I bought my Maxima used with 30k miles on it. My dad helped me inspect it, we spent about 2 hours on it and the car was nearly flawless. Interior looked and smelled like it was fresh from the factory. Not sure how the owner kept it that clean. That made us suspicious at first. Next we noticed alot of corrosion in the engine compartment. It was all over the alternator, pulleys, etc and it worried us. Thought it was flooded at one point so that would explain the perfect interior and the corrosion. I ran a VIN check and found nothing, so if it was flooded then he didn't claim it or go thru a one of the large INS companies otherwise I would have known. We ripped the carpets out looking for stains on the floorboards and it was spotless to. We decided that maybe thats just normal for the Maxima's, possible the metal they use in the engine compartment corrodes easily. My other car had 60k on it and it didn't look nearly as bad as this thing does in some spots.

I was wondering if you guys noticed this also or is it just me? At this point it doesn't really matter. I have owned the vehicle for the past month so its not like I can take it back. Moreorless its curiousty now.

If I remember I will post some pics when I get home from work.

 

I would really doubt it is corrosion. But if it is, your Max has a 5 year UNLIMITED mileage corrosion warranty. Take her in to a Nissan dealer and have it checked out.

Cars built in the last few years really do not have corrosion issues. Perhaps some battery acid has etched the paint in the engine bay? Not sure, but I bet it is not rust.

 

The engine bay of my max is still as clean as it was when I picked it up 6mths ago and 11.5k ago. I had a '96 altima that was like that on the inside of the car. I mean under the seats, under the dash etc and the carfax was clean. I never had a problem with that car though. I wouldn't sweat it too much unless you find corrosion alot inside, then I would question it being flooded.

 

Very interesting. First time I have seen corrosion mentioned on the 6th gen.

My first thought was the car might have been driven frequently at highway speeds through puddles formed by salt-melted ice.

Or maybe there was a battery problem; possibly even a battery split from overcharging by a mis-calibrated alternator.

Or a leaking battery was allowed to remain in the car, and the leaked acid was blown around the engine compartment by the cooling fan.

Or some well-intentioned knucklehead sprayed some cleaning stuff (like oven cleaner) around the engine compartment, intending to cut any grease or oil there, and did not realize the stuff he was using was caustic.

If there is no sign of flooding in the bottom of the spare tire compartment (and no sign that compartment has been repainted), I would tend to doubt flooding.

 

i have 31k on my 04 and engine compartment is flawless...no corrosion at all...i would for sure take it in..might be something with the fit of the hood or something..