Hi,
To make my story short, when my car is WARMED UP (and i mean after i drive it for about 5 minutes), there appears a horrible rattling cound from somewhere in my engine bay. The sound only apperas when i gently apply the gas and the engine speed at about 1000-2000 rmp. No rattle when i floor it, no rattel when going downhill, shift perfectly fine does not slip. I checked the fluid level, seems to be normal. Drained and changed the tranny filter about 8K miles ago. USED TRICK SHIFT FLUID. THis sound doesn't really affect anything, but it is annoying as hell. Also it can happen at any speed, when i am applying gas VERY VERY lightly. The sound gets produced in the what i call "friction zone", even though my car is automatic.
any help is appreciated. thanks.

Anyone?

Sounds like a broken mount of some sort, possibly a tranny mount or engine mount. I would definatley have it looked at.

check for loose tools in the engine bay ^__~ i had some rattling noises before and it was a screw driver stuck between the headlight and the windshild washer thing. haha ^__~

No, the mounts are fine and the rattle is still there even if i am driving on perfectly smooth road. I do not think the problem is just with a rattling tool, there's something that a person who knows about torque convertors would draw my attention to...

by the way, how much tranny fluid should the 2000 Maxima A/T hold?

How about open the hood have someone rev the car and listen to where the sound is coming from??? Or does this only happen when you drive it??? Check under the car maybe a loos heat shield or something???
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You guys think it could be timeing chain rattle??? I doubt it but just throwing it out.
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Oh shnaps hey check your vias i think my buddys had same problem. That little stupid cup was vibrating at low rpms. Probably that
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Do you have an aftermarket exhaust or are you all stock??
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I'll put my money on the vias cup though. Hope this helps.

Oh yeah the AT tranny hold 10 quarts of at fluid you'll drain like 4-5 from the pan but the rest is inside the tranny..

how do i check this vias cup thing? i am all stock, only have CAI. thanks.

Your car does have VIAS. VIAS is Variable Intake Air System. If the VIAS is damaged you should be noticing a big power loss at 5000+ RPMS.

you might want to bring it over to matthel's shop

turbo95max just PM him.

this kind of sounds like the same reoccuring problem that's affecting so many people (including me)...

i would not say that i feel powerloss, the car still burns rubber all the way through 1st gear up until redline....

did you take care of it?

you can also notice a power loss if the power valve breaks in the open position which would decrease low end power. if it breaks in the closed position then power would be affected 5k rpms and up.

yes yes, the low end is kinda weak... my question is would this "break in open position" be noticeable to hear from the outside? I do have a CAi, so basically it is like a direct path to VIAS, but i just do not understand wtf is rattling....

thanks.

i haven't gotten anything fixed. i plan on complaining to a bunch of local stealers before my warranty is up. i'm at 51k right now..

Well search or google or yahoo maxima.org for vias. It will explain everything they even have pics of it.
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=341077
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?threadid=116808
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?threadid=99861
THIS IS THE VIAS

HERE IT SHOWS YOU HOW TO FIX IT
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/763858/53

All of this took me not even 5 minutes

Dealers wont admit the vias is broken. One guy raced another 5th gen exactly the same as his and lost so then the dealer took a look at it.

if my dealer learned that i raced... he'd tell me to go $%^& myself...

LOL true dealers especially nissan are ****** now that nissan is not under japanese control but well we know who. Any ways did you check out what i told you to do otherwise take the vias off and check is the cup thingy is loose aight. Let me know how it goes

i will report to this thread hopefully tommorow morning, if not, then sunday. thanks.

does it make a rattling sound as it comes down from a rev? its kind of hard to hear rattling with the engine running at high speeds. get back to me asap i might have a clue as to what this is!

for me it mostly happens during light acceleration, but as i decelerate and revs drop, i get it ocassionally too. only happens when my car is warmed up... thanks...

what is it?

Dude 100 bucks its the vias cup. Just follow the instructions i showed you unless you are not mechanically inclined then dont touch it. Just get a fellow orger from your area to help you out man.

at this point my only guess is that it is you cat converters. alot of the time they break free inside and cause a ratting noise. i had an 99 max come in for what he thought it was valvetrain noise. it sounded fine at first then as it warmed up it started. at first it sounded like the valvetrain but everything sounded fine with a a s***hisscope. so i raised the max and found put the s-scope everything and nothing so i put it on the cat and BAM!! sure enough when i took the off the cat on the rear head (firewall) had broken free. its a common problem with saturns and neons as well you know gay cars.

Yo frisco you can check your cat with a piece of pipe you dont need a ****sscope just start the car up put one end of the pipe on the cat and the other to your ear and listen you can probably do it with the vias too. LOL we did this on a buddy of mines Q45 and checked his rear end diff