Hi all,
Have a 96 Nissan Maxima 66K mi, great conditon, runs well. Yellow emission light came on. Dealer told us EFI Main Electrical Wiring Harness needs replacement ($2500). He also "told" me that he has seen more than a few of these failures, but no recalls yet. He gave me the Nissan gipe line to complain and ask for possible "assistance".
I did find a NHTSA service bulletin mentioning the harness and possible fire, but no other info; and no mention of emissions.
Does anyone have experience with this problem? Suggestions or ideas to find a consumer or watchdog group (internet or other) that might give me ammunition to confront Nissan.
Thanks for any guidance auto gurus.
Alan

 

pull the code yourself and see what it says

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?threadid=45274


-The Robot

 

Does your car start? If you're injector harness was fried your car wouldn't start. Do what Sprint said and pull the code..

 

I had a harness failure in my 99. It was still under warranty. The ECU couldn't communicate with the transmission. They put a new ECU and harness in my car.

 

Thanks Bill,
I know that the problem IS the EFI Main Harness: No doubt. What I are looking for are other people with this same problem. Nissan is IGNORING the fact that this should be a recall. I need info that would help me support a complaint that might get them to budge.
Alan.

 

What was your car doing that you took it in cause my 99 had problems when it was cold it would shut off when I put it in gear.

 

i am not bill

 

BTW:Sorry SprintMax, not Bill

Thanks for responding TILLY99,
The car was running slightly uneven, but only intermittanly, with occasional harder starts. The first actual sign was the emission warning light. The harness is not fried, but fusing--- apparently at the contacts to the emission section.
My Maxima is out of warranty. Even the California emission warrantly is only 3 years for the 1996 (went to 7 years for 1997). I think that Nissan should cover the failure, especially since I have heard that this is actually a widespead problem. But still no recall.

 

Check engine light was on. It drove fine. And the code wasn't listed here. I don't remember what the number was. The dealer told me it was a communication error code, very unusual (or so they said), ECU could not communicate with the transmission. Like I said, dealer put in a new ECU and harness. Light went off and I've had no problems since.

 

Not that this will help anyone who already has a problem...but...

A few months ago theblue and I were at the track and got to talk to a really nice Infiniti Tech. While talking about our cars he told us that we should disconnect the main harness from the body of the car...

If you look where the harness comes through the firewall, it is clipped to the body of the car in the front passenger wheel well area. That connection causes extra stress on the wires and will eventually lead to their cracking. He recommended that we disconnect that clip so the harness could move as it pleased. Its not like it would go that far anyways.

Just thought I'd share.