hello all havent been on this forum in many years owned a 99 se limited and a 97 se max now looking for lucky number three always wanted a 5.5 gen for obvious reasons.ive been all over the sticky page and couldnt seem to find the right answer. all im concerned about is the engine problems. apparently precats fail and tiny bits of them find their way into the engine and wear out rings and cause oil burning. my question is if im looking at one of these cars is there a easy way to tell if it has had this problem? im looking for a project car probably with higher miles my last max had 173,000 and shifted performed well so im not afraid of high miles. also heard the valve covers notoriously leaked easy enough fix but i dont wanna get stuck with a motor that loses oil due to bad ring thanks for any and all info

 

If it has high miles, then the precats are toasted, end of story. Even 100k is enough.

You can't tell what shape they're in or if they've caused damaged (without disassembling crap or see the smoke), but you could do a compression test on the motor. If the compression is good, then it should be a safe purchase and gut the cats or put on headers.

I pulled a motor recently and both were 90% clogged. The rear precat was rattling around and lost a good chunk of the material. Interestingly enough the engine wasn't ruined from the cats, but b/c of a blown head gasket.

 

I don't think there is a quick way to verify that it doesn't burn oil... however... if I was to go test drive it, before starting the car, the first thing I would do is check the oil level.

If it's low... it may be an indication that either the car burns oil... or whoever owned it did not care to check the oil level. Either way it would be enough to raise a flag.

Obviously if the oil level is fine, this does not prove that the car does not burn oil.

 

Still not sure if I buy into the catalyst in the cylinder theory, but I just gutted mine at 194k miles. Front was fine, rear was disintegrated into a hundred pieces and some dust. I drove 20k miles after p0420 code before seeing the insides of the precat, but I still have not experienced an oil burning issue.

 

See recall for the QR25s. Maximas should have been included. Fuel map flash won't fix it, but it will make sure nearly all of their cars are out of warranty when they fail.

Oil burning is also related to the valve seals.

 

So should I just not go for one a these cars if it has higher miles I know most people wouldn't let me do a comp test though that is a goof idea

 

+1 This is the best way no doubt.

btw I gutted my cats due to my last engine blow. What a PITA

 

It's just pretty much a roll the Dice type situation, you may get Lucky and you may Not....

 

Most of these burn oil and thats the way it is. I love the car no matter what. I add oil every 2 months just get the 5qts jug from walmart youll be ok

 

Ha. Yeah, if I were selling my 10-year old Maxima today for only $2-3k, I'd probably let someone have a mechanic look it over, but not start disassembling stuff enough to comp. test all six cylinders. I'd just keep shopping for another buyer. My previous car (Mustang) was an oil burner, though. I just kept extra oil on hand, it wasn't a big deal.

 

thanks for all the replies i dont mind adding oil at all its like my 2 stroke snowmobile. i just didnt want to get one with badly damaged rings and cylinder walls and not know about it until it was too late. what i am looking at now is a 2000 5 speed se no moonroof cloth seats and 207000 miles for $950 i know the motor is the same(reliability wise) as a vq30de which is bulletproof just worried about the trans are they exactly the same as a 4th gen 5 speed trans?

 

That's hella base model, but it's cheap

Those cats clog, but there's no threat to the engine. If it's extra slow, then you know why :P
IIRC, as long as it's not a cali-spec, you can replace the ypipe and that will deletes the precats.

 

i like my LTB Stage II to much to get headers... should I just gut them or replace with new?

-If i gut the precats... how long will they last? in other words can the precats go bad for any other reasons once they have been gutted? I am looking at it long term... if I am going in there I don't want to have to go back again.

-OEM precats... are scary $$$, headers would be a great upgrade (probably close $$ wise but cheaper then oem precats)

And this is spoon feed but
- if you upgrade headers and nothing else, will the exhaust still stay quiet? (IIRC yes it usually just comes down to the muffler)

 

The gutted precats should be able to outlast the rest of the car. Just take your time with the process so that you don't puncture the sides, don't booger the mating surfaces and you won't have leaks, and don't mess up the threads on the o2 bungs removing or installing sensors. Of course YMMV depending on your level of rust.

 

im in central new york **** box heaven. the car has ugly nissan rims 17inch 7 spoke arent those from like a 2002-2003 max? anyways yeah gutting the cats will be the first priority for sure but how do i know if its canadian cali or us spec i cant remember

 

been researchin and apparently then options code under hood tellls the version the 12th character either u v or n is this correct