with the 1.6 litre engine and 5-speed manual tranny. got it about 2 weeks ago, and seems to be an awesome car. but here are a few issues:

1. somebody put power steering fluid in the power steering reservoir, instead of automatic transmission fluid. you can see it leaking out, however it's not too severe. how hard would it be to flush the power steering fluid out and replace it with fresh ATF?

2. the check engine light started coming on. I ran the self-diagnosis on the ECU and it indicated a faulty EGR valve. they run about $90. any suggestions where I can get one for less? I had to have the car inspected here in PA within 10 days of buying it, but I was afraid that the check engine light would cause it to fail. so off came the dashboard, out came the instrument panel, and out came the light bulb for the check engine light. nobody suspected a thing. that's probably considerably illegal, so nobody heard that from me.

3. the headliner is coming down and I got this spray adhesive to glue it back up, only now it looks worse. is there a place where I can get one new?

I'll let everyone know how the car does. so far, she seems to run okay.

Dan

 

I dunno if there's a way to just drain the p/s fluid. At Valvoline, we had a machine that added new fluid and sucked the old from off the top. The process seemed kinda sketchy at best. Maybe if you had like a turkey baster or something like that you could suck all the fluid out and put in the tranny fluid.

 

those cars have issues with 5th gear pop out...other then that they are pretty reliable cars

 

I've never heard of that before... They are really reliable.. My brother has a 1994 XE 5-spd that I drove around for a few months before I got my maxima... it never popped out of gear. As for reliablility the only major repair we have done is a clutch about 2 years ago and a new radiator this week... my bro has driven this car for bout 5 years with barely any problems...

I have a 1993 Sentra E 5-spd that I rarely ever drive but it starts right up and goes when I need it to... thats usually about twice a year if it need to move...

Over all they are good cars... I would've gotten an SE-R if the sentra had more leg room...

 

Try b15sentras.net.. They are the newer sentras, while lurking around there I saw there are people that do own the 1994 style that are in there all the time ask them.

 

Yeah I heard about the 5th gear pop out too. Didn't nissan make a TSB for that. I know they do a repair for it. I've read about it in mags.

 

Maybe the 5th gear pop out is only on SE-Rs. I know there was a problem with them. Maybe it's the same tranny though.

 

just a suggestion but unless emissions is a necessity in your area i would unplug the egr. all it does is recirculate exhaust gas back into the intake to "reburn any missed particles". but unless youre going for emissions testing i've never had a problem with unhooking it. in fact it seems to make the car run a little better on hills when its unhooked, even if the egr is working properly. all i did was unhook the vacuum line running to it and plugged the end with a screw so no air could get sucked back through the line.
hope this helps
-matt-

 

I haven't had a problem yet with 5th gear pop-out, overall, this seems to be an awesome car. I'm the second owner and the guy I got it from gave me all the service records too. and that was nothing major - the driveaxles and alternator, I think, were it.

anyway, the EGR problem must have fixed itself (this thing sat for a long time in his backyard before I came along and bought it.) maybe it was just stuck in place inside? the light stopped coming on about a week ago. in PA, emissions is only required for 96-or newer cars (around the invent of OBD-II), I THINK, for them to have to put it on the machine. for anything newer, it's visual only. I could have a pipe through the cat, but as long as it wasn't visually obvious, they can't do anything about it. but I think a check engine light coming on is good enough reason to fail the visual inspection, so the morning it was due, out came the instrument panel, and out came the little light bulb behind the check engine symbol. oops. yes, that's CONSIDERABLY illegal, but it's MY car, and the state's not gonna tell me what to do with it. it's bad enough I pay them $36 a year just to drive it, and the road taxes on gas, and now $52 for emissions. at that price, I'm not concerned about their precious emissions laws. sorry if I seem a little arrogant and cold-hearted.

it's gonna need belts before long, they're the original ones and they're frayed beyond recognition, and basically down to the cords. (and I'm SOOOO thankful it has a timing chain, not a belt, and r-134a instead of r-12!!!!). the radiator hoses are original, but in ok condition.

but I do have a gas leak near the back of the car, I think it might be the filler hose? I can smell gas pretty strong, especially after driving it, and it's a pretty profuse leak. gonna hafta get under it now and start checking things out.

right now, she's running with autolite spark plugs, but everyone here swears on NGKs. any particular type of NGKs I should purchase?

thanks for whatever advice comes from this.....

Dan
----------------------------

 

NGK either platinum or copper....depending on how often you want to change them....also one other thing if you cannot find the gas leak, I know in the trouble shooting section one cause of a gas smell is that the charcole can is full...just a thought.

 

hey, thanks for the response, but the leak is coming from the back of the car and dripping down the bottom of the spare tire well. I've actually seen it dripping when I shut the car off.

Dan

 

www.sr20forum.com, plenty of info on the b13 that you speak of