Anyone have this problem - 2006 Max, air intake at front of engine has a foam strip that is flaking away. Dealeradvised the entire plastic piece would need to be purchased - no foam piece offered. This seems like a major rip-off, even though this foam piece needs to "be shaped", thought is to buy at home depot make it work, unless there is a third party piece that can be purchased. Any comments would be appreciate..........thanks!

 

samething happened to me and probably all of us, i just finished removing mine and it didnt affect or harm the car in any way, if you're worried about it just go to lowes or depot store and get some weather stripping for window/doors its the same thing hope this helps!

 

i took mine off. it looks alot cleaner that way

 

Took mine off as well. Did this same on my Altima before.

 

LOL.

Spending the $6.00 at HD/Lowes would be what I would have done.




Before I made this thread...

 

but you guys think that it will have the tendency to collect more dirt inside if you remove it? idk..

 

I scraped mine off a long time ago.





You don't need it...

 

if within warranty nissan will give u an entire plastic part...
next time mine wears down, using the weather stripping everyone mentions.

i think cleaning agents we use is what really dissolves this. so be careful. it does prevent dust/dirt from entering the bay.

 

That is a rip off.. i woulda never even asked the dealer that.. if your worried about it remove it & go to home depot and buy weather strip n put it on.. done deal.

 

I looked into it, the thickest I could find at the depot or lowes was like 1/2 or 5/8. The one the car is 3/4 thick. Only way to get the result would be to line up a strip on the underside of the hood too.

I'd think it's important, not for keeping dirt out of the top of the motor, but more so to keep hot air from being pulled into the intake from the engine, especially when you're moving slow and not getting a lot of forced air coming in...

 

Yeah, mine's pretty much deteriorated into crumbles now. I just left it like that. But i'll look into the home depot advice, seems like an easy and cheap fix.

 

if you want it exact or even extra, just layer 2 strips. 1/2 and 1/4 or even two 1/2 strips.
i didn't think it was 3/4. just got some on clearance at K-Mart for $5. 7/16 seems pretty thick.

 

the foam on my 02 max's air intake also crumbled away....i peeled the rest of it off and lined it again with weather stripping...worked like a charm

 

Took mine off as well...

 

The entire plastic piece that sits above the radiator and goes into the air filter box was loose in my car (unattached). I replaced the foam where the plastic piece goes into the air filter box with 3/8" x 5/16" thick weather stripping and the foam everyone is talking about scraping off with 3/4" wide, 1/2" thick foam. Both can be had at Wal-mart for $3/pack and work great (Duck brand).

[B]But... I have an important question. Since my plastic piece was entirely loose I decided to take it out and have a look. I heard something rattling so I took it apart. The plastic piece has a small attachment on the bottom that pulls off... it contained a good amount of string and what appears to be animal poop or seeds of some sort.

Judging by the smell, we'll go ahead and call it animal poop. The string/thread isn't some sort of filter medium to grab and hold onto heavy debris is it? I know that sounds stupid, but the fact that an animal packed this attachment or had just the right amount of string in the plastic piece to fill it perfectly is a bit odd.

I bought this car in late January from a friend of a friend who works at Mazda dealership. The car sat on the lot since November, he said that various people failed to get approved for financing.... I read about the 04 maxima and was hesitant so I went ahead and got a 3/yr extended warranty on the engine and tranny.

 

Thanks everyone for your feedback - will stick to my plan an buy the foam and install. KCMAxx -nice ride!