Qawmuh

I finally pulled the trigger on a 2009 maxima with 179k miles for $2500. Drove the car 3 hours from NYC to home in southern new jersey. Had the car checked out and scanned. Car needs lower control arm, valve cover gasket, left motor mount & rear sway bushing along with a slight cvt leak due to needing new seal. If anyone can give advice it will be much appreciated.. I am willing to put work into this car im 23 yrs old work 40 hours a week & looking to complete repairs by June... Im in love with this car selling it is out of the question... Any questions are appreciated. Car runs & drives quiet as of now..

LtLeary

Congratulations and welcome to the forum.

The only item that can be a real pain is the motor mount. The others are pretty straight forward. You don't say what your access is to tools, ramps, jack stands etc, (Yeah, I do remember my young shade tree days) but pretty common tools are required (you didn't say which seal in the CVT but I am going to assume one of the axle shafts.) A "bearing puller" will help get the half shaft out and an impact wrench is a very nice thing as well (or a long stout iron pipe to use for leverage to get the axle nut off!)

If you get stuck, give a shout on this forum. There are a lot of good folks here.

mahanddeem

Pics?
Congrats, some work ahead is waiting for you.

Qawmuh

Thanks guys. What do you think about driving it for another week or two? Is the car in detrimental condition as of now? Car runs quite as of now no noise except slight rattle from suspension? I will upload pictures tommorow.

mahanddeem

I'd be concerned about the tranny leak the most. You don't want to drive on a fluid-starved CVT. Fix it, drain and refill CVT to specified level. Use NS2.

MadMax07SL

I hate to be the bearer of the bad news, but 2009, 179,000+ miles, and in rough condition has a private party resale of maybe $1100-1500 depending on features. With all the repairs you listed, if they were the only ones, you're likely adding another $2000 minimum unless you do it all yourself. I think you spent too much...

BronxSleeperMax187

Do those repairs yourself.....not that hard. Save $$$, its the lower motor mount thats a lot of work, that one is easy....300$$ in parts maybe less, unless your buying oem maybe.

Qawmuh

How hard is the repairs to do yourself if your not car savvy ? What tool set would be best for this job? Ratchets? Sets? Etc. Help me out please man. Absolutely love the car I don't want it sitting either

Martinez1031

If your not car savvy then just leave it alone and have someone else do it. You’ll just end up making it worse or starting something you can’t finish,then you’ll have to pay extra to have someone fix your mess. We all love our 7gens around but to say selling it out of the question ,shouldn’t be something your set on. At some point you have figure out which is better,dumping money into something that has a lot a of problems or just moving on. 180k is a lot of miles. My old max had 205k on before I got it in exchange for work My dad and I performed. It was 1 owner,dealer maintained with records. 1 year later all types of things start going wrong. Not major,but enough to be annoying and enough to start adding up. Point being,don’t be stuck on it. The only time I’d saying selling something is out of the question is if it had sentimental value,or a Ferrari.

Qawmuh

I understand your point of view, but this is a 10 year old maxima not a 10 year old Benz. Im willing to dump 2500 into the car without feeling bad. On a scale of 1 thru 10 how bad are these problems really? I've read a member on this site claming he has 407k on 09 maxima sv.. These cars can't be Mercedes Benz unreliable can they?

Martinez1031

Yes and that member bought his maxima brand new from the dealer and has been a super freak when it comes to maintenance taking care of it.

What is the history on your car? Dealer maintained? 1 owner? Etc

you must know the history because that will dictate your future.

Qawmuh

Car has 2 prior owners from new jersey.... 1st owner serviced regularly... 2nd owner wasnt too bad but wasnt too neglectful either.

Martinez1031

Ok doesn’t sound too shabby. Like mahanddeem said,take car of that cvt first. That has the potential to be a bigger problem if not addressed

Qawmuh

What exactly needs to be done to stop the small leak?

mahanddeem

Guys let's agree that our friend ALREADY had bought the car. I would NOT bash him now for what he landed on. That's not nice nor helpful. You might be right he payed more than he should but let's now help him fix his car.
Research on your issues OP, learn from this forum and tackle your car's issues one by one and good luck. Come back if you're unsure and don't rush things or you'll end up with more problems that you once had.

Qawmuh

I have the ns2 fluid (4 quarts left) poured 2 quarts in about 2 weeks ago because the cvt fluid was empty. Is the car OK to drive for a few more weeks if I add the rest of the fluid in?

Martinez1031

Truly depends on how much your leaking. If that leak is dumping oil like crazy,I wouldn’t drive it. You could end up burning out the trans and instead of having to just fix a leak,now you need a new trans. So check that fluid alllllllllll the time. Don’t take long trips. If your losing 2 quarts in 1 week,park it and wait til you get that leak fixed

LtLeary

Got a picture or description of the leak? From where is it leaking? The axles, the pan, the drain, etc?

Qawmuh

Car was lifted up on lift & right in the front its leaking a little.

LtLeary

So by up in front, do you mean by the radiator (the transmission cooler?)

Qawmuh

Yes

MadMax07SL

Pointing out that he made a mistake is not bashing. It's helpful to know so the mistakes don't keep happening...should have low-balled this purchase, and also had a good understanding of what was wrong with the car BEFOER handing over cash, not after a long drive home and getting a mechanic to look at it then. A guy with limited tools, limited experience, and trying to solve a list of problems for a car he fell in love with...is also not a practical approach with high mileage cars. OP, fall out of love with the car first, get the transmission situation figured out next. Then resolve the other problems in a practical order, or just drive it into the ground. Get yourself about 5 months of usage, and if it is just nonstop money spent, it's a pit.

mahanddeem

So now we should sent him to time out so the community would not do what he did? There's no point here. He did not come here to say: (alright, what do you think of my score?). He asked help to solve his new car problems. I don't know why community is getting ruder everyday!
Definitely if he asked here before hand, he would have received a wise advise. Now it's too late and will only make him feel bad. That's a bad attitude to blame him and say (hey you're screwed because you were laughed at paying 2.5k for a junk, are you crazy). His money, his decision, he needs advise fixing his car, not teaching him buying used cars 101, that's the topic at hand.
Please accept my opinion.

Qawmuh

Car prices vary depending on location. Where i live, the price is pretty fair that i paid..... Now the problems with the car just need to be addressed..... Car runs & drives as of now.... In about an hour i will put 2 more quarts of ns2 fluid into the car.... Just checked the dipstick there is some fluid left so the leak cant be that bad right? If i drive modestly, can i get 5 months of usage from car?

MadMax07SL

Based on your opinion, my opinion is crap and yours is golden. You sound like a liberal college kid. You do you, I'll do me, and let us not interact again, since it's clear you think I'm an awful person for offering practical advice, and I don't like that about you.

MadMax07SL

If this transmission problem ends up costing a lot, coupled with the price of the car, and the mounting other repairs waiting in the shoot...it may be a lost cause is my point. I like to equate a high mileage car with a plethora of repairs to a conventional car payment on a lower mileage car with a warranty. Essentially, add up all the costs associated with the car, project that out over a 2 or 3 year period, and you'll have an idea how much that car is costing you per month to drive. So you spend $2500, say trans repair is cheap to fix, $600, but with a CVT leaking that much, previous owner may have damaged it beyond repair so a rebuilt replacement is likely your best option here. $2500. Motor mounts are pretty important, control arm, if it's broken, that's a safety problem as well. So add all that up, say you're somewhere around $6000 at the end of this, divided by 24 months, that's $250 a month it's costing you to drive and that's if you even get 2 years out of it and stop at $6000 What if something else breaks? All to drive a car you fell in love with but had a lot of problems and high mileage. I speak from experience, I, along with many people on this forum have poured a lot of money into a worthless car...I always think back to when I put a $900 transmission into a car with 230,000 miles on it, I had it painted with about 190,000, and I poured money into it for a long time, only to sell it for $400 with 235000 on it to someone who actually drove it for 5 months and into the ground. He only put gas in it, for $400 it cost him less then $100 a month, cheaper then a rental, but that beater didn't even have working AC. The short version of my point, be practical, at some point you may discover it's a total loss.

LtLeary

Ok then hopefully, you CVT fluid leak is just a hose or clamp or both

Under the driver left side of the radiator, you will see two rubber hoses about the size of a small garden hose. One come from the CVT and the other goes to the filter and then back.

Inspect those hoses and clamps first. hopefully just a hose got damaged.

Qawmuh

After all repairs , you are saying i wont get two years out of it? The vq35de is bulletproof reliable....... I dont understand it.... We are not talking about a 2009 benz or bmw with 179k miles.... (notoriously unreliable) this car (other than cvt) has a lot of strong points or has everyone on this forum been lying? I think id much rather own a higher mileage car with common issues fixed than a lower mileage car waiting for things to break..

Nmax5150

You did fine on that 09... You bought a later model car with ac and a running and driving car for $2500... Wholesale on that car with that mileage is around $1500.. Retail is about what you paid... I assume the Carfax or Autocheck is clean.. No salvage or rebuilt title?

Martinez1031

If you fix the problems and then continue to take care of it,you can definitely get more then 2 years out of it. Any problem on a car can be fixed with money. So again,if you invest in the car,it’ll last as long as you want for the most part.

With that being said, NO engine is bulletproof. Reliable,yes. Take more punishment,yes but not bulletproof.

You gonna post any pics of the car?

Qawmuh

Car is clean title no salvage or rebuilt.... Autocheck comes back clean with 2 owners from central new jersey.... Ill post pictures tommorow.

NismoMaximaA32

Here’s a little advice coming from a guy who had a 1997 Nissan Maxima that spent tons of money on paint and replacing nearly the entire suspension and radiator support. I loved that car with passion but it ended up being an endless money pit. I was in love with it and bought it for $2700 in 2012. If I were you I would fix the cvt leak and the control arm issue but don’t dump any more money into it. You can always resale the car and get something more reliable with lesser miles. Get your use out of the car! After my Maxima I went on to owning a 2007 Honda Civic to financing a 2013 Acura TL with technology package. Till this day I look back and laugh at how much money I spent on that Maxima (Must’ve been nearly 11k) only to sell it for $1,900. Lol Funny thing is my girlfriend has a 2008 Nissan Maxima with 90k that was her grandfather’s and that car is already falling apart suspension wise. Good luck with the car but don’t be stupid like I was.

Martinez1031

So funny that you say that because when I was in high school I had a 1994 civic. I also had a decent job in hs that paid $400 a week. For a kid in hs with a civic that had no bills,$400 a week was a lot. I look back now on how money I wasted!! All that money for turbo parts,wheels suspension. I don’t even have the car anymore. And when I did sell it,I got a grand for it. Probably put about 8grand into that car. Crazy when I look back on it