i got a question im about to buy a 2002 nissan maxima but i dont know if it has a aux input jack. do they have those ? and if not what are some things i could possible do to install one on a buget

 

The radio does not have an aux input. The cheapest thing is to buy a tape cassette adapter. Another option is to search for directions on how to wire an aux input connector into the radio.

 

2002 Maxima SE. 230,000 miles. I've researched this problem extensively and just can't find a solution that works.

Started one day when I noticed the fuel pump wasn't priming. Saw the "security" light staying lit when cranking and thought it must be the immobilizer. Just after fooling with it, disconnecting/reconnecting the battery, was able to get it going and all was well. Then a few days later, it would buck and sputter as if it wanted to die. Didn't matter the speed. Then one day it did finally die while on a highway. Towed to a shop I've used for years, and their diagnostic showed the "PCM relay" as being bad. They changed it out and all seemed well again, for a couple days. Boom...dies again on the road. Won't start at all. Just replaced the fuel pump, fuel filter, and still dead. Reading this forum made be think the crankshaft position sensor was bad. Just changed it out myself with OEM part from Nissan and still.....dead. Cranks, but I still don't hear the fuel pump priming so assume no power is getting to it.

The "security" light still stays lit when cranking and the "AT check" light blinks continually. Any thoughts?? Would the immobilizer and the AT check light blink at the same time?

The "check engine" light never illuminates.

Thank you,
Kevin

 

If the security light is on, then NATS does not recognize your key, and it has disabled your injectors to prevent the car from being stolen.
It's as simple as that.
Do you have any spare keys for the car?

 

Thank you for the reply!

That's what I thought too...but why, earlier on when trouble first began, would the key suddenly work again? Why the sputtering, stall? Other threads on here seemed to point towards the Crank sensor when symptoms like that occur. The NATS wouldn't go haywire while speeding down the highway, I assume.

I only have ONE key. Sounds like a tow to a Nissan dealer is in my future. Just been soooo damn frustrating.

 

No it doesnt! I had bought Sirius Xm interface when I bought it back in 2010 and i wound up just hooking it up in my house because of this same issue.

 

Where can I find the proper interior light specs without taking out each one.
Link? I thought I saw it on the DIY section,guess not.Either that or I am blind.

 

Try the GI section of the FSM (link in my signature).

 

I have the same OEM disk,only specified the wattage as far as I could find.
But I remembered where I found them last time

https://www.osram-americas.com/en-us...l=2600&make=81

Thanks man.

 

https://www.osram-americas.com/en-us...l=2600&make=81

 

Hi everyone,

I own a 2000 Nissan Maxima GLE with over 230K miles (bought it a year ago at 217K miles) , and I just had a few questions:

1) My engine has started overheating constantly, and it usually happens when I'm driving over 20 or 30 miles at a time. My coolant level is at the max line and I don't know if the thermostat is to blame or if I have a leak somewhere. How would I go about diagnosing this problem?

2) My car's engine oil is constantly turning dark brown by about 1K miles into the oil change. I use a synthetic blend, and am wondering whether I'm just using incorrect oil or if my engine needs overhauling in any way.

3) A mechanic said I need new shocks and tie rods. For the shocks, would I just go ahead and buy new struts for all four corners of the car? The mechanic who sold it to me said a lot of things were replaced but another mechanic said many of my parts are OEM and haven't been replaced in forever.

4) I'm a student and bought this car on the cheap and am just trying to get by with doing a lot of the jobs myself. Other than basic suspension, oil change, spark plug jobs, what other upgrades should I do to prolong the longevity of the car?

Thanks in advance.

 

Re. #1: If you were to have a leak, your coolant would be disappearing. Is it? I assume not. Then, either your thermostat is bad, or your water pump is bad. I suspect it's not the thermostat, but if you go that way, replace it with an OEM thermostat only. This leaves the water pump: I think the previous owner(s) were not replacing the coolant as they should (every two years or so). They kept driving with oxidized coolant, resulting is rusting of water pump blades. At this point, the water pump has no blades, and no power to circulate the coolant. Too bad - you probably need to replace the water pump.

Re. #2: How much oil is your car using in, say in 3000 miles? If it's not using any oil (or less than 1/2 qt), then I would be tempted to ignore the fact that the oil gets brown soon.

Re. #3: Well, what is your question? At 230K miles, most of the original OEM parts should have been replaced: This applies to all wearable parts such as struts/shocks, brakes, CV axles, coils/plugs, radiator, most hoses, and perhaps few others. It does not apply to the engine and transmission - not for this car, that's why we bought it, and why we keep it.

Re. 4: Use synthetic engine oil (buy it at Walmart), and change no later than 5k-6K miles. Change transmission oil every 15k miles. Since you don't know the history of the car, do a "triple ATF drain&fill" right now (suggest using Valvoline MaxLife). Drain and re-fill the coolant every 2 years (only use coolant compatible with aluminum engines). If in the rust belt, wash the underside of the car every spring.

And one more thing: Read the document about "preventing ECU failures" (link in my signature). And follow the recommendations in it (try to find out what was done to the car by previous owners).

 

Thank you for this descriptive reply!

 

i do order from Rock Auto but I had ordered from Auto Parts Warehouse. At auto parts warehouse every other part was defective!
I got a defective catalytic converter, defective o-rings, defective door handle, and just cheap parts.
As far as my previous comment about Rock Auto I waS just referring to online buying all together being a pain in the head when the part doesnt fit right.
Ive ordered five things from Rock Auto and everything was good.

 

ok. Your original comment was extremely misleading then. Borderline slanderous

 

I did order there and mentioned the org and a few members in the "how did you hear about us" space.

I may go for the Standard CSPS & Delphi CMPS.
If you just order from the listings with the heart next to it you should be ok.

 

I might still be using this method

 

I was changing my O2 sensors on my 5.5 gen 6-spd and when I pulled out the upstream on the front cat, there was a storm of silver crap coming out of the bung. Anyways, I decided I would gut the front cat converter, but the 2 bolts closest to the radiator, on top of the cat are giving me troubles to get off. I finally got 1 off, and have completely stripped the left bolt beyond repair. I tried PB blaster, a torch, a cut off wheel, and chisel/hammer combo. I was supposed to go to the beach this weekend, but may not be able to if I can't fix this. Does anyone know any other trick, to get this bolt off? Do I need to just cut the bolt and nut off completely, and re-tap etc?!?! Thanks everyone!!

 

I'm looking at doing an exhaust on my 2003. Is it best to buy a whole system (I'm not looking to spend much money) or just to chop pieces out and weld straight tube in? And I wouldn't do a full straight pipe, what would be the best pieces to replace?

 

That is an almost impossible question to answer without being able to do a hands on. By asking the question, you evidently have some bad pipe with holes. There is nothing wrong with welding in new sections of pipe, but how bad is the original pipe that does not have holes. The metal may be paper thin and will develop new holes very shortly. You can't weld to thin pipe, either and would have to keep cutting off pipe until you found pipe in good enough shape that could be welded. Do you have the ability to bend pipe for the curved sections?

A very difficult spot to repair is the spot where the y-pipe sections meet to make the y. This is called flexible pipe that is like a woven cloth.

I personally would not patch the pipes, I would replace them for the reasons mentioned above. Replacing is no doubt more expensive, but you won't have to be cutting out and replacing sections every couple of months.

 

There's nothing wrong with pipes as far as I can tell, the car is entirely stock at the moment and the exhaust is dead quiet. Changing the exhaust would just be to make it louder because I know how good the 3.5 engine sounds. I'm just wondering what the best option is for a better sound.

 

Totally mis-understood you reason for doing the work. Probably the least expensive thing you could do would be to replace the resonator (between the catalytic converter and the muffler) with a piece of straight pipe. Whether you would like the sound or not is all personal preference.

If that doesn't work for you, then you will have to buy a different muffler.

I would suggest that you create a new thread in the main section of the 5th gen forum instead of here, the "I am new here" section. You will get a lot more responses that way.

 

https://maxima.org/forums/5th-genera...magnaflow.html

 

I’m a newbie to this forum so I guess this is where I can post a quick question Per the intro instructions.I want to swap a five speed set up out of a 99 Max into my 2000 Max. I have determined through other posts the transmission itself was the same five-speed used in the fifth generation, but can’t find anywhere any information about the CV axles if they will fit and any information on sensors or issues I will encounter with the ECM (codes, etc.) once I swap the transmissions. With 200,000 miles on the car, I can’t see my automatic transmission lasting forever even though it is shifting halfway decent. Anybody done this swap?

 

You don't have to post here in the "I am new here" section if you don't want to. In fact, it is better if you don't because not many people read this section.

The auto to manual swap has been done before. One of the transaxles is different from the automatic trans version, the driver's side I think. I have not done a swap, so I can't give you a lot of details. I'm pretty sure the manual trans for the 4th & 5th gens are the same, but I'm not too sure about other parts like the clutch pedals and things like that.

Do a search on transmission conversion. There is a good amount of info on it.

 

Hi, I'm having a big problem that I need help with. I tried posting a separate thread but because I'm a new user the moderators will not approve it..

My car (2000 Maxima SE 5spd with LSD) needed a new clutch. I did the job over a weekend and now when I start the car it makes a horrible metal-on-metal grinding noise. I know this is vague, but I need some help with the next step of diagnosis. For context, here are the steps I did when changing the clutch:

Removed axles/trans
Removed old PP/friction disk/throw out bearing
Installed new parts (followed FSM for torque specs and bolt order. Greased throw out bearing and fork in specified spots)
Reinstalled trans, axles, etc and filled with GL4 gear oil

Things I've thought of:
The clutch was not installed backwards
Pretty sure the throw out bearing is okay, positive it's installed correctly. Clutch pedal feels great when car is off and shifter goes positively in and out of each gear
I did not touch the flywheel or pilot bushing so I don't think those are causing any issues
I got a clutch kit specifically for this car so all parts should have OEM like fit
The only time I've run the motor is with the clutch pedal on the floor and the car in neutral

What's the next step in troubleshooting? I'm at my wit's end. This was supposed to be a cheap winter car and the clutch was the last (and easiest) bit left to do. I can take a quick video but the noise is so horrible I'd rather not run the car at all.

Edit: Here's a quick video. I started the car in neutral and let out the clutch and it stalled. Normally it'll stay running.

 

I'm a newb. Thank you for creating this thread for those with questions.

Been checking out the forum for the 2000 Infiniti I30 that I acquired three days ago with idle issues, which mine 'seems' to have. Vehicle has 164K miles and was previously throwing codes, not sure which ones (at least two), I do NOT have a code reader. Two (2) Oxygen sensors were replaced prior, not sure which ones. I drove the car 180 miles and pulled off to eat. When starting the idle went up to 1600rpm then shot down and stalled out (very cold night in mountains +15F). I re-started it and same thing. I did the Neutral shift trick and fought the D/N/Brake/gas pedal saga, limping home at 70mph w/ no problems .

Went back outside today and popped the hood and noticed that the black, plastic rectangular air intake chute (with foam weather stripping) that sits between the hood and radiator rail was loose, missing a screw (there are two). Looked a little further down the chain and the plastic piece with the sliding joint member was completely detached from the air filter intake, approx. a 2" wide gap was open (no connection at all). Re-attached the sliding joint to air filter box, filter was clean, looked new. Car has been parked and I disconnected the battery as it is too cold here to go outside and work.

Not sure how to proceed and I have some questions:

1) I need to replace the hood struts as both are not working and are Nissan originals. Which brands are good ones to replace with?
2) Not sure if I should purchase a code reader?,...again, which one should I get to see if it will throw a code?
3) As I recall, the idle was a little high or sporadic but not sure if I should dive directly into the IAC, ECM, motor mount disconnect theories and preventative stuff, so I am wondering where I should start while keeping expenses in mind.

I inherited this vehicle so I have no money into it,...except for wiper blades, so that it passed VA State inspection, which it did but no smog test performed. Thank you for the help!

 

Let's start with the easy part - the hood struts. There are many brands that are good, but the best is a brand called Strong Arm. I have not seen them in any store, I have bought them on-line. Amazon for one carries them.

Your idle problem has a lot of possibilities. What I suggest you do is go to an auto parts store and they will read the codes for you - no charge. Unless you live in California or Maine where the auto repair associations had laws passed against it.

If you are going to buy an OBD code reader, you have many brands to choose from and they all seem to be good. Then you have the price. The least expensive ones will strictly read the code and nothing else. Then some will also erase the code. If you are willing to go up in price to the $50+ category, you will get ones that give you what I call "live data" while the engine is running, such as coolant temp, rpm, O2 sensor voltages, and a lot more. If you are going to be working on your car, I recommend you get the better one. Another recommended tool is a volt meter. You will use that probably more than a wrench.

 

Anyone have ideas on this variation of the starting issue? Car will fire just about all the time.
Occasionally it doesn't, just cranks (strong). If it's push started, successfully or not (moves 3 feet but too slow to fully catch/weak shudder-stalls), it will then immediately proceed to fire again for quite a while.

What could be changing after the push attempts that cause it to not have any issues after?
It will literally crank all day until it gets that attempt. After that, it's fine.
I haven't yet tried merely rolling it in gear a little to see if that works too.

The usual stuff:
OEM nissan starter, regreased, new batt, wires and ground straps on the starter and trans. good coils
Teeth on flywheel and ring all look intact.
3 borrowed OEM sensors known OK.
o2 codes

TIA

 

If the no-start is when the engine is cold and the problem is more apparent on the coldest of the days, it could be the ECTS, engine coolant temperature sensor.

Other things would be to clean the MAF, check the TPS, throttle position sensor, clean the CKPS[POS] which is the flywheel crankshaft sensor.

 

Thank you. I'll try cleaning and the swapping those out. Would any of those affect spark?

I pulled the fuel pump fuse and attached a spark tester to the #1 coil and afterwards swapped a different coil to #1. Cranking shows 1 or 2 intermittent and random sparks, not at all steady.
From reading here I assume the ECU isn't seeing the proper signals so I'd like to start testing the 3 sensors and harnesses starting with the CKPS (POS) on the front bellhousing.
I'm embarrassed to say I'm having trouble following component numbers and locations in the FSM steps.
Does anyone know exactly what to do for the CKPS (pos) sensor and wires?
I'd like to take it one step at a time.

 

Cleaned the MAF.
Wrestled out the ECU and visually checked the board; Seems OK. Removed the clip cover in order to backprobe the wires.

Started testing per FSM.
The CKPS (pos) seems to be good. Ran through all 12 steps and didn't come across any red flags. Will do the other 2 sensors tomorrow.

When first cranking there is 1 initial spark as shown in the spark tester, then nothing. Sometimes there is nothing at all right from the start, but most times there is that 1 initial sparking.
Any ideas here?
It's really strange. Thanks.

 

One of the few things that are different when pushed: The clutch is engaged, so it's pretty good bet that the input from the clutch inhibitor/switch is ignored. On the other hand, this input is very relevant during regular start. I would check the clutch inhibitor relay/switch. I realize that this suggestion does not fully answer all your questions, but it's worth trying.

 

Thanks. First thing tomorrow will swap that relay and also take a look at the switch underneath and try jumping around it. Wish I had more daylight today.

Edit: I believe the A/C relay and the start/inhib relay are the same so that's where I'll swap. Vehicle does crank so it's probably good but I'm more than happy to eliminate 2 more variables. Please keep the suggestions coming!

 

Update. Still not catching, but the vehicle now has consistent spark as shown by spark tester and also bare plug / ground method.
Plugs do have fuel on them when pulled. Already swapped the MAF and also tried unplugging it. No go.

Haven't done the ECTS yet.

Spark fix:

 

If the plugs are wet (have fuel on them), I seriously doubt changing the ECTS will do anything. The ECTS usually causes a too lean fuel mixture.

Either you don't have a spark or you have too much fuel. Since you have tested for spark, that leaves too much fuel. It may be that you have leaking fuel injectors or the rails.

 

Yeah wet plugs = injectors sticking open after shutting the motor off and fuel continues spraying out Milli liters of fuel.
Sounds like its time for a leaky injector test.
What I did was pulled the plenum then the rail. Clip injectors back in prime fuel pump by turning ignition "on" NOT the motor and inspect injectors for dripping. The ones that drip will need to be replaced with BRAND new injectors!
​​​​not remanufactured injectors but new ones. Once they stick open theres no fixing them!

 

Im trying to find out if brake light wiring goes thru the shift lock soleniod .have jumped the plug and still no lights

 

The brake lights should come on anytime you step on the pedal, regardless of whether the car is running or off, regardless of what position the shifter is in. The wiring for the brake lights does not go through the shift lock solenoid or anything else.

Fuse # 2 (15 amp) powers the brake lights. Either check it with an ohmmeter or swap it out. Fuse # 2 is in the dash fuse block, top row, 2nd from the left. The cover calls it STOP LAMP.

There are 2 switches that the brake pedal operates. One is for the brake lights and the other is for the cruise control. The wires going to the brake light switch colored red with yellow stripe and red with green stripe.

The brake pedal has a flange on it that operates the 2 switches. The flange itself does not touch the switch. There is a plastic "bumper" in the flange that will dry out and fall out. Check to see if the bumper is missing.

 

2003 vq35, 140k miles. Recently had codes for camshaft sensors. Replaced both and crankshaft w/OEM parts. This cleared the codes. However, new issue has appeared after this - on a cold start, engine starts fine. However, I drive for 10-15 minutes, stop a store. When I come back to restart, it will turnover quickly, revs to about 1500 rpm, then immediately stalls out. This might happen two-three times in a row before catching. I can also tap the gas immediately after turnover and it won't stall out, it will catch and run like nothing happened. I've searched the forums, but I haven't found anyone with exactly this issue, so I figured it was time to ask.

Other info: mechanic noticed oil leaking into top of spark plug near coil pack, said the valve covers need replacing. Could this be causing the stall out?

Thanks for all your help!