# Clock, antenna, engine and trunk lid problems.



## Engloid (Jul 7, 2002)

I'm new to the Altima world, having just bought a 94 model today. I think I got a pretty good deal. It's a GXE with nearly flawless interior (one spot on a floormat). All door locks and window switches work. Everything on the car works...well, I do need a tail light bulb. It runs excellent and is a 5sp model. One fender has been replaced and looking closely reveals the slight difference in paint... hey, I don't care...it's just going to be a daily driver.

Anyway, I'll tell the small problems and welcome any suggestions. I know how cars often have common problems and easy fixes...those that work with the particular car often will know them...I don't yet.

Problems:
I pull the oil fill cap and it blows out a lot more air than any car I've ever had. There's not an abnormal amount of smoke, just a lot of air, and it spits oil off the cam and blows it out. 

The trunk will just barely hold itself up, and when I pull it down just slightly, it wants to completely fall. When I park facing uphill, it won't stay up on it's own at all.

The clock seems to flash off and on. I noticed that it seemed to only do this at idle, so I'm thinking it may be an alternator that's not charging well or something. 

The antenna doesn't move at all.


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## chuck34gboro (Jun 7, 2003)

never heard of the oil cap-air-spitting problem. i do have th trunk problem though. If you look under the deck where the speakers are, there are 2 black metal bars that are supposed to have some kinda spring acttion to hold the trunk up. well, it's never worked well on either of my altimas or my brothers. prolly just gonna have to live with that. about the clock, i think i remember reading something about that on altimas.net. if I were you, i'd go there and sign up and post some of your questions there. i've been a member for awhile now and can tell you that i've never had a problem that somebody on there hadn't had or know how to fix. the're thousands of members and it's a VERY active forum. A GREAT place to ask questions and find information. Be warned though, alot of immature people on there will constantly tell you to search for your answers, but just ignore the children.

good luck with your alty.


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## Engloid (Jul 7, 2002)

thanks. I'll go check it out.


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## Black Hornet (Apr 22, 2003)

The excess air you feel coming out of your oil cap may be due to a clogged or non-functioning PCV valve or relief valvl if you will. Disconnect the hose from the valve and see if there is any air being released. If not, there's your problem. Also check the hose itself, it could be clogged or have a kink in it as well. 

If your antennae no longer travels up and down when your engaging your stereo system, it could be that the antennae is no longer receiving a signal to tell it to operate or the antennae motor is shot. More than likely it's the motor.

Chuck has pretty much stated the rest. And, unfortunately, he's right about some .net members. Hope this helps!


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## mzanubis (Feb 19, 2003)

man, if I were you, I'd take the motorized one out, and put a statioary one in there. Not only will it always be up, you'll save like 3-5 pounds on your hard core street machine. LoL. Just throwing out ideas.


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## Asleep (Jan 19, 2003)

^^ im about to do that myself. my remote wire went out on my stereo... either that or im going to wire a switch into it.


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## Nismo5042 (Nov 18, 2003)

*oil filler cap*

your car should spit some oil out of the oil filler cap. because if you think about it your cams are spinning in there and they are throwing oil every wear. so a little oil coming out of there is no big problem.


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## Engloid (Jul 7, 2002)

Nismo5042 said:


> your car should spit some oil out of the oil filler cap. because if you think about it your cams are spinning in there and they are throwing oil every wear. so a little oil coming out of there is no big problem.


A little bit is understandable, but all of what is spit out is not comming directly off the cam. The cam is close enough you can see it, and not all the oil comes directly from there. There's such a flow of air out the hole that it blows oil out.


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## Asleep (Jan 19, 2003)

Engloid said:


> A little bit is understandable, but all of what is spit out is not comming directly off the cam. The cam is close enough you can see it, and not all the oil comes directly from there. There's such a flow of air out the hole that it blows oil out.


you should check your pcv valve then and also make sure the breather line going to the intake isnt clogged.


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## chuck34gboro (Jun 7, 2003)

While were on the subject, can you just dip the PCV valve in carb cleaner or does it have to be replaced? Also, how do you check for clogs in the breater with the pressure plate in the top of the valve cover? I suppose dipping it in carb cleaner would do the same thing. Ever since I rebuilt my engine, i've used this bucket of carb cleaner about 100 times. It's more than paid for itself. I put just about everything i wanna clean in there.


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