This just started happening today. I parked my Maxima in my garage at home and got out. While unlocking the house door (which is inside the garage) I hear a weird constant electrical buzzing sound (not exceptionally loud but definitely noticeable). I thought it was some other stuff we had in the garage at first until I popped the hood on the Maxima and heard it coming from rear of the engine bay. The car was NOT running and the keys were out of the ignition.

I couldn't figure out what is was or where exactly it was coming from so I went inside. A few hours later I came out and it was still making the sound. It is now 6 hours later and I just went out to check and it is still doing it.

It is like the sound one of those big electrical transformers makes only higher pitch. It is a continuous sound though it varies in tone slightly sometimes.

I noticed that if I just turn on the headlights the buzzing becomes a higher pitch. I can't for the life of me figure out what this might be and my warranty ran out last month (have 40k miles now).

Any ideas? You think it's safe to drive?

 

Do you have an aftermarket alarm? If you do, perhaps it's malfuctioning.. Either that or you have a under the hood!!!!!!!

 

Ok, I had my car taken into the dealer today regarding that weird constant electrical buzz. They diagnosed it to bad front AND rear engine mounts and wanted $700 to replace them both.

Here is my problem. I have roughly 41k miles on my car now. I took the car in at about 34k miles to get the engine mounts checked (thanks to another post on ths forum) since they were making a servo sound immediately after I shut the car off. They said they could not find an abnormal problem. Since this seems to be an extension of the same issue should this be covered under warranty still even though i'm technically out of warranty?

I thought I read somewhere there was some law against dealers/car manufacturers blowing people off until their warranty runs out and that they would still be responsible for a problem if the issue was originally brought up under warranty.

I REALLY REALLY REALLY hate dealing with sleazy slimeball dealers/service depts so any advice on how to make this easy would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

My car makes the servo noise after I shut it off, does that have something to do with the noise your getting now?

 

Those are the engine mounts making that noise. There is apparently a TSB for it and I saw it at one point but can't find it anywhere now. I can only deduce that since there is a TSB for the mounts making that noise, and the fact that the dealer never fixed mine, that it eventually led to complete failure of two of the engine mounts.

I sent a note to Nissan via their website. They say they will respond within 1 business day but we'll see. I'll let you know what they say.

If I run across that TSB again I will post it for ya.

Ed

 

What is the deal with the engine mounts? are they oil-filled or something. I just assumed that they would be a block of recycled tires vulcanized onto a chunk metal with a couple of bolts and bolt holes through it. Why do some engineers make things more complicated they they need to be. I suppose it's due to progress

 

Heres the TSB description:

Service Bulletin Number: NTB01010
Bulletin Sequence Number: 187
Date of Bulletin: 0102
NHTSA Item Number: SB618795
Make: NISSAN
Model: MAXIMA
Year: 2000
Component: ENGINE
Summary: SOME VEHICLES MAY EXHIBIT A BUZZING NOISE COMING FROM THE ENGINE COMPARTMENT FOR SEVERAL SECONDS AFTER THE IGNITION KEY IS TURNED OFF. *TT


Is there somebody here that can get the actual TSB?

 

They are "electronically controlled liquid filled engine mounts". I just drove my car for the first time this evening after my parents brought it back from the dealer. The dealer said they disconnected power to the 2 dead engine mounts to prevent battery drain. It feels EXACTLY the same with the 2 engine mounts unplugged as it always did. Guess some things are just more complicated for no apparent benefit.