So after a couple of months on this board and tmec, this is where I am with my maxima. I bought my max from a dealer in january 08 with about 80,000miles. It was a 98 gle max black on black fully loaded came with wind guard and 5 brand new winter tires, really amazing tires for stupid canadian winter. Only problem it had at the time was the back tint which was alll wrinkled.
As of today the modifications ive done to the max:
First thing i took it to mr lube got my oil change, air filter changed( I know its a cheap one and i should use oem air filter and i will be changing it very shortly) and transmission flushed. They told me i had a bit of transmission sweat at the time.
Second I decided to invest in an aftermarket indash dvd as I wanted to fit the double din. I did have a full sound system with an 12" soundstream sup and amp, and 4 6.5" eclipse speakers from my previous ride. After a month of research I decided to go with the eclipse avn 6620 which is an awesome system. SO got all the finalyl installed.
Third I bought a lip spoiler from the board for 20$ unpainted and got the paintjob for free( just good luck).
Fourth, I bought a ypipe and decided not to install it till I got all the exhaust parts I wanted.
Fifth, I scraped off the old tint(nasty glue smell and was such a pain in the ***, took about 4hours for the whole job) I left the old rear window tint and applied the new tint on top as I didnt want to risk damagin the heat lines. After debating to go with 32% or 20% I decided to go with the 20%.

PROBLEMS
My coolant seemed to be going low after i filled it a month ago so i was worried about that. Also car seemed to have a little loss in power. So after another member on the board recommended me to a nissan mechanic, I took my max into the mechanic today and he came to tell me that as of right now I need to first replace my transmision gasket and transmission lower back panel. Then I have sweat comin from my waterpump so I need to replace that next and he recommends i change the temperature sensor. Also i need to spray rust proof this summer.

After thats done if i have enough money i will work towards lowering my car probably useing eibachs and put 17" rims on it and add my full exhaust.
This is how my max looks upto now :


the little button next to the handbreak is the bluetooth module.

 

bump bump,no luv ?

 

do you have any codes? it seems like if your performance is hampered you would have a code of somesort or its a knock sensor. It doesnt seem like anything that the nissan tech listed would hurt your perfomance.

Tranny gasket, is he talking the bellhousing or the rear main seal either which way $$$$$$$ in labor at least

how long did he look at it for?? he would have to pull off the cover for the water pump to actually see it i belive. i know this is also big $$$$$$$ in labor at least

and i have no clue what a tranny lower back panel??

 

did you check around by the radiator for any coolant leaks, i had the same problem, my coolant level was low right after i filled about 2 weeks off driving i noticed that my coolant was low and it was leaking very slowly, so yea check that out. and the max looks nice, i like the eclipse avn , i have an avic-d2

 

yea he said the coolant was leaking very slow hence why it was decreasing and he also added more coolant so i can measure it to see if it goes down again and he said this is b/c of the sweat comin from teh waterpump and he said if i dont replace it by summer then i could run into overheating summer when the hot season starts.

Sorry its called the transmission oil pan, im leaking basically transmission fluid from the tranny drain under teh car as I can see the residue surrounding it. The transmission oil pan needs to be replaced as it is very rusted and if i lower my car and i hit a bump i was told it would fall apart.

 

i dont think it really affected my performance i was probably jsut getting paranoid lol

 

If pictures dont work, please refresh and they will work
I was hopin on gettin my mods rollin this summer but got to make sure max is first running strong

 

Man, you've done a lot of work! Great stuff, and bring that out to a TMEC meet!

 

I know that your mechanic stated that you are loosing coolant due to the water pump, but try tightening all the clamps that attach the hoses to the raditor etc. If one of those is a little loose, you could have it dripping onto a hot engine part and then the fluid would basically evaporate. You would most likely not even know where a leak is comming from. It might help.

 

transmisson pan and seal replacement - OEM - $60 for part plus 150 for labor
Waterpump OEM - 80$ for part and $300 for labor
And its a nissan dealer mechanic
Is that good priceing ?

 

seems good compared to other quotes

 

hmm, i would say you should still look around , i mean thats a decent price i got a guy did a steering rack & pinion and changed the radio for 500 with parts included. so u never know, but if its bad and u need it like asap, get it done.

 

^^^Radiator

 

personally i would do the tranny pan its a pretty straight foward job. it would save you on some $$$$$.

As for the water pump. Like what was said before i would check all your hoses.(the ones out of the radiatior,coolant log, Trottle body coolant logs, and hoses going to the heater core)

 

tranny pan is rusted and yea it is not too bad to change but i have a leak from teh seal or gasket so yea to change that he has to remove the whole axel or something liek that.

 

So for a total of $800.00, this is what I am getting done:
-new transmission pan to replace the old rusted one
-transmission oil leak fix with new seal
-transmission oil flush
-engine oil flush and change with synthetic
-temperature sensor
-new valves and gaskets for some of the rusted bolts near my engine
-new water pump
THIS WILL BE DONE FROM A NISSAN MECHANIC outside the dealership so
What you guys think ?

 

oh forgot to add: coolant flush

 

hmm should i go with 17" or 18" wheels next hmm hmm

 

Lightweight 17’s (16lbs or less) would be my choice.

 

yea but i dont want to spend over a 1000$ on lightweight rims dont want to spend too much lol

 

You don’t need to spend 1000$ on LW wheels ALONE. Proper shopping (i.e. adequate knowledge in the subject) helps.

 

ive been lookin over a month and the only ones i see that are less than 1k is the konig feathers. unless u can recommend some other ones? and u mean look for tire/rim combo correct?

 

Nissan want to charge you 300 for labour for the water pump. Seems like this guy is the way to go.

 

thx JS yea the cheapest quote i got from any dealer was min 500 lol so yea ill stick with my mechanic he is nissan certifyed by day lol same **** :P

 

I would wonder when he was nissan certified. I believe that Nissan or dealerships are really not in the habbit of having to certify private mechanics. Meh, I am probably just splitting hairs at this point.
Just make sure you get some form of a warranty and a tax reciept. Some of these mechanics will try to pull one over on the government and not issue a reciept. The money goes straight into his pocket and if you have a problem in the near future, he plays the "I don't remember you ever being here with your car" line. You pay taxes and so should he.
just my $0.02.

 

HHMMM.... this is strange I can see your pics over my phone via the internet, but can't see them here over my computer. Im using a mac, I wonder if it has anything to do with it. Anyhow..the pics you have posted are small on my phone, so How do you like the fitment of the Avn 6620? Are there any gaps around the dash? Hows the navy functions and link up with the I pod? how much was the Ipod adapter? Im also have a 4th gen and Im looking into the same radio.

 

iam having some what of the same problem..my 5 speed tranny seems to be leaking @ and around the top by the halfsaft if thats it??? & my oil pan seem to be leaking/ more like sweating oil. u take the dipstick out..no loss in oil like that IDK????? i also crank the car about 3 time with gas. thats a problem!!!! just cant put my hand on it if its fuel.???

 

you know at the very top of the home page on this forum (4th gen) there is a specific thread for newbies (no offense) to ask vague question like what you just did. No need to be bumping a thread from 2008.