Never thought I would say this, but the fuel filter replacement should be considered as a performance mod

More lower end AND top end.

[Edit] That impression was caused by the gross evap leak being erased after fuel filter change. From what I have noticed on the butt dyno, these codes (P0456 and P0442) will pull timing and reduce low end torque. [/Edit]

 

YOU HAVE A RED MAXIMA!? I've never seen a red 5th gen and just posted about that in the new guy's thread. MORE PICTURES, PLEEEEEEEEEASE!

Also, I can't notice any difference with my new fuel filter. =/ Maybe if I fix the gross EVAP leak caused by the faulty EVAP canister valve, though... I swear the car runs differently when it's not detecting that leak. Better different, crazy better, even.

I keep meaning to post pictures from my sway bar end link replacement, but can't be bothered to mail them from my phone, bah.

In short, a tech at work and I had to cut off the bottom nut/stud on each link. The top ones came off with the impact, which was cool, but the bottom ones stripped the bolt's innards. Like, it spun the threads inside the bolt that backs against the link's mini ball-joint without moving the bolthead being restrained by a wrench until the threads themselves stripped out!

The impact shattered the passenger side's nut. It was crazy! I had never watched one closely enough to realize that the nut would smoke from the impacts. The locknut blew the washer and stuff off so that it exploded into three pieces, like a parts diagram!

Once they were off, the new ones went on in all of five minutes. We used the impact to tighten down the nuts so I'm pretty sure those got overtightened. The FSM only wanted like 30 ft*lbs, right? I'll probably loosen those up myself and re-tighten by hand in the weeks to come.

I also took a picture of the OEM vs Moog links, side by side. WOW. What a difference! I don't know what to think about the whole "designed to fail" conspiracy, but looking at these two... I can see no reason why Nissan decided to use a sealed, non-greasable, skinny little link like they did. The Moog has awesome American heft to it. Go-go fat Americans! It looks like the Moogs have more than a 1/4" larger diameter than the OEM ones--maybe even a full half inch!

I'll second you on "new suspension components increased interior noise and vibration." I have a seriously obnoxious something or other that is vibrating on my passenger side now. I want to say it's the seatbelt assembly, like ShiftIce's writeup on fixing the rear vibrations from the 'woofer. Good thing I bought extra foam strips..

Rochester: You nut, obviously my logic worked like ColtMax's:
1. If Eric's car was in a lot of snow, it was in a lot of salt
2. ColtMax is in Canada.
3. Canada is colder than middle Ohio.
4. Canada gets more snow than middle Ohio.
5. Canada roads get a lot more salt than middle Ohio roads.
6. Ergo, ColtMax's car was exposed to more salt than Eric's.
7. Ergo, ColtMax's cheap Nissan nuts are even more rusted up to pieces than Eric's.

I am convinced that Nissan deliberately used the cheapest nuts and bolts possible on our cars. I'm guessing Japan's environment is much less harsh to the poor little guys?


And, seriously, take more pictures of your car or I'll hurt you. Or something. Yeah.

 

The red you're referring to is "Merlot Pearl", which was only available on the 5th gen SE and GLE, 2000 - 2003. The 1999 SE Limited came in an actual red. Really red.

Having snow doesn't necessarily mean being exposed to salt, because salt is expensive and not all local governments can afford it. Fewer now than in years past.

 

Lol, actually the Moogs are made in Japan. At least the ones I got are.

Yea, I don't think most of Japan has much snow. I would think the salt air wouldn't be that kind to the cars though. I was under the impression though that in Japan, there weren't too many old cars on the road because of strict vehicle safety inspections deeming older autos unsafe or words to that effect.

Oh and btw, I'll be replacing my sway bar links tonight on my car. I'm hoping I don't run into the same problems you guys did.

 

I just got done replacing the stabilizer bar bushings and the links. Initial impressions are the front end seems a bit more stable around corners, but most importantly, so far as I can tell, the clunk is gone!!!! The job took less than an hour not including clean up. Oh and I'm almost sorry to say, all I needed was a regular 14mm wrench and a tap from a dead blow to remove all the stab. bar link bolts. I didn't have any rust on any of them. The link joints felt loose as a goose though. Now I'm contemplating doing the tie rod ends.

 

*picks himself up from the corner he was crying in*

LIFE'S NOT FAIR!


I'm going to put my ES bushings in sometime tonight or tomorrow morning, hopefully all the nasty bits will be done with the new, rust-free nuts on there. I, too, noticed that the car is much flatter on the front in turns now. It also wobbles less when you hit a large bump on a tight turn at 65 MPH. Gotta love the feeling of your rear wheels leaving the ground--yeah! (Slightly farther up the ramp shown at 1:05 http://www.whas11.com/news/local/I-6...106999778.html)

 

Once you accept to work with disc cutter, grinder, sledge hammer and patience it is not bad. Plus you get to replace all those rusty component for new ones and protect them properly. I love the fact that my Max Drives better and looks better at 201,000km than it did at 112,000km when I got it.

Eirik: Rochester is right, my color code is AX5 wich is Merlot. This car was accidented. The front end was damaged, all windows broken, interior ripped and many other weird things such as bullet like holes through the front seats.

My theory is that this car was a pimp ride, and 2 pimps were shot while driving at low speed in the Toront area. Car ran into a wall and was beated to death with baseball stick. It then got towed to the police forensics were the interior was teared apart for inspection.

I bought it of a guy who imported it from the Ontario through the auctions. A lots of dings and dents, but it is not so bad, you cant really tell from far. The headlights and bumper allignment looks like $h1t. Now that almost everything was repaired/improved I may do a bit of body work.

http://www.monchar.com/image.php?id=241693&f=241700/
http://www.monchar.com/image.php?id=241694&f=241700/
http://www.monchar.com/image.php?id=241695&f=241700/

Well now that you mention that, my P0456 came back on 2 days ago and bottom end torque is really affected. I guess the fuel filter was not the only responsible for that sudden HP gain. It must have to do with the fact that the code got cleared after the filter was changed by a tank fill up.

 

I've driven my car a lot more miles since I did the sway bar bushings and links. Wow what an improvement! The car feels so much tighter in the front end now and 90% of the rattles are gone. Not to mention that stupid "clunk" is gone too. I can't believe I was stupid enough to live with this noise for almost 5 years. Oh well, it's like getting a newer car now.

 

Well, I see the exact same behavior on my Max. The gross evap leak code is pulling timing back I guess. In my case the canister and the valve are good, the codes P0456 and P0442 were caused by a rusty fuel filler neck. The area where the cap sits was all rusted and was preventing a tight seal.

With a rag in the hole I have scraped and sanded the area until smooth. Silicone grease to prevent rust again. Code went away on its own the very next day.

 

Good to see someone putting all this work into a 9 year old car I just changed my strut mounts, bump stops, control arms, endlinks and tie rods myself and the results are great. Need more money to continue, but hopefully by the end of the year I'll have the rear suspension done.

Also, I noticed you said your rear calipers are frozen...are you sure they are? Because you can't push the piston directly in. You have to twist it in. use either pliers or you can rent a caliper piston compressor that has attachments on it to compress them. Not sure if that was already covered in the thread (didn't read the whole thing) but it's just a suggestion.

EDIT: LOL just read post # 87. Love the pimp theory. And you have the 5.0 gen radio...lol.

 

WUT!! I though I had the 2002 radio. I thought only 2003 came with the nav system.

My rear calipers were rusted and jammed beyond any repair. I am aware of the threaded piston but could not get it to rotate even with vice grip. I tried to dismantle one of them and broke the adjuster... Got to love quebec winters and salt!

I will take as a resolution to take them appart, clean and re-lube every fall.

 

haha, no sir. The 2002-2003 radios are exactly the same (except for the upper portion of the 2003 Titanium edition ones being a different color..). The 2000-2001 (the one you have) has a single disc CD player and different button layout. The 2002-2003 has a 6 in-dash CD changer.

Alright I was just checking about the brakes; didn't want you to go spending money if it wasn't needed

 

yes indeed, great to see.

 

It may be a 9 year old and 160K Mile car, but for what its value on the market is worth versus what it gives me:

Comfort
Luxury
Power
Manual
And I get to do mechanic on it

I cannot think of another car that will offer that much for the price and the amount of repair I throw on it every year.

I bought it for 12K$ in Jan 2007 @ 70K Miles and I have put maybe 4K$ in maintenance and improvement.

If i keep it for another 5 years and throw an average of 1000$ per year it will be like if the car cost me 21K$ or the equivalent of 218$ / Month during 8 years.

Try to find an equivalent ride that will cost you that much including the mods you do to it.

 

I too (foolishly) tried to rebuild my rear calipers, and that was simply a waste of time.

After ripping the first of rubber seals that go around the piston, I wisely gave-up, and went directly to Autozone and purchased a reman'd set.

Ahhhhh -- MUCH easier.

Now I ONLY wish I had taken the time to PAINT the calipers, because they are REALLY looking rusty even BEFORE being exposed to the salt of the winter.
Oh well -- at LEAST they work again!

gr

**Oh, and -- the fuel filter replacement did NOTHING for my "performance". But I attribute that to being the original owner, and ALWAYS using Premium Fuel.**

 

I don't think octane rating/grade has anything to do with what kind of contaminants get in the fuel. I'm sure age/condition of the tanks at your usual gas stations - and filter quality there - and the local fuel terminals, etc. do though.

 

Exactley! Premium does'nt mean cleaner.

As I mentionned earlier, the sudden gain in hp following the fuel filter was caused by the reset of code P0442 and P0456.

 

Hey Coltmax. Ex-DSM'er here. After daily-driving a low-12 second 1g back in the day, I bought my Max in 2003 as a "I'm taking a break from cars!" car.

After doing next to nothing for the first 100k miles, issues are starting to need attending. Most likely doing my motor mounts in the spring.. and this thread had been a great primer on what to expect! Question though - do you remember the trend to "fill" DSM motor mounts with window caulking as a way to stiffen them up? The Max mounts seem to be a similar design, and I have to wonder if this could be a low-cost fix to at least repair the tearing. Of course, re/re'ing the mounts is the biggest "cost", so it would be an experiment to see if it works...

 

Nice to see other DSMer on here! Hoe can you say that you are an Ex-DSMer? Not owning a DSM anymore does not make you an Ex-DSMer. I am sure the DSM mentality and spirit are still in you.

For the mounts, I have tried once the filling methode. I think the stuff I used was not the right one, so the results were not concluent at all!

Since no after market mount or inserts are available for the colt I had to take the DIY route. Luckily one of my buddy owns a polyurethane shop, he filled my mount with the stiffness grade I wanted. Running this mount since 2005, 150 drag passes and no issue.

 

LA02 is saying that is a good thing, he is not being mean. You are correct 5.5 gens still look modern and offer lots for the money when new and still do!

 

Don't get me wrong on that, I know want LA02MAX meant. I guess it has become a reflex for me to justify the amount of money I throw at her ....

But are'nt we all the same?

 

ES mod to the front and rear motor mounts and fill the Xmission and passenger side motor mounts with 3M Window weld! The ES Mod/xmember bushings by itself will limit virtually all engine movement entirely....

 

Those pic's are really a lot more helpful than the service manual to understand what the job entails! Great job!

But I do have a couple questions: did you replace any of the suspension mounting bolts? Like the bolts for the strut to the LCA, or the LCA to the frame bolts?

On other cars, people claim most suspension bolts are stretch bolts and shouldn't be re-used 'cause they won't hold torque.

Next: what do you think was doing all the klunking on yours? I have a klunking that really more rattle like as they come so quick when driving slowly over small bumps. My thinking is it's the sway bar end links, I'm just not sure.

Thanks and another congrats for work well done! I'd love to go through my front suspension and completely rebuild it with poly too!

 

Gotcha!

 

...and then, NWP Torque Link.

 

Stretch bolts are used on engine fasteners mostly! That's to dangerous to have suspension components relying on torque to yield fasteners! One good pothole could be a real killer!

 

..have you noticed your car is quieter now that winter is here, and everything is frozen? .

edit:To gain the full benefit of this modification your car must be parked in an unheated location

 

Mine is actually louder. All the rattles from the cold interior plastic pieces rubbing and cracking drives me crazy. Got to love stiff suspension!

 

VW used torque-to-yield spec's on certain suspension bolts...that's why I was asking. I had a VW and to be safe you had to replace those bolts when you disassemble your suspension.

Not to argue or anything, but I don't understand why the pothole shock to a properly designed torque-to-yield fastener should be any more destructive than the thermal expansion/contraction and combustion pressures are to a head bolt fastener.

Now would I try to change Nissan's torque spec to a torque to yield just 'cause I wanted to? no way in hell LOL That's why I'm asking OP what he did. I'm assuming he used a Nissan FSM procedure for his work.

 

Nissan uses some giant *** bolts on the suspension... That would be a serious amount of torque to reach the yield strength!

I've actually been fortunate enough to have stripped one of my suspension bolts (due to installing my lower tie bar). It was one of the two bolts that holds on the rear Lower control arm bushing and it was stripped for 4 years before it finally gave. haha...just a testament to how over-built these suspensions are.

 

op great thead!

The pics really help people to get a visual aid. I am constantly linking people to this when they ask questions.

 

Thank you HomerMAC. I also like good pic threads, this is why I put extra efforts when taking pics for technical instructions.

 

ColtMax, je t'ai deja vu vite vite à un meet à Laval ya un ESTI de boute. J'était venu avec Christine(cricri) du Ridin' Crew. Ton retro fit de bmw headlight et ton nom me disait de quoi aussi. Ton char faisait peur en cr*ss sur la track de ce que j'entendais parler du monde qui embarquait avec toi, hahaha.
Content de voir que tu as choisis une 5.5 !! je vais te faire signe sur monchar !

Sorry guys, just saying that I saw him in a meet a while ago and that his Colt scared the sh*t out of people who dared to get in with him.

I haven't gone through the whole thread, but yes, this car is well worth the investments for what you have. Keep it up, great job.
Frank

 

Un ESTI de bout? Tu dis toi!

Not sure I remember you, but I remember those days, this must have been in 2003...

Well if my car appeared scary back then while doing 14 sec on the quarter mile, they should avoid getting a ride today

The Maxima has gotten some mods, but nothing serious apart from revamping the suspension.

Maybe will see each other at some event. Car scene is small in Montreal area.
Nice max you got there by the way!

 

By the way, here is the family in preperation for a track day

 

I replaced the front 2 struts, strut mounts, sway bar bushing and links, both axle shafts. The noise is there.

We had the engine/transmission mount, lower ball joints, control arm bushings...everything is tight and not wore out. All those components were in great shape

 

Nice write up Colt.

I have also changed out front struts with Tokico HP Blues, Moog Mounts, Moog Lower Ball Joints and Moog Outer Tie Rod Ends. As far as ES Bushings go, so far I have only done the Shifter Bushings. I am very much so pleased with the ride of the struts and my suspension feels tighter than it did before. However the KLUNK is still there!

What is really the cause of the KLUNK? And how easy is it to change the parts out myself? I have a reasonable mechanic, but the fact that I've done so much work and just bought a set of tires yesterday...I'm not too excited about shelling out any $ right now ya dig. And my wife isn't either. ... Roch maybe my wife and your wife should talk! LOL.

 

Hey Coltmax, just want to say congrats for the nice work you did on your max. I'm also from Mtl and been on the org since 2000, but I dont post so much anymore, beside my build thread in the N/A section. I read in some of your post that you found the rear to be moving from side to side, so I was wondering if you got it fix ? In any eventuality, I have few suggestion that will greatly improve the rear end of your max. Putting an RSB will definitely help, also a RSTB will stiffen the rear a tiny bit, you can also replace the russel link bushing.

There is a thread here where you can order: http://forums.maxima.org/4th-generat...-bushings.html

Cheers

AA

 

Which Sway Bar Bushings are the best to use, 22mm or 23mm?

 

Not an issue of "best"... it's fitment.

The SE model has a 23mm FSB. The GLE and GXE have a 22mm FSB.