I am thinking about buying an 03' with 96k and everything seems good on the car except when accelerating there is a loud whistle under the hood. I know, I know it could very possibly just be the way the intake sounds but my boyfriend has an 01' that sounds way different. Also, the 03' does not seem to pull as hard as his 01' and as you all know it has a bigger motor and should pull as hard if not harder than the 01' (even with his mods) I don't know if this matters but the 03' has a new exhaust. I found this weird since the car only has 96k. Does anyone think this is a problem car or does this all sound normal? I love the car, just want to make sure it does not have issues. Thanks guys!!

 

By whistling do you mean chirping, and by chirping I mean like a belt slippage. If that's what your hearing, its the infamous piston slap that these VQ35 motors have. A lot of owners have this problem. And yes, it should pull a lot harder than a 01', with a 4AT or 6MT.

**EDIT** Probably had a rusty exhaust since theirs plenty of snow up North at times.

 

The whistle could possibly be from a vacuum leak somewhere. Look around under the hood with a good flashlight and see if you can notice anything out of the ordinary.

 

03>01 for sure,could be an exhaust leak from up front too sometimes a leaky flange will whistle under wot, Leaky flex/y/or flange

 

Maybe it has intake spacers I know they whistle but maybe this car doesn't have them yet good possibility its just a vaccine leak

 

Mine whistles from the spacers but it does it only around half throttle and that seems to be the consensus here for people with the sound after installing spacers.

 

Could it possibly be TB gasket leaking? The car also recently had a code for misfire, the dealer said a coil pack was replaced which supposedly took care of that problem. Ahhh I'm so torn on this car idk what to do lol She is a BEAUTY!

 

Not a chirping noise BTW
No spacers
I'm pretty sure everything is stock except the new exhaust

 

Does it currently have a SES light? If it does, I would scan it.

 

Dash is clear as of now, the dealer informed me of the recent light that was fixed as he says. Don't worry, I own a maxima so I HAVE to keep a code reader in my back seat lol ****in cars

 

I wouldn't think a tb gasket with a leak would cause it. Just about any small air leak after the MAF sensor will cause the car to run rough and would trip the SES light. I'm still leaning towards the possibility of there being a vacuum leak somewhere. Were you able to isolate any particular area under the hood where this whistling sound was coming from?

 

hi all, ok here is my input as i drove this car with op.......first words out of my mouth when i nailed it from 30-35......... my max pulls harder lol then i said god damn that is a loud *** whistle. i even pulled over to check the tb, but that engine cover is massive, and i couldnt reach the cables to throttle it. i am hesitant to buy it because its a salty dog from buffalo. i am also blinded by the fact that a TE fell from the sky.

well on a side note, i might just buy a honda for a beater. believe me this will be a test for honda's durability

 

The '02 '03 have an electronic throttle, you can't manually throttle the engine from under the hood...

 

^LOL you beat me to that one.

If the car isn't pulling like a 2001, I'd just walk away from it. Even with an intake leak, a bad one, the car should still out perform the 2001.

Again, my advice is to walk away from it, who knows what's happened to the car. There's plenty of Maximas out there, you just may have to travel to get the one you want. Keep looking, good luck!

 

Ok. Thank you guys. Guess I am going to be responsible and get an old honda for the winter. See what I can find in the spring. Thanks again!!

 

The car sounds sketchy, especially since it's down on power. However I can't agree on that 3.5's will outperform 3.0's either. A friend of mine bought a 3.5 auto 5.5 gen for his wife (he has a custom turbo'd 3rd gen) and the 3.5 couldn't pull away from my 3.0 5-speed 5th gen. At that time, the only thing I had done to my car was a grounding kit and a resonator delete.