Hello,

My sister just bought a 2001 Maxima last week. base model I believe. It has 31,000 miles. She bought it from an auto auction as our family has a friend that works there.

When she got it she changed the oil. She misread the book and put in 4.5 qts instead of the 4.25 that it lists. She just had the oil level lowered to the correct amount yesterday. She also put in a full tankfull of 87 octane gas. Also last Saturday the battery died so Sears installed a new one for her.

She goes to college in PA so she left my parents home in MN Sunday morning. About half way she called saying her check engine light (CEL) was on. I talked to her and told her to look all around the battery in cause the morons at Sears broke a vacuum line or something of that nature. She said no. I told her then it was probably because of the gas and that her knock sensors were probably going nuts. I told her to get the right gas in the tank and keep on going.

Where I live Auto Zone will do a free scan of your CEL codes. I told her to find one near her and do the same when she got home. Well because of PA emissions laws Auto Zone is not allowed to do the scans.

She talked to the dealer and they said a scan would cost $60. They told her to disconnect the battery overnight to reset the ECU. Well of course that didn't do anything. I found through the sticky on this page the proper way to reset the ECU so I sent that to her. Hopefully she will be able to get the codes herself as well.

My question for everyone right now is there any known problems, anything I should have her look for? Also if she can get the codes, are they listed anywhere and what do they mean? I tried the search but it was disabled.

Sorry for the long post but I just want to help my sis out. She's in college and spent alot of money on this car to be having problems already. She's already had tons of bad luck out in PA. Hit black ice, bad head gasket on her last car which blew the engine. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I will update if she is able to ge tthe codes. Thanks again.

 

What part of PA is she in? How is the car running because there could be any number of problems? I'd spend the money to get it checked to see what the problem is.

 

I don't think the 4.5 and 4.25 qt is that big of a difference I don't think it would be something to freak out about...I've put 5 qts in and had no side effects. The 87 grade gas will make it run like **** but if it's only one tankful it won't kill the car. She could put some octane booster in.

 

Honestly I couldn't tell you what part of PA she's in. I know she's going to a Community College that is the top in the nation for Air Traffic Control. That's what she's going for.
I agree about the oil. My Cougar calls for 5.5 qts but I put in 6 all the time due to a starvation problem in high speed manuvers.
I wasen't expecting any definitive answers. Maybe just general ideas. I haven't heard from her regarding codes of if she got the ECU reset yet. She may have had school or work.
If the tip I found dosen't work she'll just have to shell out the $60 I guess. Crossing my fingers it's just a stray CEL.

 

BTW, she bought the car last Wednesday and except for the dead battery it has run just fine. She only got one tank full of 87 octane and she's been running 91 ever since.

 

It could possibly be the coils that are bad. It's known that the 2K-2K1's have this problem. I just had all mine replaced last month. What part in PA is she residing? I live in PA, and can give her a free scan of the codes. I have a code scanner.

 

is she cute? ill drive up there and help her (with the car of course!!!!)
there is alot it could. probably something unrelated to the oil,fuel,battery deal.
O2 sensor, MAF, coil
she needs to get the code read to be safe

 

I'm telling Ashley, Jason.....besides, I thought you only liked husky women with big Jeeps.....

 

Tell her to make sure she turns the gas cap until it clicks. If she doesn't tighten it enough it will make the light come on.

Like soonerfan said, it could be ignition coils, but they usually go out when its cold plus the car would be running like crap because of a misfiring cylinder.

 

02sensor or Coils would be my guess

 

coil(s) the car won't run well!!

I say chek the gas cap remove, and close again(make sure it click) after diconnect the battery for at least 3hr (work for me)

If the SES come again:
After that, I think it could be the o2 sensor! Does the same on mine!

 

my money is on the o2 and ecu update

 

Drive there and see for yourself. If you dont like what you see at least you did a good deed. Think about it that way rather then if she is cute. I know you're probably joking, but still its not nice to talk like that, the guy is only trying to find help and you're asking about his sister which just owns the car and doesnt have anything to do with the problem itself.

and on top of that, cmonn how desperate can you really be?!

 

On my 01 It happend to me twice already that I got a bad cat which threw the SES code. So it probably has to do something with emmisons

 

first of all when you quote me, use EVERYTHING i said and dont take it out of context
"is she cute? ill drive up there and help her (with the car of course!!!!)
there is alot it could. probably something unrelated to the oil,fuel,battery deal.
O2 sensor, MAF, coil
she needs to get the code read to be safe"
yes it was a joke and you can see in my WHOLE post, that after my joke i added my advice which has something to do with the problem.
and when did a man asking if a chick was cute mean he is desperate? well dam, i guess all men are then.

 

It pays to try the ceap and easy stuff first - the gas cap. It seems unnatural but you must turn the cap until it clicks several times or the cel will come on after some delay.