Hey guys & gals! I'm new here. Just traded my car for this 03 Maxima. It's got a few things wrong in the front end including a rusted out lower rad support. It's not even connected anymore. My funds are limited so I wondering the cheapest way to repair it to where it's still as reliable as possible. I don't have a great pic so I found one online that resembles pretty much exactly what's going on with mine. Why isn't this recalled? Teh fu**? Thank you for any advice in advance. Also I live in Colombia county, PA if anyone has recommendations for where to get the work done.

 

Thx!!

 

There's threads on this with people patching it back together.

 

WOW that's bad!

 

Seeing how you want to spend as little money as possible, I'd use like JB-Weld and just slather it all over the seam. Eventually it should build up enough and be good for the time being. Or using Bondo or something.

 

It would fail the first time you drove the car.

 

Remove the Rad. See how much you have for anchorage. Take pics and measurements.

Go to Lowes / Home Depot and carry a creative mind when you enter the hardware section. I surely could fan up something to make it firm for years to come.

You have a older car that maybe exposed to lots of salt during the winter, so don't expect much if any for a recall.

Your shopping venture should cost you less than $10. Drill / screws...

 

Oh that's a nice rusted out one.

Cheapest method I've seen ppl do that actually works, if you or a friend can weld, is using a thick piece of angle iron. Presuming of course that the other areas aren't as bad as the middle. Search around and you'll find pics and description.

 

If that were mine I would just get a new OEM support installed. If it werent so far gone I would probably try and patch back with a piece of angle.

 

yea thats right on the line between repariable and FUBAR

 

Oh, never mind then lol.

 

bondo as a structural healing agent on rad support hahahaha first laugh of the day

 

think the cheapest route would be to buy just the lower part from the dealer or find one at a salvage yard. Mine is rusted but not that bad sheesh so im shopping around for different options before it eventually gets worse.

 

Here's an idea
if you get a thick L shape piece of metal you could screw the front bracket screw into it then screw the bottom two bolts into it the front screw should hold it together somehow
it should all hold together fine

 

I was replacing the transmission on my 02 a few weeks ago and once i took the bolt out of the lower rad support for the engine mount, the rad support BROKE IN TWO from rust. I welded a nice thick piece of metal and cut 2 holes in it for the bolts to go through and connect everything. These NEED to be recalled. If that happened on the road, it would have been a serious problem.

 

Ah that sucks!
The metal is so lightweight you could get away with just popping a dozen rivets.
mine has been rusted all the way through for over six years! Never had any issues but replacing it in a week or two.
Mid my maxima core support held up this rusted for this long I doubt it even does much !

 

i thought you paid the dealer to repair yours?

 

I had a small dispute with the dealer over another issue so I decided to just replace it myself.
they tried to say I needed a new ECM again. Found out that was inaccurate.
I don't go there anymore .

 

oh wow you bought the whole support, how much does that run these days? $400ish?

why not just just get some angle steel and put some rivets in, like you were recommending?

 

That I suggest as a temp fix.
I got the whole support for approx $84 but they go for $120.
you have to spray the undercoating on it first

 

there are LOTS of stories on here of aftermarket supports being thin AF and not lasting, like at all

i think you're going to regret not going OEM on the replacement

 

doubt it unless I rear end someone. and that is highly unlikely after my last accident!!

 

well i see you've posted recently in the 4th gen rad support thread so i'm not going to repost any pictures and try to convince you otherwise.

when you go to install it can you weigh both pieces just to see what the actual difference is? i don't think i've ever seen those numbers reported

 

You can stait up drive that with it hanging no issues at all.... I've fixed it on my last maxima haven't done it yet on my current max for $40 I fixed mine I'll show you a pic if I can find one. Your radiators not going anywhere if so just zip tie it to secure the radiator more... the engine support arm coming from the rear mount does practically nothing at all, mine is hanging right now on my car probably more rot in that front radiator support and it's been fine the last 25k miles,I can still rip on the car no issues ever at all from this rot issue on like every maxima ever

 

This was my previous max 2001 se a/t I gave up on her due to running issues...
Here's what I did:
Jack up the support arm back to desired position.
Measure from toe hook to toe hook.
Buy 1 inch square steel.
Cut to fit in between your toe hooks.
Buy 1/2 threaded rod a few inches longer than the 1 inch square steel bar.
Run the threaded rod through the square steel.
find nuts to fit the threaded rod, use larger washers or brackets.
Lower the engine support arm onto the bar...boom

The weight from the support arm is now on the bar not free floating if yours already broke. On this max I actually did this before it broke and I feel this is the only reason it didn't break on that car.

 

And yes that was holding still right there even with all that rot hahahaha

 

Sure, you can drive the car like that, just like you can drive on a flat tire or with bad ball joints or any other part being bad. That doesn't mean it is a good thing to do.

The engine is hanging loose and bouncing around, it jumps with the torque of stepping on the gas. It is stressing the hell out of the other mounts and they will also fail.

Get that fixed asap.

 

Flat tire and loose ball joint wouldn't be the best example because those are both serious safety concerns. Low tire creates excess stress/heat on the sidewalls of the tire creating a possible blowout condition. Loose Balljoint will either pull your car mostly likely from camber being out of spec and/or wear your tires unevenly, worse case scenario the balljoint may be so loose it break on an impact.

only possible safety issue with you rotted radiator support/deattatched engine support arm is the 0-2 inches less of ride height in front of your car now, not a big deal don't off-road...

the mounts will definitely have some sort of extra stress on them from the missing support, my guess their not doing much extra work at all if any.

my mounts are not in the best shape and I have no issues 26,792 miles later...

all im saying is you don't need to look at a maxima as a total loss just because of the radiator support being rotted, they do just fine.

 

?? to each thier own

 

the oem nissan support is only $140 or $150 if i remember correctly. It is a pain to replace due to the millions of spot welds but I have done it on both of my maximas and its not that hard... just time consuming.

 

yea its kinda more body work then engine work.

 

I'm about to do this to my 2001 Maxima. The front mount has been broken completely and flapping the breeze since I got it about 8k miles ago, and long before that as well. Any more updates on how the square tube+threaded rod held up?

 

I went to Lowes and got a 6'x1" boxed steel tube, and a 6'x5/8" threaded rod, some washers, and some nylock nuts. Had to jack the support way up, and bend the tube and rod ever so slightly, but put it all together in less than an hour including cutting everything by hand. The car is definitely firmer and no more hesitation in shifting the auto-trans. We'll see how long it holds up, but for less than $50, if it lasts a year, it's worth it. This car has 231,000 miles on it and this may now be the most structurally sound part....

 

Have you inspected the right side motor mount? If the lower mounts werent holding the load it couldve worn the right side mount excessively.

 

I will check. I can almost guarantee that it is worn excessively just by the history of the car and the fact that the front mount has been broken for so long.

 

The hood striker panel welded to the upper support also attaches to the lower. You could have some bad hood vibrations too!

Off topic :
If you ever decide to replace the support I wouldnt expect the cheaper part to line up perfectly! It looks really nice online then also when you recieve it. When you go to line it up it's probably going to be a lousy fit.

 

Hood vibration is terrible and really takes a slam to get it to latch in place. I plan on adding something to anchor the upright where the latch is so that it cuts down on the vibration. I don't ever see myself replacing the radiator support properly. This car was neglected and driven into the dirt, literally, where it was left for two years. I didn't realize how bad it was before I bought it - from a friend... I definitely had some buyer's remorse, but I am slowly shoring up some of the major flaws and making it more solid. I am ALMOST tempted to replace the struts now. I have done the flexpipe, crank pulley, crank seal, belts, rear rotors and pads, front pads, and changed the oil a few times.

The thing about it is that it runs like a top. Engine purrs like a kitten. If I replaced the struts, it would basically be a "really nice beater". Hahaha. That's about the highest status it can get to without a lot of work, time, and money.

 

Don't go to homedepot, lowes, menards for steel bar. Go to a metal depot store in your town. You have limitless of choices for steel, galvanized, aluminum, sizes, thickness, shapes, bolts. Keep in mind anti rust resistance depends on your selected material. Steel is heavy, aluminum is lighter. You may choose galvanized, zinc-coated, and other per cost, labor, budget constraint for rust resistance. Measure your current lower rad support for detail size and dimension and imagine how you are going to fix it. Drill couple holes to see how thin the oem Nissan put in, 'very thin'. Think engine crossbar support is bolted to that thin stuff. You'll laugh. If you put on heavy metal, it will affect (take away) the steering/feel of the max. Buy stainless steel/zinc/galvanized threaded rod and/or bolts, and drill bits to complete your job.

You can browse here for types but I suggest you visit a local store to see real material.
https://www.discountsteel.com/items/...ize_no=21#skus

This patching approach saves you body work. Rusted bolts will give you headache if you don't possess proper tools. People who works on engine will never face rusted bolts!

 

After replacing just the Lower section ive noticed a huge difference in hood vibration!
I think I qualify for "Maxima of the Month" now!