I would like to replace the motor in a 2002 Maxima with a 2004 motor. I just wanted to check what I'm getting into. I know the motor fits. But what do I need to change? Can I use my 02 wiring harness? Will the ecu read everything fine? Any recommendations would certainly be appreciated as I am ready to order a motor ASAP. Even if you just want to tell me the perfect search words to use, I would still appreciate that

 

https://maxima.org/forums/all-motor/...it-my-car.html

 

Yes. I've read that thread. It is the only one I have found. Im curious about wiring harnesses and what not. I know the motor fits.

 

You'll use your same wiring harness and ECU that you have now.

 

Get something newer

 

Ok great. Thanks for the help.

 

Yeah... maybe... If I hadn't bought the car for my wife's little brother for HS graduation.

 

spoiled

 

Super spoiled. His dad left his mom when he was a kid and his mom has worked 2-3 jobs his whole life to try to provide. He's wicked smart, took all AP classes and graduated HS with an associates degree. I thought he deserved something nice.

 

04-08 isn't even worth it, imo, since you have to replace the chains and guides. There's no way of knowing that it's been done until you take off some timing covers.

All hail Darren.

 

Wait what? I thought the 04 motor was better because they don't have bad piston rings. Now you're telling me they need chains and guides? Uh this is stacking up to be my worst decision ever haha. The motor I'm looking at has 78k miles. When do the chains and guides go bad?

 

What is the safest engine I can put in the 02 maxima and what further work is required?

 

You will have to roll the dice:
02-03 is likely to burn oil
04-08 is likely to have the timing chain issues

Not all engine have those issues, mind you.

 

Well I think the 04 is a better bet then. I'd rather have timing chain issues than piston issues. With the 04, if I do a timing service before installing the motor are there parts less prone to failure than what is originally in there? Sure is easier to do it then.

 

I'd spend that time on the mods for a 07+ altima or 09+ maxima engine

 

Is there a thread I can read for this? I just want a reliable motor to put in there. For some reason, especially where I live the 02 and 03 motor are the highest priced with the highest miles. Then the 04 maxima motor and then the 07 altima motor. I can find 07s for 600 bucks. The 04 is 1000 and the 02 is 1200 and up.

 

I think I found a good thread for it. I will see if that seems the most reasonable of options.

 

Darren took down this thread. He said he was going to rewrite it, but I haven't seen it back up. I have a swap thread, but it's not complete as I glossed over some stuff.

 

Yeah it looks like more than I want to get into. I think I will just go with a low mile 04 motor and hope for the best.

 

That is cool that you want to help the kid! I admire you for that. It is not very hard to do the swap if you have tools and know how to work on cars. People will give different advice on what engine to get, but I think that 04 engine you found will be just fine.
I have an 02 Maxima with 07 Quest engine in it. I kept the original harness and the ECU. I kept the upper and lower oil pan (my car is 6 speed), knock sensor, fuel rail, intake manifold, and throttle body. Hope this helps!

 

I also have a 6 speed. I had an 02 Altima a long time ago. Swapped that motor no problem. I had concerns about the quest motor. So you didn't have to change anything? I'm on the verge of pulling the trigger on a 04 max motor with 78k. It's 1264 shipped, but the best deal I could find. I don't want anything above 90k miles. I have found a lot of quest motors that appear to be cheaper but I was told by the wrecker that I would have to change the upper oil pan. Is that true? Everything else plug and play?

 

I found 07 altima motors for much cheaper but I just don't want to take that on. This motor is in utah and the shipping is 264 to a residential address which is actually pretty reasonable.

 

Any shops around you that have done work for you?
Worth a call to them to see if you can have an engine dropped off there for you to come pick it up..if you have a way to transport it that is.
Save big bucks on shipping.

 

I looked for a bit. In the end it seemed like too much hassle. The utah place southwest auto recycle had reasonable shipping rates. It was cheaper to ship it to a residential address from there than it was to go to a commercial location from texas.

 

I bought my '13 motor off ebay LOL. It shipped to a freight facility and I just picked it up. Damn thing was virtually brand new. It wasn't even broken in. You should have seen all the blow by for the first thousand miles (it was pumping it out at idle).

 

It's weird how the newer motors are cheaper. When I swapped my 02 altima I had the engine shipped to a facility and picked it up also. But it just wasn't worth 100 bucks to me this time. Plus I don't own a truck and hate bothering people. If I was doing this work for my own personal car I would definitely go with as new of a motor as is swappable.

 

I changed the upper oil pan because my car is 6 speed and the Quest was auto. Even if you need to change the oil pan it is not very hard. Bunch of 12 mm bolts, some gasket maker and that's it. While you are there change the 2 half moon gaskets and the 2 oil ring gaskets. Everything on the engine was plug and play besides the things I mentioned in my post above.

 

Hrmm, maybe I should have taken photos of my recent work in the dirty.

Oh wellz

 

Any recommendations of what work I should do before putting the motor in? It only has 78k. I have brand new valve covers so I might put them on if they look faulty.

 

Sell the covers if you can. You don't need them on 6th gen (since that's the ones we buy LOL). You could RTV them if you think they'll leak later.

Pull a timing cover and look at the guide. If it's being eaten into by the chain, then you need to replace all of it.