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Engine swap from 1999 to 1995 maxima

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Old 09-12-2017, 06:26 AM
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Engine swap from 1999 to 1995 maxima

Hello, I have a 1995 maxima 5sp that I bought with a bad head gasket in it. Instead of pulling the heads I found an engine at a salvage yard from a 1999 nissan maxima. I have been able to swap the engine into the 1995 and it does fire up and idle. If u try and rev it up though it starts popping really bad out the exhaust at about 2500 to 3000 rpm. I was told it could potentially be that the ecm's are potentially different between the models and the camshaft sensor or crank sensor could be reading incorrectly. Will a 1999 engine swap into the 1995 even with the obd2 change over in 1996?
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Old 09-12-2017, 08:05 AM
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There was no OBDI/OBDII change. 1995's are OBDII; Nissan knew it was coming so they were ahead of the curve.

You'll have to swap two wires IIRC at the ECU wiring harness to make things work. Do a search for "99 to 95 ECU swap" and just do the opposite.

What did you do about the swirl valve on the 99 engine?
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Old 09-12-2017, 02:32 PM
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Ok thank you. I will see what I can do on the ecm wiring change. On the swirl valve if that is included in the parts on the side of the engine above the trans that has vacuum hoses and plug connectors, i swapped all the original 95 parts to the 99 block so all the wires and hoses would line up correctly. I hope that helps answer the questions.
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Old 09-12-2017, 03:12 PM
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The block is the same so as long as you swapped over all accessories including the exhaust and intake manifolds, the wiring harness, etc, you'll be fine. Sounds like your MAF sensor is not connected or malfunctioning.
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Old 09-12-2017, 03:20 PM
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Originally Posted by nsnrider
The block is the same so as long as you swapped over all accessories including the exhaust and intake manifolds, the wiring harness, etc, you'll be fine. Sounds like your MAF sensor is not connected or malfunctioning.
I did swap all accessories over including the exhaust but I didn't swap full intakes. Only swapped throttle body (if that is the correct term) and anything else bolted to the intake.
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Old 09-12-2017, 04:08 PM
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Swirl valve is part of the Lower Intake Manifold
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Old 09-12-2017, 05:20 PM
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Originally Posted by The Wizard
Swirl valve is part of the Lower Intake Manifold
ok, no then I don't think I did anything with that. Would that make it not rev past 3k and pop out the exhaust?
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Old 09-12-2017, 05:22 PM
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Originally Posted by nsnrider
The block is the same so as long as you swapped over all accessories including the exhaust and intake manifolds, the wiring harness, etc, you'll be fine. Sounds like your MAF sensor is not connected or malfunctioning.
Thank you for the suggestion. Just went out and checked it. I put on a known good maf off my daily and still had the rev and popping problem.
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Old 09-12-2017, 05:27 PM
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Originally Posted by The Wizard
There was no OBDI/OBDII change. 1995's are OBDII; Nissan knew it was coming so they were ahead of the curve.

You'll have to swap two wires IIRC at the ECU wiring harness to make things work. Do a search for "99 to 95 ECU swap" and just do the opposite.

What did you do about the swirl valve on the 99 engine?
do u know where I can find the air in chart for the ecm so I can do the swap?
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Old 09-13-2017, 03:37 AM
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Are you working with California or Federal spec engines?

I've swapped a 1995 model engine into a 1999. So I went in the opposite direction. The biggest difference between the 99 and 95 model setups on a Federal engine is the EGR setup. For a California model, I have no idea.

The 99 uses an electric EGR and the 95 uses a vacuum controlled version.

When we swapped the 95 engine into the 99 model, I kept all of the external engine components like intake manifold, EGR, and etc. to keep from having compatibility issues.

You don't want to run a 1999 model ECU. It has NATS.

Which injectors and rails are you using? When I swapped engines, I had two leaking injectors in my old injector rails. Unfortunately, I moved the troubled injectors to the new engine.

Unless you swapped in some recently refurbished or replaced known good working injectors from your old engine, you will be better off replacing or refurbishing the injectors before you go much further. I've experienced and seen a lot of injector failures on 99 models. So don't think the issue can be avoided by using newer injectors from a 99 model. Sooner or later, all 4th gens experience the leaking injector o-ring issue.

If you are running a Federal setup and you keep your 95 model emission control components, you should be ok without any ECU changes.

Last edited by CS_AR; 09-13-2017 at 04:10 AM.
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Old 09-13-2017, 08:46 AM
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Originally Posted by CS_AR
Are you working with California or Federal spec engines?

I've swapped a 1995 model engine into a 1999. So I went in the opposite direction. The biggest difference between the 99 and 95 model setups on a Federal engine is the EGR setup. For a California model, I have no idea.

The 99 uses an electric EGR and the 95 uses a vacuum controlled version.

When we swapped the 95 engine into the 99 model, I kept all of the external engine components like intake manifold, EGR, and etc. to keep from having compatibility issues.

You don't want to run a 1999 model ECU. It has NATS.

Which injectors and rails are you using? When I swapped engines, I had two leaking injectors in my old injector rails. Unfortunately, I moved the troubled injectors to the new engine.

Unless you swapped in some recently refurbished or replaced known good working injectors from your old engine, you will be better off replacing or refurbishing the injectors before you go much further. I've experienced and seen a lot of injector failures on 99 models. So don't think the issue can be avoided by using newer injectors from a 99 model. Sooner or later, all 4th gens experience the leaking injector o-ring issue.

If you are running a Federal setup and you keep your 95 model emission control components, you should be ok without any ECU changes.
I am using the federal set up. I swapped all the original 1995 vacuum egr onto the block of the 1999 before installing it. I didn't however swap the intakes from the 95. Also using the 1999 injectors and fuel rail so I may have to go ahead and swap all of that out. I will look at the injectors also and make sure I don't see any cracks or leaks in them. Thank you for your help.
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