The service engine soon light was on in my 98 Max SE auto with 83,000 miles. I noticed diminished performance and bad fuel economy from the car, so I decided to have the computer run at the Nissan Dealership. Turned out to be a bad oxygen sensor. So I had them replace it for a whopping $270. The car runs SOOO much better now! Idles smoothly, got a lot of power back, fuel economy is up...so i'm happy. How much would it have cost me to do this job myself? Is there a tool I can buy to reset the dash lights....incase I wanted to do my own work next time? Thanks

 

You really don't want to know what you could have saved by doing it yourself.

A simple screwdriver will allow you to read and reset codes yourself. More info: http://www.vbxmaxima.8m.com/ecu.html

 

The front 02 sensors are $117 each from courtesyparts.com, and the rear sensor is only $65 for a 98. Many auto parts stores will let you borrow the special O2 sensor socket that you need to change it, they just require a deposit. Although, in this case, I don't think the socket would be more than $15 from Sears. As for turning off the check engine light once you have fixed something, see: http://vbxmaxima.8m.com/ecu.html for more info.

One of the things that I have learned here is that the search function is really useful. Some of the people who have been here for a while get sick of people not using it, so you might try searching in the future. I personally don't mind answering questions; when I go look up the info it means I'll know what to do if the same thing happens to my Max. Also, if you are interested in doing your own service, buy a Haynes manual. They are about $15 and you can get them at parts stores, or Amazon. I hope that helps.

 

How do you know which sensor is bad?

 

You use the instructions on http://vbxmaxima.8m.com/ecu.html to find what trouble code the ecu is generating, and from that you can either do a search here, or look in the Haynes manual on page 6-6 for the info.

 

I am getting the code for the knock sensor but I've read on here where a bad sensor can also set this code off

 

Are you just getting a knock sensor code. Most times an O2 sensor code will also trip the knock sensor code. If you replace the faulty O2 sensor and reset the ECU you probably won't ever see the knock sensor code again. If you do, then it has a problem too.

 

That is what I was trying to figure out . Which sensor it is? because Im not getting a faulty sensor code, but a knock sensor code.