend' was trying to turn off/check codes from, the CEL.

 

Maybe if it is well documented then it would be a good buy, how much do they want for it?

 

if it was me, getting a carfax report would be the first thing...

 

Carfax is clean, and does indicate 2 owners, with the 2nd owner occuring the year they said they bought it. Very sparse though, last year on the carfax is 2001, owner indicated they've been taking it to a single local shop since they bought it, perhaps only dealers and chain stores tend to enter info.

 

Well they're asking $6200, but willing to take $300 for cracked windshield, and also the cost of a knock sensor assuming it does indeed need one, so probably in the low 5000 range. Keep in mind this is in Canada, and according to canadian 'used car value' sites a 1996 fully optioned GLE with 214,000 kms (133,000 miles) is retail valued at $7300. (yes we're ripped off up here), so I'd likely get it for about 2/3 retail value. Anyway, it's at a shop now being inspected, I mainly just want them to pull codes regardless of a functioning CEL, and do a compression test and if that's clear, then probably ok. It sounds like the non-functioning CEL on it's own isn't too bad a fix, and they were up front that it was broken ..and that a previous code had indicated knock sensor so.. shrug.
And it's black on black leather with sunroof

Better than the 150,000 mile SE auto with rust, bad idle, smashed windshield, and owner of only 5 months that he was trying to sell for $6700 ..this is the overpriced market I'm dealing with sadly. The problem is at any given time there's only around two 4th gen maximas for sale within a 150 mile radius, so there's no competition.

 

New info!

Shops said mechanically it's looks quite good:

Issues: hood shocks are gone, cracked windshield, needs alignment, codes 34 and 91 coming up = knock sensor and O2 sensor.

So I'm thinking of offering what they were asking (which is 1000 less than 'retail'), minus costs of those 2 sensors and windshield.. and maybe a bit less for good luck.

 

I had the same proble when my I30 was bought 5 month ago excet for hood shocks.
-Transmission rebuilt : $1500
-three O2 sensors : $100 on ebya(NTK)
-Knock sensor : $65 on ebay(OEM)
-alignment & wheel balancing : $100
-New windshield : $200 including install fee

Good luck to you...

 

I'm going to check if the hood shocks off my 91 maxima are compatible, they actually work.
Thanks everyone.

 

buy yourself an OBD scanner and scan every vehicle you plan to buy. Otherwise someone is going to show you a car with a CEL that works but they reset it. 30 miles later after you buy the car the CEL will show up. This happened to me.

The OBD scanner will show if the CEL was recently reset and if codes are pending.

 

Good advice, thanks.

 

Anyone able to elaborate on how this might be fixed? Pull the screw back? or is something busted.

 

AFAIK, this is permanent damage.

 

Tell the guy in order for you to make the CEL work again you have to replace the ECU and deduct it from the price. Why dance around it, he f* ed it up! So show me the money!
Dits on the OBD2, I plan on buying a newer Actron for $300ish, but you can get one for $40 I think or $175ish for a nice one like the one I currently have and might sell.
The CEL will come back after the drive cycles are completed but you will see the monitor as "Incomplete" to know if the guy "Reset" it to clear. OBD2 is indispensable as a car buying tool!

 

Yep I'm gonna.

 

Who here can confirm that passing the "stop point" on the ecu will cause the light not to turn on. I passed the stop point a few months ago and my ecu seems to be just fine. He might be telling you the truth about the bulb, but if you really want to know, have it scanned before you buy it.

 

sounds real sketchy, ...real sketchy

 

Just as an update, bought it, got $800 off asking price, turns out the CEL story was that it kept going on then off, so their friend thought it was a loose wire, and then accidently broke the light. I used some instructions from this site, pulled out the instrument panel, sure enough no CEL bulb, put in a new bulb, works fine now. Wasn't a problem with the test screw on the computer as the protective label had never been removed, I removed it and read the codes with it, worked fine. So far car runs and drives fine, Bose is a bit flaky at times though, but I hear that's par for the course. Thanks for everyones help. I'm glad to finally join the Maxima family

 

Good luck with the car.. Welcome to the maxima family. Make sure you read stickies before you ask and donate its the best $20 i have spent since i joined.

 

good luck!