What is this part and what does it do? I have a 2001 Maxima and my car doesn't have this but I've seen pictures of other people's 5th gens with it. I've always thought the air intake duct running into the filter didn't look right because it's generally loose, easy to move around and doesn't seal from what I can tell.




Here's a photo of a 5th gen without it.

 

From what I can tell that looks to be what was the original air intake and filter box from the original setup. The air filter that you have now is obviously an aftermarket setup. It looks as if whoever had the car before you decided to not remove it after installing the new setup.

 

Probably should have clarified but I didn't take an actual picture of my car, the first photo I found on google because it was the only one showing the part of interest and the 2nd photo is basically what my car looks like now. I never changed the original setup.

 

It's name is "the useless ****ing intake duct (with water catcher thingy and resonator) from the snorkel to the airbox"

Stock airboxes belong in the trash. You can't take a **** without removing that thing to access your wiener.

 

I can't find that name for the intake in the FSM but it sure does sound right...