2001 I30 w/ 200k miles

I've read numerous posts about people with more than 200k on their Maximas/I30s and was curious if there were critical issues to be looking out for and/or expensive repairs going forward.

Our I30 has been amazing. Its held up as a family hauler with only minor running issues (radiator, radiator fan, rear calipers, battery corrosion) over its life (at least since we got it around 80k or so). [Of course, that's not mentioning the SES light on (0420 I believe) and the airbag light is blinking. I'm sure the suspension and other related components are shot as well, but that's to be expected. ]

The I30 is now on backup duty and gets a once-a-week 60-80 mile drive to keep her going. I'm scared that since she hasn't had lots of parts replacements (CV joints, axels, etc, etc) or regular maintenance (other than oil changes) that I'll be driving and the wheels will come of or steering will fail or engine will fail or transmission will stop shifting or whatever.

What do you guys think? Is there sudden failures to be looking out for? I'm okay if the performance slowly degrades until it just doesn't make sense or if I get clear indication that its near the end, but I just don't want a lose-control-of-the-vehicle or whatever. At the same time, since its a backup vehicle, I don't want to be dumping large amounts of money into it (especially since its probably worth about $500-$750 in its current condition) only to have it be in a junkyard 6 months later.

 

Alternator, Harmonic Balancer came apart,rear Calipers leaked,Shocks blew out,Radiator clogged up And o2 sensors went out for me from 200k to 210k. im at 225k now and havent had any more issues.


As of major issue or wheels coming off i think your good lol, as long as theirs no clicking when turning from cv axles or popping noises when hitting bumps. NTB does free inspections of everything when take it in for oil change.

 

Sudden failures? No, not that I can think of. Most everything that fails does so gradually, except for the MAF. That goes suddenly.

I'd keep an eye on the power steering pressure hose. That's a very common fail point as you pile-on the miles. Over time, I've probably replaced the entire steering system, including the rack.

 

Any sensor MAF, Cam, crank, 02 etc are likely to be on there way out.


PS pressure hose is common along with CV's - both are not huge bills


Fuel filter (I believe the 3.0 has an inline) and trans fluid should be changed... And if you rad is original, it probably on its way out and at the same time you do the rad, do your thermostat.


Other than that, drive her till she dies!

 

My car has been fine 2nd owner picked it up at 38000 miles just regular maintance.

 

Guys,

Thank you all for your comments. I've never cleaned the MAF before and that looks to be a smart thing to do. What do you guys think? Any risks in doing it?

 

MAF specific spray only, and no real risk.
Just make sure it's unplugged and you let it dry a minute.

 

Stop trolling please.

 

Was the troll deleted?
I see no troll.

 

sudden failure at 200k is the radiator support rusting out, happened to me at over 200k. check if urs is rusted before the cross member drops and ur engine is leaning forward. if maintenance has been done then ur good.

 

Leave the maf alone unless you have a problem.

 

Well, I'm still waiting to hear back from the mechanic, but at 208k, I've had stalling issues. I've tried cleaning the MAF and that seemed to help, but my fear is that the check engine light that came on yesterday (it stalled again before I could get it home, so I took it to a mechanic) is the P0505 which would be a IASC controller failure leading to an expensive repair there, plus the knockout blow of a blown ECU. Given the fact that some people have had to replace it more than once, this diagnosis will represent the car being towed either to a junk yard or maybe free to my father in law if he wants it.

Also, Power Engine Mounts? Whaaaa? I've heard its good to unplug those.

 

These problems aren't difficult to solve. Read this document: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6O...1fNlF5QjQ/view and implement the recommendations within.

 

^ i was going to say motor mounts, high pressure power steering hose, and iacv. had to replace all 3 between 200k-225k.

iacv is a likely cause of stalling, you might get lucky and have the ecu spared (i did). and yes if you're an automatic unplug the motor mounts

 

CPS -crank position sensors ! very very scary to have happen, car will shut off literally with no warning signs while driving at any speed

 

Thanks, I'll find out tomorrow after a visit to the dealership, but your IACV was bad without ECU failure? What happened? Similar symptoms or P0505? I just unplugged the front motor mounts and will do the rear one once I remove the airbox again. Should've looked into it when I was messing with the TB and MAF.

 

car stalled out when coming to a stop at a busy intersection. tried cleaning tb, maf, seemed like the car ran better but once it warmed up it would stall when coming to a stop again.

i will say it had a higher idle (around 1200 rpm) for as long as i could remember (bought it from my father about a year earlier) and had a slightly erratic idle sometimes about a month prior to it completely failing. by erratic i mean sometimes on cold starts the idle would surge and bounce between maybe 700-1200 rpms.

all is good with the new iacv.

 

Thanks everyone for their help. Oddly enough, 2 years after worrying about stuff that could happen at 200k and I wound up (and still am) with a bunch of issues.

Here's what you need to do.

If you haven't done so yet, implement the coolant bypass to help protect your IASC and ECU. In addition, disconnect the Electronic Motor Mounts (pain to get the plugs disconnected, but heck, I'm not going to reconnect them again).

Beyond that, you can buy an OEM MAF cheaply and its ultra-easy to replace the sensor (just 2 Torx screws + 1 connector) and cleaning it is even cheaper to do. A throttle body cleaning is also worth the effort (beware for 2002+).

Stuff will break otherwise. I needed to replace the blower, but that was very easy (just a pain to be working in that area) and of course, any hose or radiator can break, but that's to be expected. My hood struts need to be replaced, but that's easy too and a $40 fix.

The only other thing that seems to be a common problem is the rear calipers.

Thanks for everybody's input and help!

 

at 200+ I have replaced everything replaceable.
Except for head gaskets and exhaust gaskets everything is replaced.
I actually need to replace the a/c clutch because it ticks but I can't find one online so..

Mounts, iac, o2, maf, oil pan gaskets, valve cover gaskets, intake gaskets, alternator, coils, radiator, fans,

It's now leaking at the water pump so I need to replace that next.

The axles click very slightly when it's really cold at first start so I'll be thinking about those.

Just saw that my rear right plug hole is filling with oil, so I have to replace that again.

these parts are all meant to be replaced though but at about 200,000 everything just sorta falls apart at the same time.

 

Oh man oh man. I don't think I could deal with that. Can I ask how much total that cost? I almost was going to scrap ours (granted its far from flawless shape), but since the ECU should be repaired for $100 or so, I have to keep going.

Did you have some scary moments of stalling or engine freakout? Car couldn't start?

We did have a fun incident awhile ago (probably around 100k or so) where the radiator fans died and we overheated in the middle of summer, stuck in traffic on our way home with the kids screaming. Ugh. Glad we were able to get it home as long as we were moving and getting that air flow. Luckily, we also don't have emissions, so the whole pre-cat problem and likely O2 sensor thing hasn't been required to get replaced.

I'm just praying to get it stable for just a couple more years at once a week (or so) driving. Please, please.

If you knew all of the repairs ahead of time, would you still have sold it?

 

I have 186 K miles and so far these are the issues I have ran into.

Alternator
Idle pulley
belts
lights
clutch
blower motor
window regulator

I made videos for the repair of most of these

https://goo.gl/ScTSgG