I took my car to the stealership to get the grille/emblem and roof chrome strips . My questions is it necessary to have what they call 3m fuel injector cleaning maintenance that the dealer recommends? I have 23,000 miles on my 05 max 6spd and always run 93 octane . I feel it is too soon for that . Any opinions ?

 

Yes its too soon, at the earliest maybe 30k miles but you really only need to every 50k. BTW They are going to charge you 100 bucks for that and its basically only 5$ worth of material. If you know anything about seafoam, fuel injector cleaner(via fuel tank) and throttle body cleaner you can do it yourself for less than 10 bucks. The advantage of letting the dealership do it is that you're not responsible is you get a CEL and they will fix it. Some have complained of a CEL after throttle body cleaner or seafoam, but Ive used it on 2 different maximas(3 times total) and my old mazda 3 and never had a problem. I have over 5 friends that have used it too with no problems. Let me know if you want detailed instructions.

 

Great topic! I have heard about seafoam and have also heard it triggers the CEL. I also heard Chevron sells Techron in a bottle thats supposed to be good. What is the best way to clean the injectors?

 

Of the mainstream additives out in the market, Techron is the most effective. It's also nice you can get it as part of your fuel package. I drop in a bottle on a full tank and run it till almost empty before each oil change.

A little outside the norm yields you the Lucas Fuel Injector Cleaner and Redline's Fuel system Cleaner. Both of which are also excellent!

 

Damn I found that 3M's injector cleaner is pricey!

http://www.tooltopia.com/index.asp?P...utm_medium=CMP

Check it out - it's not an additive. It's a spray.

 

Deus - this might be the way to go...

http://www.rceng.com/Fuel-Injector-Cleaning-P43C0.aspx

$25 per injector.

 

$150??? ergh Well I could take my car there since they are an hour from me.

 

IMO a Max should not require injector cleaning with only 23K miles, Nissan does not even call for it in our maintenance manual, IMO just another side maintenance add on someone is trying to sell you to make money...

37K on my ride and I never needed such a service nor has any of the performance shops I have worked with recommended it!!!

 

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=542989

 

From experience most Dealership Service Writers work on Commission and have monthly sales quotas they must meet so they are not really interested in what you actually need, but what will make them look good.

Your best bet is to be well informed and do you research, fuel injector servicing is usually done to cars with 60k plus on them, if you run premium your less likely to have the gunk in your engine from say regular and if you do highway driving your engine runs hotter and bakes out the gunk.

Also keep in mind the oil companies add the 10% ethanol which is pure alcohol which works as a fuel injector cleaner so why pay twice to have the same job done, and keep an eye on your gas mileage thats usually a good indication of when you need something done

 

Thnaks for all the input! I felt it was too soon and you guys reassured me . I will probably do it myself when it comes time.

 

I haven't needed an injector cleaning either. I did do the cleaning at 40k miles.

It has been suggested by a Nissan dealership that I have a power steering flush. Anyone hear of doing this? I had 45k miles on the baby when they suggested it.

I am glad enough of you have ideas about how to do the cleaning ourselves. I hate the idea of getting wrung by dealerships.

 

I wouldnt do it at the stealership. I have never heard of power steering flush,although there is no reason why you cant drain the power steering and replace the fluid yourself.

 

I thought that also Deus, but I am not familiar with the flush, versus a drain and fill.

 

Well I cant imagine how they would "flush" it. If its like a radiator flush, there would have to be some substance to flush it and then rinse it and then refill. Im not familiar with any such product. It sounds like BS to me. Thats why they are called the stealership.

 

Thanks Deus!

 

This gets me back to the topic of the tranny flush (or I have read, the safer "tranny drain and refill"). Some are saying to do it; some that it hurts the tranny. Car has 60K miles on it...4AT. Yes or no?

Joshua

 

is ZMAX any good for a fuel / oil additive

 

Tranny flush is different. I personally know the AT of the Maxima, but if its like other trannies, there is a filter and they do need flushing every so often and the filter changed.

 

Flush the tranny not drainy. this you will have to pay for. As my car is under warranty I let the dealer do it and am not worried about what they charge me (ok maybe a little).

 

07Gray Stay away from ZMax or any such additive. A friend who is a tribologist (chemist specializing in metal lubrication) has done the research and disproved zmax, prolong, slick50 and virtually all of the additive packages you can think of. Most do very little good and some even do harm.

 

Yeah i got like 63,000 ima have to see that stealership

 

I have a Maxima 04. Since 4 months ago, it's running very sluggish on low gear and has a horrible fuel consumptoin (used to be 22-23 mpg and now is only 18). I have done all service and ECU reset and fuel system flashing, to no avail. Any ideas?

 

As I though, finally, changing the spark plugs fixed my gas mileage problem. I am getting 21.5 mpg (10.9 Litre/100Km) city driving as I did before.
Looking at the old spark plugs, I could see the spacing of the park plug was pretty much non-existant.

 

those "miracle in a bottle" cleaners at the gas station dont work at all...think of how corrosive gas is on its own and add a tiny bottle of that to 45 liters (im canadian) and it will be so diluted it wont do anything...if you feel comfortable take out the injectors and take them to a deisel mechanic with an ultrasonic cleaner and let him clean them in there...i had water in my tank and a clogged injector in a 95 neon once and dropped the tank and pulled out the pump and ran straight injector cleaner through it with the fuel rail off the car and was amazed at how dirty the stuff was coming out