kathytee

Hi,

My 1999 maxima has check-engine light on with multiple error codes. I am trying to figure out if I want to spend money to fix these issues in order to pass the inspection. I did a quick Kelly Blue Book check - it’s probably worth $1000 in a private party sale. The car still drives well (some dents and scratches). My mechanic said the car is still good for another 10 years. It has about 108,000 miles on it.

I am concerned that there will be more stuff to fix after I get these check-engine errors issues addressed.

I would appreciate your input and advice. Thank you!

Kathy

KP11520

Well Kathy.......

Unfortunately none of here are psychic and if we were, we'd play MegaMillions and would pay a mechanic to know all this stuff. LOL

Without codes to determine the severity of making things right, would you want anyone to really answer that?

Please..... Help us help you!

And do you have the money to upgrade to something more reliable? Cause that always factors into a decision like this.

Codes and details like state, (weather) how long have you had it, what have you done during your ownership? Etc.

Randy Watson

It’s over 20 years old. You want peace of mind? Go buy a newer car.

Turbobink

iTrader: (2)

Address the issues you have at the moment ... provided that’s cost-effective for you.

Then use the car as you need to.

If other issues develop, fix those ... provided that’s cost-effective for you.

I’m a fairly ****-retentive maintainer of documentation associated with my automotive repairs and improvements.

Although I’ve done most, boardering on all, of my own repairs and upgrades since my ‘99 has been out of manufacturer warranty, even including upgrades that were absolutely not necessary, my monthly car payment equivalent (since the car has been paid) has been right around $32/month.

Point being, there are a lot fixes that need to happen before keeping your old car becomes an equivalent expense to a new one.

wdornbach

Comon guys, be nice. She needs help. With low miles like that it's probably minor issues and the car should most likely be worth saving.

Kathy, where are you located? PM me. Take it to your local auto parts store and have them check / read the codes. Then come back to this forum and post exactly what those codes are.

Turbobink

iTrader: (2)

Was I unsuccessful in making that point?

The Wizard

iTrader: (43)

I gotta say, for a first post and the first thread that you created, you sure nailed how to properly title a thread. Now just give us more details (like the codes) and we'll be able to help you. Ask your mechanic to pull the codes for you (for free) and report back.

Randy Watson

Well there isn’t much info here. All we know is that the car is old, it has multiple codes, she has a mechanic and seems to be not mechanically inclined, shes concerned about things failing in the future, and wants our advice. My advice is based on those things, a newer car will ease her mind. The issues and cost can pile up on a person who doesn’t perform their own work.

JoshG

108k is low miles, does it have rust? how is the exterior and interior of the car? Depending on what it needs it may be worth spending the money on new parts to make it driveable for a couple of years.

If you spend $1000-1500 on new parts and it lasts 2-3 years without any major repairs. You'd get your money's worth. A car is always going to be a sunk cost whether it's new or old. It comes from depreciation, higher insurance costs, or repairs.

These cars were built bulletproof, Nissan went into debt at the time to build these strong quality cars.

Now if it was one of those Chevy cavaliers... Yah Id junk it. Poor build quality.

JvG

The car is 20 years old. Yet it's mileage is relatively low. Many of us drive Maxima with 250,000 miles on them.

You might need to spend some money to catch up on deferred maintenance. Possibly over 1000 dollars. Perhaps more.

The car can be driven for another ten years, like the mechanic said.

Possibly your friends or family might not agree.

We have driven these cars for years and years.

Your car is worth investing in unless the body is bent or rusty.

kathytee

Thank you to all who have responded to my question. I appreciate all of your input and suggestions.
A little more background on this 1999 maxima. I bought the car brand new in late 1999; I drove it for a couple of years and gave it to my dad after a couple of years (had about 20K miles on it at that time). My dad took good care of it and put another 30K miles on it until he passed away about 5 years ago. I gave the car to my daughter after that to use for graduate school and field works. She drove mostly in NY Long Island and one year in Buffalo, NY. The car was never in an accident until she got hit by a another when she was trying to make a left-turn into the driveway last summer. She did keep up with the basic maintenance work and our mechanic did some repairs along the way.
Yes, she can afford to upgrade to a more recent model used-car (she was getting frustrated by some of the issues that cropped up along the way - I don't have all the details) However, I feel that the car still drives well and that it might a good idea to fix the minor stuff to get more use out of the car - especially in this scary unstable economic climate. The money she can save by not buying a more updated car can be used for rainy-day funds.
I spoke to our mechanic today; he drove the car around for a while and said car is in good shape and drives well. The errors that he saw were EGR, O2 Sensor, Catalytic converter, EVAP related. He recommends that we fix the one O2 sensor issue and get the inspection done. As for safety of the car, he said he is comfortable with it and that we should keep using it for another year or two. After reading some of the older discussion threads on this forum, you input, I think it would be prudent to fix it and get more use out of it.
Thanks again for your help!

Regards,
Kathy

KP11520

I am on Long Island as well and I also have a 99. Mine is a California emissions model and yours is most likely too.

EGR is bit of a job. Catalytic converter problems in NY are EXPENSIVE as we follow California standards and only approved parts can be installed by a professional mechanic. But fix your other problems first as they can make the Cat system fail because they aren't performing correctly. O2 sensors affect that. Use NTK O2 sensors as they are the OEM at a fraction of the cost of buying from Nissan. And OEM works best with least problems. SparkAuto Parts on eBay sell the 4 you need for a little over $100 for all four. When one goes, the other three aren't far behind. And the car runs better with tighter specs and outputs.

EVAP on a 99 is more expensive than the previous 4 years. But when you get it all refreshed, the car will run great.

I have somewhere approaching 230K on mine. Still accelerates nicely when hitting the pedal. 21 years old and I also bought it new.

Good luck!

kathytee

@KP11520

Thank you very much for your advice and this has helped the discussion with my daughter. I will be saving this information for future reference. I am glad that I found this forum and I appreciate all the wonderful people who have taken time to read and responded with helpful suggestions.

Please stay safe.

Regards,
Kathy

JoshG

Seem to be having exhaust problems, which seems to be very minor being at its age.

A good tip is to replace multiple parts if you see they're old and need replacing, such as filters, hoses, starters, alternators, fluids and etc. You'll have a much more reliable car and peace of mind. More new parts= more reliability and less prone to parts breaking.

Many times those that end up replacing one part when they could replace more to save them headaches always end up thinking the car is becoming unreliable.

It's a domino effect...Got 5 bad parts? Replace em all to reduce the number of bad parts. The goal is to lower the risk of experiencing the domino effect.

kathytee

@JoshG,

Thank you for the helpful advice. I have been sharing the advice I have gotten here with my daughter - she is feeling less stressed about it now.

Regarads,
Kathy

kathytee

@wdornbach ,

Thank you! We have decided to fix the O2 sensor issue and got the inspection done.

Regards,
Kathy

CMax03

iTrader: (3)

1. If you need the other fixed the EGR ports are probably full of deposits or a defective solenoid.
2. The EVAP is usually defective gas cap/Oring, defective solenoid, or broken hose on the evap system.
3. These 4th Gen Maxima(s) are virtually indestructible...Good Luck
P.S.- Invest in a code reader