I drive over 2000 miles a month and was drivng a 2007 F-150. I realized that I could not continue to rack these kind of miles on the truck so I needed a dependable car that could fit both my kids. I just bought a well maintained 2002 Maxima SE with 124000 miles. With help that I've found on this forum I have already fixed the hood latch, and the passanger front power window that was dropping 5 inches when in the auto mode. I still need to replace the power steering hose (thanks for the info on avoiding the hoses from rockauto.com) and then this car is ready to go another 124000 or more. Love the car, it flat out scoots and is fun to drive. I had another small issue with the passanger door lock not wanting to unlock manually or with the power actuator, turns out there was a pen jammed behind the door panel that was putting pressure on the lock rod. Does anybody have any suggestions on improving gas milage? Thanks to everybody for all your help that I have found already and keep posting.

 

Welcome and congratulations on your excellent choice of car. I don't mind my rockauto power steering hose, as long as it lives longer than the OEM which seem to have a life somewhere around 90-110K miles, the little bit of extra noise is fine. You only hear the noise in the driveway or a parking lot anyway. Your choice though, I suppose to some that noise makes it not worth it, and my belief the aftermarket will last longer is purely speculative until I put over 100K miles on it

Gas mileage I might be able to help you with though. I have a small survey for you lol.

1. What kind of economy are you getting now?
2. Have you had your codes scanned? Not all codes set off CEL, specifically knock sensor is the one that doesn't and will kill economy.
3. What kind of condition are your spark plugs and air filter in?
4. Are you using 91 or higher octane gas?
5. Have you tried the TC-W3 method for cleaning and lubricating fuel injectors and the rest of your fuel system?

 

Welcome from another first time Maxima owner.

A pen jammed behind the door? It's amazing what you can find in a used auto. I found love letters under the passenger floor mat several cars ago.

As stated above, check your plugs and air filter and some cleaner might help. The octane of gas can change you MPG too.

I had a used to have a 4 cyl that got terrible MPG (about 23 MPG). I changed out the plugs with double plats, puts thicker mm spark plugs wires on, and added a CAI, and my MPG went to 29 MPG.

 

Welcome to the Maxima Experience.

If you like to do your own work on the car, you can download the FSM (Factory Service Manual) from here:

http://boredmder.com/FSMs/Nissan/Maxima/

 

As stated above, check your plugs and air filter and some cleaner might help. The octane of gas can change you MP

 

Hello there! ALSO just bought my very first Maxima. The more i read the more excited i get. Glad we all just joined the same club! Cheers!

 

congrats on the maxima! it's a great car and I'm sure you'll love it as much as the rest of us do!

 

welcome youll love your maxima keep an eye on the oil i been checking mine frequently and i just got mine in august 03 with 80k miles so im still hoping its not burning oil

 

Just measure how much oil you empty out on your next change. Every motor is going to consume some oil by the very nature of the ICE. What I do is take the old oil and fill the new oil containers back up. Subtract the amount of old oil from what you put in, 4.25qt, and then divide the difference by the amount of miles you drove on that oil. Now times that number by 1000. This will give you your consumption per thousand miles. You can then use that number to determine whether you should add oil periodically in between oil changes to cover the loss.

In my case I am running 10,000 mile oil changes, and go through a qt. every 4000 miles so it is important that I do so or else by the time I changed my oil I would be very low. At the same time, I don't think I would say I "burn" oil. If I were on 3000 mile intervals I would only be .75qt short which is a pretty reasonable number considering the age of the vehicle and everything else, not to mention that running 3.5 qts is still above the low oil point.

 

You can also use oil stabilizer to help slow down the burning.

 

Welcome. I think people covered what is most important. Proper tire pressure, new spark plugs, new air filter, regular oil changes, clean fuel system and use 91 or higher octane gas.