Hi I have just bought a 1997 A32 Maxima here in Australia and have a couple of questions:

It has bumper corner lights (not front fog lights) fitted. They are wired in and there is a relay fitted (blue relay marked "corn lamp" in box on driver's side). But, I cant find the switch to turn them on!! There is nothing on the stalk and some blanking plates near the speedo and down near the ash tray. A little help!http://forums.maxima.org/images/smilies/tongue.gif

I fitted replaced the melted knock sensor and noticed that despite the sensor having two pins, the short loom connecting to it only has one wire. But the car's loom has two wires. Is it worth hooking up the unused pin??

Last but not least, the boot interior light doesn't work. Is there a tilt switch in the boot lid as I can't seem to find a switch near the hinge.

Any help/advice gratefully received.
Cheers Maximap.

 

The bumper lights are your turn signals and also come on with the forts position on the headlight switch.

 

The knock sensor only needs one wire, even though the wire harness has 2 wires. The knock sensor is a coil of wire, one end is grounded to the engine block internally in the sensor and the other end goes to the wire harness.

There is a switch in the lid for the boot light, but I have not been able to find it. It is hidden pretty good and I guess I give up too easily.

 

^^What is this boot switch and light you guys are referring to? Is there a pic somewhere?

 

What is called the boot in Australia and England is called the trunk in the United States. What we call the hood is called the bonnet.

Maximap and I both wish there was a picture or a drawing to pin point it.

 

Thanks for the help guys. njmaxseldt, you are right, the bumper lights do come on when indicating with the head lights on. Right bumper light for right indicator, left for left. You mention that they should also come on with the forts (fourth?) position on the head light switch. Does this mean that they should come on with high/main beam? As mine don't.
DennisMik, thanks for the knock sensor info. I shall pull the boot/trunk lid trim off and have a look for the switch.

Cheers maximap.

 

ha, put another max on the barbie mate. my friend was just there for 3 weeks. said it was warm, but not hot, any pics of the max in question?

 

G'Day from Down Under. Got my boot/trunk light fixed. The switch is incorporated in the lock on the boot lid. My switch was disconnected, once re-connected, let there be light!!

The next problem was more major. Oil dripping steadily from above the oil pressure switch. It was coming from the join between the block and the sump pan.....ouch. A quick look on google got me the workshop manual which showed a couple of 'O' rings in the pan body just near my leak.
Turned out to be an easy fix...Drain engine oil. Remove cross member (the one with the front and rear engine mounts). Remove exhaust 'Y' pipe. Remove small black sump pan. Remove oil pick up pipe. Undo all pan bolts including the ones that attatch it to the gearbox. Finally gently lever the pan off the block. This revealed two flattened 'O' rings.
I shall get the 'O' rings from Nissan and let you know if it fixes the leak.
P.S. How do I attatch pictures to my posts?

Cheers Maximap

 

To post a photo, that photo needs to be hosted on a web site so that it has a URL address. Then you type the URL address into the post you are typing. But in order for Maxima.org website to show the photo, you must type [img] before the URL address and [/img] after the address. You type the square brackets like I showed. If you don't use the img codes, the URL will be displayed as a link that you have to click on.

example - [IMG]photo URL here[/IMG]

To see the code for this photo, click on the QUOTE button at the bottom of this post.

 

I know that those O-rings get flattened overtime but never heard of oil just pouring like what you stated there. That means you had a lot of timing chain rattle then correct?

 

G'Day Trini, I think what caused the oil leak was removing the small, black sump and cleaning out an inch of sludge and tar. The new (thinner) oil then found it's way out. The 'O' rings were flattened as you said.
The timing chain was noisy on start up. I replaced; the tensioner (1307031U0A), tensioner gasket (1307931U00),water pump (2101031U85) and oil and filter. The chains are now quiet apart from a slight "zinging" noise from the rear at 2500 RPM. I'm not too concerned as from what I can find on this and other forums the chains are long lived. My car has only done 170,000 Km (around 100,000M) and I only paid $AU500 for it! It had spent a lot of time sitting unused and neglected so I have been re-comissioning it. Really smooth motor and transmission in it too.
Cheers, maximap.