hi guys im a newbie here ive owned a 1990 maxima gxe and loved it i currently have a 1993 toyota camry le.im very much thinking about selling my camry and buying a 95-99 maxima.im in love with there styling and sportyness.now my question is how reliable and dependable are these cars.my camry was great never had any problems with her.i want to make sure that i get all the info and tips i can get before i go out and buy one.do you experts have any tips or info or advice to give me about these cars??common problems?? things to look for?any and all help is much appreciated thanxxx

 

Yes, check the tires for wear.

I just bought this maxima http://www.cardomain.com/ride/448784 and didn't bother to check the wear on the tires which cost me 600$+ from the get-go. Besides that, everything else was OK with the car.

 

99's have coilpack problems i have heard.....i havent had any yet. but yes you will hear it enough.....they are extremely good cars and dependable too.hope you will be more happy after others have tuned in.

 

^WHAT?

As In wtf did you just say.

edit to the person be4 you.

 

check if there is a CEL. The Knock Sensor is a very common issue. If thats is one of your problem, you can find one about 70$ shipped. Don't go to the dealer it will be like 285$

 

ahahahahhahaha.....I hope that was a joke...i I lol'd

 

I always take a good look at the condition of paint and body.

1. Check wheel wells and bottoms of doors for rust.
2. Check interior condition- (this will usually give you an idea of how well the maintained the car, cleanliness=good maintence
3. Check color of oil. see if its dark or light.
4. Check to see if they kept the records of repairs, etc...
5. Check body lines(spacing between body panels, doors, trunk, and hood/fenders) make sure they are all the equidistant gap wise...If not, its been wrecked.

Maximas are great cars, I have 190,000mi and going strong. As long as all these check out and they've changed the oil regularly you'll be alright.

 

THE KNOCK SENSOR. that one you gotta check an change rite away.

 

thats what I said, KS 0302 I think?

 

check to see if there is oil leaking from the engine to the tranny.... rear main seal

+1 on knock sensor
96blackmax pretty much nailed it though.
I also smell the oil to see if smells burnted. If auto check the tranny fluid as well.

 

We checked everything else except the tires... And I too was lawl'ing @ the 600$ invoice @ the tire shop (balance and alignment with warranty).

 

take it to a shop and let your mechanic go over it front to back. look for rust on lower rad support as well, thats a pretty common issue with 4th gens. the knock sensor is a ghost code and really does'nt do much, i had a bad ks for 2 years b4 i replaced it. belts, brakes, wear on tires being ineven could tell you of suspension or control arm issues. hoses and seals around egine and tranny, as well as loose wiring.

 

knock sensor failure and valve cover leaks are common in our cars.
and yea the knock sensor is not an item that will damage anythign else by letting it go, but it will significantly hurt gas mileage and performance (acceleration)





things to check before buying a car (i did this mental checklist about 50 times in 3 months b/c my first maxima purchase was wrecked 20 days after buying it)


1) im paranoid about accidents, so first thing i do is carfax the vin. lots of owners is bad. people who have owned the car for 6 months is bad. you are looking for 1-3 several-year owners.

2) when im lookin at the car, i look at the body panel screws to see if they have been tampered with (behind door jambs, by the hood hinges...). in most cases they arent, but its always good to look. also you should look under the hood for the OEM nissan stickers. the hood is a common item to replace because it is so frequently damaged in accidents. also, like said above, check that there is equal spacing between body panels.

3) check around the engine bay for seemingly "new" pieces (hoses, brass, etc.). start the car and let it run for a good 10 minutes. most claking or bad noises wont appear till the car is fully warmed.

4) check under the car for rusting and fresh oil

5) bounce on each corner of the car with all your weight. just jump and press down on that corner. the car should bounce back up with ONE bounce. if it goes up and down several times that is bad.

6) as mentioned before, check the fluids. get a little of the tranny fluid on your finger and rub it in. it should be smooth and pink/red. also, smell it, it SHOULD NOT smell burnt. if its dark or smells, that is a serious problem.
also look in the crankcase, see if there is a lot of oil buildup on the parts. you cant see much in there so just judge from what you can see.

7) get in the car and put the key in the 2 spot (so all the dash lights come on, but you arent starting the car). you should see the CHECK ENGINE LIGHT in the lower right hand corner. i gotta tell you, of the 50 4th gens i saw, about 30 of them had cut or broken CELS. usually this is a way scumbag sellers to hide obvious codes (such as 02 sensors, misfires, etc.)

8) ok start the car. hold the brake pedal down and switch from D to N to R to N to D and so on. see how much the car moves when each gear is engaged - it should move a little, but there should be very little sound. also, the time it takes to engage each gear should be relatively short.
this is for testing the motor mounts/tranny mount. they are expensive fixes due to the labor involved.

9) so while the car is on, but in P, watch the idle. it should be relatively static - between 600 and 800 rpms. if its jumping up and down there is probably an intake problem (just dirty). its an easy and cheap fix, however you can use this to bring down the price.

10) also, while the car is on and in P, turn the steering wheel all the way left and all the way right. it should be making little to no noise. if you hear lots of grinding and squeeling, it could be the PS belt or fluid. this is a big fix if the system is damaged.

11) put the car in reverse and drive backward up to like 20mph. there should be no abnormal noises.

12) put the car in drive and do S curves in a parking lot or something - go all the way left and all the way right. listen for clicking when you are turning at a hard angle.

13) obviously you can check brakes, alignment, wheel balance, etc. but those are things you should be doing, at some point, again anyway.

14) i always asked the owner how long they have had the car and why they were selling it. yea they can always lie, but some people arent expecting that question and have trouble coming up with something.

15) and yea take it to a mechanic for a full underbody inspection.



i know theres probably a lot of stuff im missing here, but for 9:30 in the morning i think its pretty comprehensive.

 

whats up boys thank you so friggen much for the info rockart thanks especially.im coming from a toyota camry that was great to me and i want to step up to a nice loaded maxima that will take care of me of course i told camry owners this and they told me maximas arent that reliable which i thought was absurd cause ive heard nothing but good things about them,which made me want to get one.thanx for the info guys and when i get one ill be sure to ask you guys for all the answers i need

 

mine has not been reliable. Hope you have a deep pocket if you are concidering and maxima.

 

a) wtf are you doing here

b) maximas are hands down one of the most reliable cars from 91 to 02. the VQ has been on Wards top 10 engines EVERY SINGLE YEAR. there are hundreds of people on the 4th gen forum who have over 200k on their original block.


im sorry if youre stupid and bought a car that had been mistreated.
maybe if you did a little research, or even posted a thread like this one, before you bought your car, you might not be spending all this money on repairs.

 

hey dumb *** I know about my maxima i have done my research I realize that the maxima is a reliable car and the whole 10 years in a row thing but thats why I bought mine but mine has not proven to be this wounderfully reliable car like I thought. I still love my maxima i really do but its a money pit. I'm just giving my experiance. and you never know with a used car how it has been treated so **** you.

 

I made several repairs on mine and I still think its a very reliable car.
The thing is that the engine (VQ30DE) with the aut. tranny are in the best ever made. But that doesn't prevent the other parts from using or broking...

 

yea thats true, but there sure are a hell of a lot of indicators.

 

My advice...buy a 97 or 98 as they seem to have less issues (better transmission for one) and IMO it looks better.

 

id say buy a 95, for being the best 4th gen year....but i dont know anything.

 

For me, buying a maxima is like shoot first and ask questions later. If you have a chance to buy a maxima take it.

 

i didnt have time to reasearch but it'll be a good thing to check the valve gaskets...they tend to break...i bought my maxima and now its not firing some of the cylinders, but its a cheap fix if u know how to work on cars....hope u have good luck though.....Maxima is a really good daily driver

 

I have owned 2 Maximas. A 98 SE and my current 02 SE. The 98 was hands down the best car i ever owned. Never had a single problem with it and i regret getting rid of it. My 02 on the other hand has not been so good to me. Although powerfull, the VQ35 is not the best engine. And the 6 speed trans is not any better. I would say if you find a nice 95-99 that you really like, go for it.

 

yea but the 99s have common immobilizer and coil pack issues. i would stay with the 95-98 range, depending on which body style you like

i had a 93 SE which i beat the living **** out of and it still drove to 226k before i sold it. its probably still running today, but i dunno - this is the reason i fell in love with maximas.

i had a 96 GLE with 141k on it driving perfectly. the only failed item was a KS

and now i got a 97 GLE with under 50k....

 

i have a 97 GLE for sale 133k on the clock

 

jojo where u from in manhattan?

 

I would say that don't buy the maxima if your camry has nothing wrong.

 

hmmm?? So youre telling me not to get a ferrari because there is nothing wrong with my Max?
Or not to get with say, Hayden Panettiere because my girl is alright?

 

cut-tha-bullshieet.

 

how did u manage to find a 97 gle with 50k lol thats ridiculous? is engine rebuilt or odo tampered with?

 

phew.... Finally...
I thought i wasn't going to see a Snypa post tonight.

 

Some old lady had it.

 

i say get it. i have a 85 camry with 223k befor i rebuilt the motor and it runs like a champ, but it doesnt ride/drive/handle like my 99 se 5mt (or turn near as many heads..)

 

how much did u pay if u dont mind me asking?

 

naw its legit. i carfaxed it before even going there because i was so skeptical about the low mileage..... and it was actually 41,840 exactly.

what led up to all of this was getting my 96GLE wrecked in a hitnrun down here last August. my mom rented me an altima for 2 weeks to find another used car with the 5k i got in insurance money. i searched and searched and searched (autotrader, cars.com, local dealerships, clist, etc.)and all the maxs i could find were either beatup or way overpriced.
so the LAST NIGHT of my 2-week car rental, the day before i was going to be carless in florida, this thing came on craigslist. it was at about 8pm.
the next day i came into work and told my boss that i needed to go check out this car before someone snatched it up. i left at around 9am to drive the 30 minutes down to Pompano.
she had $4400 cash in her hand within the next hour.

the car was on the market for 14 hours......



turns out she bought it in mid 1997, when she was 82 years old.
over the next 10 years she went slowly blind, and also was diagnosed with cancer. she sold it to me in Oct of last year, when she was 92.

the only time she ever used it was to go to church and the supermarket but not when it was raining or dark outside. basically, she never used the headlights hahaha.

yea the engine was in pretty amazing the condition. the tires were also brand new.....i coulda probably talked her down even more, but im a nice guy

the only downside to this was that the interior of the car was FILTHY. she had obviously never had it cleaned. the whole dash was covered in caked-on dirt, the floormats were stained black, the passenger side visor was destroyed.
there were AARP and redcross stickers EVERYWHERE; there must have been 15 of them scattered about the interior.

it took me about 2 weekends (4 days) to clean it to satisfactory condition - im talking 6 to 8 hours a day.

$4400.
she was asking 5, but i pointed out the check engine light was on (EVAP cannister and knock sensor)

 

how dare u drop 600$ off the poor ladys car, jokes jokes jokes, congrats on the good deal i paid $6000 for my 98 gle max, black on black fully loaded with 140000km about 2 months ago and it only had one previous owner but my car was in amazing condition and the guy took it to nissan for repairs and oil changes so yea not bad but ure deal was wayyyyyyyyy better :P

 

Max's are the most reliable cars I have ever had. I have a 98 GLE with 199,700 that I drive almost 100miles a day,and the only unscheduled maintenance I have ever done was a KS. I bought the car with 60k on it in 01. I also just bought a 00SE/5spd with only 55K on it. So I have two Max's and I will drive them both for as long as is possible. But I love my 4th gen more than I love anything exept my friends and family. It has never caused me a single headache. Best cars ever, and nobody gives them any props.

 

hey i love my 4th gen and regret getting rid of it for a 5.5 gen but the only problem i ran across was a transmission at 170,000 but they are the best looking maximas this is my old max

 

Not worth of the money to buy an old 4th gen Maxima buy selling the similar year Camry if you know your Camry is good.
The Maxima at this age WILL have problems in the following area that need big money: A/C, transmission (if 5-ped), KS, brake calipers, etc.