Has anyone had a problem with the air on an 09 Maxima? My compressor has gone out and is making a bad bearing noise! Do you guys know if there is a recall or anything. I thought these cars were near bullet proof?

 

Bulletproof? They thought the Titanic was unsinkable too. Anything made by man can and will break at some point.

On a side note, I think you maybe the first reported here with that issue. Still under warranty, take it in and get it replaced.

 

First AC compressor failure I have seen with the 7th gen. But since cars these days are designed with the intention that the AC will be on in some form year round (cooling in hot weather, dehumidifying in cool weather), I am surprised we don't see more compressor failures.

Considering the extreme heat that we seem to have every summer these days, I would get that compressor repaired/replaced very soon. It can get over 130 degrees in a parked car.

Even though cars are far more complicated than they were sixty years ago, they are also more dependable. I remember driving from Ft Lee NJ to Ft Huachuca AZ back in the 1950s in a '55 Pontiac Bonneville. Unbeknownst to me, there was a break in the engine grounding cable which, being sheathed, was not visible. So the generator (predecessor to the alternator) never stopped trying to charge the battery.

I had to replace the generator, voltage regulator and battery three times along the way - once in Winston-Salem NC, once in Hope, Ark, and once in Midland TX. I was slow to spot the trouble the first time (outside Winston-Salem), and suddenly realize the car was actually on fire. I opened the hood and kept throwing dirt on the engine until the fire was smothered. Those were the days . . .

 

^^ damn how old are you

 

lightonthehill is our resident Maxima buff. and not just 7th gen as you can see.

first I've heard of an AC compressor issue with a Maxima as well. looks like the part itself on courtesyparts is about $450, shouldnt be too expensive labor-wise to install maybe an hour or two - http://www.courtesyparts.com/kb_sear....php?keywords=[27630]+\(A35&cPath=8300_8308_8342_8359

 

Light has been around before Nissan was Nissan.

When he speaks, most folks listen.

 

Yes, they listen. They are listening, hoping to hear the moderator urge me to forget those Datsuns and stick with the 7th gen Maxima on this board.

By the way, some here may have missed the Nissan news that they are reviving the Datsun name in several parts of the world (not in North America).

 

Still young enough to shoot three pointers on my backyard half-court. Unless someone guards me. Guarding me stops me cold, because I am now too old to fake, feint, do a double crossover to slip past the defender and dunk. I can barely remember those days . . .

I began driving by moving semis around at my uncle's trucking terminal around 1944. I was still too young for a license, so couldn't leave the property. He wanted the trailers backed up so they would be squared up at 90 degrees with the warehouse platform, and his over-the-road drivers were not very good at that. His good drivers were all still in the Army for WWII.

My first highway driving came in 1949 in a black Studebaker. I had some real adventures in that car. There were no such things as power brakes, power steering, automatic transmissions, service station fuel pump cutoffs, air bags, seat belts, air conditioning, bucket seats, headrests, power seats, FM radios, stereos, tape decks, power windows, windshield washers, foreign make vehicles, etc, etc in those days. Roads were bad, tires were 96 profile tube-type, and flats were very frequent. Driving was work back then.

Sometimes, just before falling asleep at night, I imagine myself back around 1950, driving up to Buster Ollis's old Sinclair station in a brand new 2012 Maxima, and watching the faces of all my friends gathered around on his front stoop talking about baseball. There is no way they could have imagined the things we have on cars these days.

To get back on thread, I am hoping we hear more from papagump about his AC compressor. Shouldn't he receive some sort of framed sympathy award from Maxima.org for having the only 7th gen to have an AC compressor fail?

 

Ahh...the old Datsun B210. First stick car I learned on and drove back in the mid 70's. The car was pretty much a piece of junk, but for under 2K what could you expect.

 

I remember when Datsun went to the 'honeybee' wheels on the 210. I liked the Datsun 2000 roadster of around 1970. My co-worker had one in baby blue, and when she would put the top down and give me a ride in that thing, I felt like Mario Andretti, although we seldom got up to the speed limit.

The Zs arrived around 1971, and I liked those very much. But those were over my budget at that time. I looked very hard at the Datsun 510. Then the 810 came out around 1977, and I loved it, but could not afford it.

So I waited and then bought a 5 speed manual Datsun 200SX in 1978. I loved that little car, but so did my daughter. She was finishing high school and then enrolled in Georgia Tech. We sort of took turns driving that car. It was a really nice 'looker' for $4K. When I got my first Maxima (1985 model) in Oct of '84, the 200SX became my daughter's car full-time. She loved it, and has never owned anything but stick shifts since.

The Datsun 810, which originated in 1977, became the Datsun 810 Maxima in 1981 (1st Maxima generation), then became the the Nissan Datsun Maxima in 1984, and simply the Nissan Maxima in 1985 (2nd Maxima generation) and I have owned nothing but Maximas since I bought that first '85 in October of 1984.

I have never mentioned it here, but my first experiences with Nissan's Datsuns were in Japan in the 1950s, while on leave from Korea. Hard to believe that was over fifty years ago.

 

Are you sure it is the compressor? My fan assy went south and made much the same noise, quite embarrassing! But a trip to my trusted Nissan service dept and (if I recall correctly) $500-600 put everything right.

 

Does anyone else feel like they are dropping anchor each time the clutch engages on the A/C???

 

By dropping anchor, I mean do you really feel it kicking in and robbing tons of HP?

 

Of course. it's putting more strain on the belt every time the clutch engages. My Spec-V is way worse than my max. But it's normal for nissans IMO

 

Of course it draws more HP but this car is the worst one I have EVER felt.

 

Hm. Did you own the much talked about (infamous?) 6th gen?

 

Yes, I drove a 2004 Maxima SL for 5 years, and had only one problem - the sunroof drain tube on the driver's side was crimped and blocked around the level of the bottom of the windshield, trapping the water and flooding the floor of the cabin whenever I parked with ther driver's side tilted down and it rained (sunroofs are not sealed, so the water has to be drained out via tubes running down each 'A' pillar).

That problem appeared in several 2004 Maximas, so I did a writeup showing how to determine which side the crimp was on, and how far down the tube the blockage was. That writeup is still in the stickies for the 6th gen. With that info in hand, it only took the dealer's service guy 30 minutes to fix the problem.

I loved my 6th gen. I liked its looks, liked its ride, LOVED its heated steering wheel, and liked its room (most room in the back seat area of any Maxima ever built). My main complaint with the 6th gen was its very wide turning radius.

I see TONS of 6th gen Maximas everywhere I go around where I live.

 

Very well. 2004 SL? I guess yours was 4speed tranny. The 4speed are fitted only in some 04 SL, and they have no issues. Thanks for the info on the drain tube. I seem to have that problem on the passenger's side. I'll check your sticky.