narimasu

The A33 is quite rare in Europe, and as I found this forum really helpful, I thought I should post here tip and tricks to fix that car.

I have a December 2000 version which is called 'Maxima QX'. The bodyshape is the Infiniti I30, but the engine is a downsized version of the VQ, the VQ20DE . A 2 liter engine is better here because the taxman charges 80% tax on gasoline and registration tax for a 3 liter is near $2000.

Mine has AT and performs 30 mpg on highway and 23 mpg in town. We get the VQ30 in Europe too, but it has not sold that much.

The MAF gradually gets out of spec and I had to change mine. The current reference is 22680-AD20A, and Nissan here charges €400 for a new one.
I therefore tried the US replacement one 22680-2Y001 which needs occasionnaly an ECU re-flash. With shipping costs, I got it home for only €90, so it was worth trying it.
I did not perform any re-flash of the ECU and even not Idle volume learning.
This MAF worked straight away and I have been using it for one year with no issue. The engine has became much more linear whereas it would suddenly wake up once you pass 2200 pm in 3rd gear. At high rpm, the power has come back again, and going uphill with the family and a fully loaded trunk, it makes a difference !
So I can only recommend European buyers to go for that MAF and save €300.

The AC tank is charged by Nissan €270 in Europe (92131-2Y900), but I got a four-seasons aftermarket one in US for €70 including shipping costs. As four-seasons supplies Nissan for original parts on that car, you do get a proper part for less than a third of the cost.

Purchasing parts in US is really worth considering for that car !

DennisMik

iTrader: (2)

Hello France! Welcome to Maxima.org.

The kind of information you provided is always a good thing.

I don't know how or where you ordered your parts from in the U.S., but there is an internet site called rockauto.com where you can get international shipping and also pay in many currencies, such as the Euro. You select the currency at the top of the screen display.

rockauto.com has good prices, but always compare the part price plus shipping charges with other stores. Some places will offer very low prices but rape you with shipping charges. Rockauto is very fair on shipping charges inside the U.S. but that could be different for international shipping.

narimasu

Hi
Thank-you for this link. I will add it in my bookmarks !
Competition for prices in US is of great benefit for customers, so even OEM prices are much lower than what we have in Europe.

Mr. Blue Sky

iTrader: (1)

another thing to look at while browsing rockauto, is that some parts may or may not be stocked in warehouses closer to the Euro Zone Countries. Just look for a Euro Zone flag under the part manufacturer to see if they have it in an "outlying warehouse" near you.

narimasu

Thank you for the tip !

narimasu

Here are the issues or maintenance operations I experienced with this car:

150 000 km: Oxygen sensor and ignition coil

155 000 km: idle vol learn. No need to change anything but the engine stalled at hot start. I cleaned the throttle body and performed the adjustment with Consult.

160 000 km: front disk brakes

162 000 km: stabilizer tie rods (noisy)

175 000 km: AC compressor. The R134 would empty every three month. Even adding dye, the leak was not obvious. When the compressor leaks, the liquid is so hot that it wont leave traces. All the compressor oil had gone, and it made a bad clunking noise. I had to refill the circuit as a brand new system (250 g of AC oil). I was very fortunate to buy a brand new compressor from a showroom Renault (which shares the VQ engine with Nissan / Inifniti) for just 100 Euros ($135). I just needed to swap the magnetic clutch which is easy. BTW, I changed all the O rings of the circuit while it was opened and changed the AC tank.

175 000 km: while I changed the AC compressor, I noticed the radiator under frame was rotten, which is a well known issue on A32 / A33 driving in areas where winter roads are de-iced with salt. This was not a DIY job so I had a dealer fix it. 800 Euros approx. $1000. This was disappointing to see a modern car so rusty. Everything had been cheap to fix except this.

176 000 km: MAF. The car lost performance gradually and was really sluggish on the highway. The lower cost replacement MAF 226802Y001 worked absolutely fine on this VQ20. I also used Consult to offset the ignition timing by 2 degrees which improves the power a little (3 bhp, 3 daN.m) as I was checking the car. It's just a 2L engine on a 1.6 ton car with AT, but it is now working as it should and down to 30 mpg on highway driving at 130 km/h average (80 + mph)

narimasu

Reaching 185 000 km, it is time to change the shock absorbers as the car bounces on bumpy roads.

It is hard to find the A33 dampers in Europe and Rock Auto was short of them too.
My first attempt was KYB 341341 for the rear and KYB 334366 334367 for the front. These are hardly supplied in Europe, evenso I also tried a german website.

So I ended up with KYB 314271 for the rear, SACHS 312 180 / 312 181 for the front. Interestingly, all automotive websites could not supply SACHS, and only Amazon had them, for 120 € each. The KYB 314271 for the rear were priced 77 € each in France.
I changed the upper parts with KYB SM5217 for the rear and KYB SM5409 for the front.
I feared the KYB 314271 would not fit as they were for prior to July 2000 models which mine is not, but actually all went well.
All parts matched together and it was an eventless job to get all shocks changed in 4 hours.

An important thing when you are jacking the car at home is to lift both sides of the car at the same time else the sway bar keeps the springs compressed otherwise.

Let's see this week how the car is improved !

narimasu

Two year ago I purchased Febest bumper bounds as I changed the dampers.
I only ran 15Kmiles and in two years only these are absolutely ruined, so I have to dismount my dampers and spend hours to change these extremely bad quality parts.