Today I was checking to see how much oil I had and when I pulled out the stick that tells how much oil there is, it seem to have very little dirt on the tip. What is that a sign of? what needs to be replaced?

 

Maybe the stick touched something while you pulled it out. There wouldn't be any dirt in the oilpan.

 

If by dirt you mean to say "dark or dirty oil" and only have a little oil on the tip means you are most likely down about 2 litres of oil providing your car is sitting on level ground and the engine has been off for at the very least 20 minutes, as it does take time for the oil to return back to the oil pan. The Maxima dip stick are horrible for getting an accurate read, so it is important to understand that the car must be on level ground and the engine has been off for at least the 20 minutes I spoke of.

 

like crumbly crusty stuff? probably just old dried up oil, happens on older vehicles dipsticks. theres no way dirt could get into your oilpan unless someone purposely put it there

 

Yea every time I dip the stick in there and take it off, It has like very llittle crumbs. I just filled it up with a gallon of 10-40w oil (it said about 3 quarts) and it still sounds like if it needs more. When I hit the gas pedal it makes a rattling sound. I don't know if it's just my car or all but when its low on oil, it makes a rattle sound when I step on the gas until I let go and hit the gas pedal again. How much oil does it support?

 

i think 5th gens are 4.25L, rattling could be the timing chain

 

What could be wrong with the timing belt?

 

0.o

 

Yea the car makes a sound for like a few seconds sometimes when i hit the gas pedal. And when i turn on the car as well. but just for like a couple seconds, then it goes away. But why does it do that??? Is it old already? Car it 2k miles last week.

 

It is usually the guides that wear out or stretch/slack in the chain, though the latter is far more rare. Replace the chain guides, and might as well do the tensioner while you're in there, and you should be right as rain.

It is important that you verify that it is only one part or another that needs servicing. So you should be sure to properly diagnose the issue. You don't want to go through the trouble of replacing one part just to have it fail again because a root problem wasn't taken care of. That being said, those guides are usually the root problem. Just make sure to inspect everything in the timing area. It is quite important after all. Lol

 

couple seconds on startup isnt a huge deal, but when you get timing chain noise constantly at idle or acceleration you have problems. some Nissans are bad for the timing chain guides going

 

I believe i read somewhere that a lil chatter on start up was dew to the tensioner still building up pressure to push against the guide...and changing the tensioner via access hole was the fix .

But while it helped some others were not so lucky :/

 

yep little chatter is normal, my Hardbody did it. 2-3 seconds of rattle at startup and thats it. anything more isnt normal

 

Mine starts up nice and quiet. But when I shut it off I get a rattle as it shuts off, also during deceleration at low rpms and on 2nd gear at 2-3k rpm. Is this also the timing guides or tensioner?

 

You can remove the engine mount,and the bolts to the access hole plate to take a peek

 

True. Just might try this on my day off

 

This was an oil change or did it require almost a gallon to top off and read full on the dip stick? Three + quarts low is pretty serious oil consumption and could have caused oil starvation and some excessive internal engine wear.

 

Turns out theres an oil leak. I could see it drip underneath the car. how many hoses are connected?