what to look for when buying a 4th
 

I have a chance to buy a 1996 se from a friend for cheap. It has 200k miles and is an auto. The tranny is sliping so a manual swap will most likly happen.
What should I be looking for as far as problem areas?
And if the compression is good how long could the motor last being taken care of?
Thanks and im very excited to become a maxima member!:D
And if anyone has question on 350z's let me know, im very skilled with those:cool:

lower radiator support

you really should really learn to search though. there's probably 150,000 threads with the same question.

:soapbox:


U gotta SEARCH man.

There are plenty of threads just like this one. Jus gotta look for them.

U will get wayyyyy more info from searching than what others will post to this thread.

That being sd,

Problem areas to look out for are:

lower rad support,
leaky or slipping tranny,
hesitation/ misfiring/ lack of power
Hard starting.

Most of this stuff is easily remedied by solutions posted on the org.

the rad support and tranny cd be deal breakers as those can cost a few coins to fix.

Either way, the max is a great car and welcome to the forum :woot2:

lower radiator support is the big thing to look for like evrybody has said along with the other probs said are the knock sensor and the 02 sensors. these are next to impossible to tell because more than likely the person selling the car will be reseting the system constantly if the check engine light is on.

i know alot of people here are going to tell you yo search and with this topic they are probably right but to me this forum is to help other people and i think may just be easier to just answer your question

welcom to the forum:D

oh and if you well maintain you max it will run FOREVER it may even survive a nuclear assault

with 200k i would look out for
the lower radiator support
check engine lights and a rough idle (possible coils)
unusual suspension noise (clunks, moans, rattles)
a rotating crumbling grinding noise (timing chain tensioner)
rust on the quarter panels
and a slipping tranny (which you have)

the manual swap may not be as easy as you think. its not a direct swap things have to be cut, wires have to be eliminated, ecus have to be replaced, you get the idea
but if you have money burning a whole in your pocket and like the max buy it

depends where the car is coming from. we dont get to much rusting radiator supports on the west cost.

we have to deal with peeling door pillars and leather seats tearing apart. LOL

water pump! (water dribbling from under engine somewhere and it's not the air con) - it is internal so needs the whole timing side to be stripped.
engine mounts! check by watching the movement of the motor while someone tries first/reverse ... don't stand in front while doing this.
front suspension! Cost me $700 to rebuild mine, not including struts.
exhaust - what is the cat like?
check the oil! muddy = gasket trouble.

He said hez getting it cheap... you have to expect some issues.... and front suspension 700??? Woahhh i could replace my struts mounts and all that for like 350 are yours made od gold or is that with labor??

THe stuff u listed isnt max specific. Any of that stiff can happen on any car.

They must be made of unobtainium :lol:

As others have said:
1. Radiator support. Make sure it isn't rusted out.
2. Coil packs. If the engine is running rough or has loss of power.
3. Knock sensor might need to be replaced if the car is knocking.
4. MAF sensor, O2 sensor also may need to be replaced if CEL is on.

other then that, I just bought a 97' SE with 250k and it runs better then most cars after 150k.

These are amazing cars and in most cases worth the time and money.

As someone else said: tranny swap isn't a cake walk. There is plenty of threads on here and people who have done it just gotta search around a bit.

Welcome to the Forum. The Maxima is a car worth investing some love into ;)

That's from a movie. I can't remember which movie......this is killing me.:mad:

That was parts and labour, guys. Pretty much everything had to be replaced. Have you checked the price of Munroe lower suspension mounts recently :rolleyes:
and cashoit, the water pump is highly specific to the Max, as you'll discover if you need to change it ... massive job. "Ordinary" cars more often have external water pumps that go wrong more often but are easy to change.

What's great about Maximas is that a lot of stupid little **** goes wrong, but there are very few dealbreakers. Find one that isn't rusty and jump on it - chances are, if something's wrong you can fix it pretty easily and cheaply. The most frequent failures are sensors and electronics, which take almost no time to replace. Suspension components tend to get squeaky, but rarely fail unless subjected to severe neglect.

In other words, you might find a total beater that needs everything replaced, but rust excepted, you probably won't find a car for which it's not worth the trouble.

The movie is that you are thinking of is James Cameron's Avatar.

It's not a fictional element though. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unobtainium

how does that make it not fictional?

Because it's only a term scientists use to describe something that cannot be achieved. Kind of like the term the IT guys use, anomaly ..... can't figure out the reason for its existence.