Hey all, ive had my max for about 2 months now and its finally starting to get somewhat cold down here in texas (mid 50s) and one morning when i was starting my car it made this grinding noise for about a second and a half....i was wondering if it was just my imagination, because later it didnt do the same thing. The next morning it did the same thing, and i have no clue what it is. If anybody knows at least where its coming from if youre experiancing or have experianced the same problem, the help would be great. thanks

 

it's has something to do with some chain inside the engine. there was a thread around here about a week ago about it. basicaly if you trust nissan to take apart your engine and then put it back together you can get it fixed. not sure how long or how much.

 

Most likely it is your starter sticking. My old 2000 did that when it was cold and now my '97 is starting to do the same.

 

hmm...well i got the 0 deductable warranty, so i can prolly get it fixed for free, but it just depends on how long i'll have to do w/out my maxima and drive our.....CIVIC! ahhh!!

 

i have a feeling you're all wrong. it's not the chain, it's not the engine falling apart, and it isn't major. it's a TSB...read this link...i have the same issue and have not bothered getting it fixed cause the dealer has to keep it overnite, and then figure out which one is hte culprit. and if they don't figure it out, ANOTHER 6hour waiting, and that is if it even happens while they have it.

Rattle noise during cold startup

 

I have the same thing when its cold on my 2000 SE.

 

Same here.
Totally impossible to reproduce on command.
Nissan knows this and counts on it.
REPORT it to the dealership on next visit to be documented in the service report (get a copy in writing) and use it as evidence when / if it fails in the future.

gr

 

Also had the same problem since the car was new and it was on the passenger side sprocket. Same dealer story...etc...
It went away when I switched to synthetic oil (coincidence?). Not sure if it was the oil or it just stopped on it's own.

 

I switched to MOBIL1 full syn about 10k miles ago, and it's still there -- as pesky and unpredictable as ever!

gr

 

I have the same problem - happened a few weekends ago when it got cold and I notice it when I don't drive for over a day. Checked posts in the past and never brought it to a dealer - I trusted the general consensus that it is sporadic and was in the engine and was better to deal with it then risk having them break apart the engine. It is so infrequent it seems like it isn't a large problem.

 

i have the same problem... seems to be getting worse as my car ages... i have 38k miles... don't trust the dealer taking apart my engine... so i just live with the noise which is kinda embarassing sometimes when I have people in that car who ask me what that awful sounds was...

 

...it is pretty loud! luckily I haven't had any witnesses when it has happened -only maybe a half dozen times (97Kmiles on it - no problems with the engine at all)

 

I work at a Nissan dealer that is quite busy- 2500 cars a mnth in service- I have NEVER had a VTC fail - we do hear occaisional ones with the described noise but its very few- The problem is inherent to the VTC design-- EXTREMELY small oil feed holes are responsible.

 

I see Nissan is not learning from their past mistakes. I had the same VTC problem on my '92 SE. It's funny because my 2000 also developed the same right front strut clunk noises that my '92 had.