# Maxima behaving badly



## yasma (Aug 28, 2005)

Hi, I'm Yasma I have a 1993 Nissan Maxima. I've had the car about a year and have had to replace a few parts. The car begin surging and the engine light came on. I put Rislone in just to get the car home. Now I ran out of gas because the gas light never came on. Car is running badly, surging, losing compression, backfiring. How can I correct this? Would changing the fuel filter help?


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## bvezina623 (Sep 22, 2005)

yasma said:


> Hi, I'm Yasma I have a 1993 Nissan Maxima. I've had the car about a year and have had to replace a few parts. The car begin surging and the engine light came on. I put Rislone in just to get the car home. Now I ran out of gas because the gas light never came on. Car is running badly, surging, losing compression, backfiring. How can I correct this? Would changing the fuel filter help?


I don't know but I'm having a similar problem with my 95 Maxima and I had the fuel filter changed and still no luck. It sputters around and dies out when I'm driving. Please let me know if you found a solution.


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## yasma (Aug 28, 2005)

*Nissan running badly*



bvezina623 said:


> I don't know but I'm having a similar problem with my 95 Maxima and I had the fuel filter changed and still no luck. It sputters around and dies out when I'm driving. Please let me know if you found a solution.


 After fretting and fumbling with this for awhile, I finally took it to a mechanic - had 2 bad injectors. Had to bite the bullet and have them replaced. Labor alone was more than parts cost, but I had no other choice. Attempting to clean them didn't help. Damage was done before I got the car and running out of gas did not help. Good luck with yours!! Me and a friend figured what the problem was but we (females really trying) decided we should not attempt the repair. Car running much better now.Have you tried cleaning the injectors and checking the 02 sensor?


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## bvezina623 (Sep 22, 2005)

I'm still not sure what's going on, it's at the latest mechanic right now. I haven't tried much other than fuel injector cleaner and replacing the fuel filter. About how much did replacing the injectors cost? If it's too much, I'm just going to buy a new car. No more Maximas, I'm looking at a Blazer this time.


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## Matt93SE (Sep 17, 2003)

eek..

you think Maximas are bad? wait until you drive a Chevy.
my parents have owned a blazer for several years and tell me it's one of the worst mistakes they made when buying a vehicle.
new alternator, A/C compressor, or water pump at least once a year- at a cost of $500 to $1000 a pop. not what I'd call fun. I replaced two alternators myself while I was visiting, and the compressor was bad one of those times as well.

the interior also tends to fall apart. GM just isn't known for quality parts and well-built interiors.

Injectors on a MAxima are fairly easy to replace if you can do it yourself. 2-3 hours, maximum and $65 each for injectors. my Maxima has 225,000 miles and it's still on the original set. (some people get lucky with injectors I guess).. but don't let a somewhat random occurence lead you to think the car is junk.. it's easily fixable for a few bucks... the problem is the mechanics like to lead people to think otherwise.


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## alexnds (Oct 1, 2005)

*question about injectors/need advice and help*

Hi, I just bought a 1993 Max with 145k miles. I had a 1992 in the past, but then again, I was the original owner. Bought the car super cheap, for $1500 and needs no body work and not a single dent or scratch. A/C works, windows work, auto shifts smooth. Engine not smooth. Took to dealer. I replace the water pump and timing belt and all auxilliary belts for about $800. I had transmission cooler added in series with main radiator with parts and labor costing $200, but cheap insurance I figure, since it's an extra quart of tranny fluid it holds. I was offered to do tuneup for $310 but I got the spark plugs, wires, rotor, cap, PCV valve, air filter and gas filter for $130 and know how to do it myself. The car had a winshield wiper motor that had a whole in the metal below the middle of the windshield created by the previous owner that was trying to probably repair the washers, and out of either frustration or anger, created holes below windeshield that affects your ability to reconnect passenger side wiper blade and driver's side blade to each other and wiper motor. The car had to go to body shop to weld in a piece of metal where the hole was to fascilitate the wiper motor arm connection left to right being able to be done. That was another $500.00. So now, I'm 2,000 in parts and labor into the car, and $1500 for the car which has no exhaust problems, suspension problems or major dents or dings at all whatsoever.
So all together, I'm not $3500 into the game. 

The dealer tells me that the injector on the #5 cylinder is bad and they recommend replacing all of them to the tune of $1300.00 I was shocked!
After the car was cleaned with the fluid that goes into fuel line, it seemed to run much, much better. They told me it's bad because the ohms measure low. How much work is it to replace fuel injectors? Does it involve removing intake manifold to get to them? I'm not a mechanic so I don't know. Around here, you can get injectors between $65 to $80 each. The work was mostly labor. 

I'm into the game now. Do I move forward? Do I sell and cut my losses? Is the fuel injectors that extremely difficult to replace? Car doesn't run too rough at all. Tune up will be done by me on Monday, which will help even more. Advice very appreciated.




Matt93SE said:


> eek..
> 
> you think Maximas are bad? wait until you drive a Chevy.
> my parents have owned a blazer for several years and tell me it's one of the worst mistakes they made when buying a vehicle.
> ...


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## alexnds (Oct 1, 2005)

*Don't give up hope*



yasma said:


> Hi, I'm Yasma I have a 1993 Nissan Maxima. I've had the car about a year and have had to replace a few parts. The car begin surging and the engine light came on. I put Rislone in just to get the car home. Now I ran out of gas because the gas light never came on. Car is running badly, surging, losing compression, backfiring. How can I correct this? Would changing the fuel filter help?


My advice is as follows: The cars, if very well maitained, can go up to 200,000 miles. My original 92 max was over 140k miles and I got rid of it not because of failure, but I felt it's age was not worth keeping the car. I now wanted a "run-around" car as my wife learns to drive, that wouldn't be too expensive so I got a 93 max, just like you, in an effort to get affordable car cash/no loan and familiarity with the car. The fact that these cars can last such a long time says alot about the initial quality of the car. As with anything, age takes its toll. My advice to you is bite the bullet. Have the "ohms" per fuel injector checked and see which injectors are the problem. It also could the injectors are fully ok, but the computer sending the signal is not doing good job. A good mechanic can tell. If you correct your injector problem, the second piece of advice is to change water pump and engine timing belt and all outer belts. This will prevent engine seizure or heat related failure. It typically is done at around 75,000 miles but if you never had it done and the car is over 100,000 miles, it's cheap insurance. By the way, injector failure at 11 to 13 years of age is common for 3rd generation Nissans


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## Matt93SE (Sep 17, 2003)

to ansewr the basic question, the injectors are easy to replace if you have the tools and can remove the intake manifold yourself.

you will need a new upper to lower intake manifold gasket, intake collector gasket, throttle body gasket, injector, and injector o-rings.

you can purchase many of these parts at your local parts stores for pretty cheap. If not, check out http://internetautomart.com/
send him an email and tell him what you're doing and he will make sure you get the right parts. he's a fellow 3rd gen owner that runs a parts store in Chicago. great service, great prices.

OR you can call one of the many dealers listed in the stickies here. all are recommended.

for instructions on how to do it, look through the manual on autozone's website ( http://www1.autozone.com/servlet/UiBroker?UseCase=RG001&UserAction=processModel&Parameters=004 )
check on maxima.org's site for info listed in the stickies: http://forums.maxima.org/forumdisplay.php?f=11 (namely look at Craig Brace's page and Bryan Tisch's page for info)
or download a service manual from the other stickies listed in the forums..


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## alexnds (Oct 1, 2005)

Matt93SE said:


> to ansewr the basic question, the injectors are easy to replace if you have the tools and can remove the intake manifold yourself.
> 
> you will need a new upper to lower intake manifold gasket, intake collector gasket, throttle body gasket, injector, and injector o-rings.
> 
> ...


Thank you so, so much for the helpful info and advice! I truly and honestly appreciate your help. Do you think if the fuel injection system is basically replaced with new injectors and all the other work I"ve done I can get another 50k miles out of the motor?n (water pump, prnew timing belt, radiator cooler,all new fluids, tuneup). It has no compression oblems and doesn't smoke. It has 146k miles on it, but car appears to have been somewhat neglected by previous owner, since all the fluids were dirty when I got the car. Again, your info on the fuel injector stuff was very valuable. Do I sell this car and look for a better one or is it worth the expense and effort to finish the repairs I started?


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