Hello, all. I just become an owner of a '95 Maxima SE (5spd, leather). I'd been for a little newer and downmarket, like '98 Sentras or Corollas, but a dealer I felt good about had a '95 SE with only 69k miles at a good price, and after a test drive, I decided this was a car I had to have!

My question is this: given that I do NOT know the maintenance history of the car, what relatively cheap preventative work should I do?

It's been reasonably cared for. One owner, no problems on carfax, interior and exterior treated well and kept clean. Runs beautifully, all power accessories work, Bose stereo works fine, even the hardwired radar detector the prev owner installed under the instrument panel works .

But how often, if ever, did the owner change the spark plugs? Who knows.

The dealer changed the oil+filter and put in a new battery, new exhaust, and a front ball joint, but that's all I know.

According to the manual, the replacements that should have happened by for 69k are engine oil, coolant, and spark plugs.

-- oil was just changed, fine there

-- Coolant looks clean and green so that's probably been changed this decade. Get a radiator flush to be sure?

-- No clue at all on spark plugs, and those are cheap so I'll replace no matter what.

I'll stick in a K&N air filter too, though that's about as far as I care about performance mods.

Anything else recommended for now to head off future problems? New transmission oil? Fuel injector cleaner?

Suggestions for things to replace, adjust, or inspect carefully are welcome.

I do have two small issues to deal with. After having it home for a day, the Check Engine Light came on. Trouble codes indicate a Knock Sensor (0304), and a bad signal from the Evap Cannister Purge Volume Control Solenoid Valve (1008), which sounds non-critical, possibly just a loose wire, and not an expensive valve to replace.

Unless of course what I have is a flaky ECU and I'm going to see codes du jour popping up....

 

69!! get a room and protection

flush your tranny
pcv valve
sea foam through brake bosster line

 

Belts. There is a timing chain rather than a belt so no need to worry about that, but the accessory(sp?) belts (there are two) should probably be changed.

Fuel filter.

Plugs are actually more expensive than you may think. The stock NGK plats will be like $10 each. If you are doing it yourself and don't mind changing them more often (30k rather than 60k) you can use coppers (NGK BKR5E-11) which are <$2ea. Either way ONLY USE NGK.

Other than that I think you have it covered (but I almost always forget something). Congrats on the purchase...The 5spd is great isn't it?

Edit: As fair as the tranny fluid change mentioned previously...Make sure you use a GL-4 gear oil. Lots of people here (myself included) use redline mt-90 (go to www.myoilshop.com), others seem to like amsoil.

 

yeah i would change the tranny oil with redline mt-90. and kinda funny that after you buy the car, the light comes on. lol. dealer change oil and coolant and new battery before they sell the car so no need to worry there. fuel filter are 69k is too early. maybe close to 100k. spark plugs. buy good ones and they are not hard to change yourself so no need to worry there. thats all i could think of.