Nissan Maxima Problems

Our Nissan specialist, Jerry Newman, was horrified at the thought of trying to improve the handling of the Maxima, he believed it handled well as it was and it was better left alone. If you were to seek to improve the handling you could fit uprated springs and struts, but they would be expensive. Use quality components from someone like Pedders, perhaps you could check the web for components used in Japan, but understand you will have a detrimental affect on the car's ride whatever you do, and you might not improve the handling much anyway.

The engine is tuned to run at its peak on Premium Unleaded fuel, which has an octane rating of 95. By using that fuel you will get better performance and better fuel economy, most likely better fuel economy than you would when running on the cheaper Regular unleaded. Nissan approve the use of E10 ethanol blend fuel, so that would be the best alternative fuel if you can't afford Premium.

If the knock sensor was at fault it would show up as such on a computer check, and changing the plugs to colder ones is unlikely to do anything, and it's not possible to reset the ignition. Check the airflow meter and have a carbon clean carried out. The most likely cause of the problem is a build-up of carbon in the engine.

First, you need to put Nissan's attitude to running its cars on LPG into context. Nissan doesn't design or test its cars on LPG, so it has no knowledge of the impact of doing so. If they supported changing to LPG Nissan would, in effect, be taking on the responsibility for what might happen should you convert to LPG, so they advise against it. It's actually got little to do with whether or not their cars would happily run on LPG or not. The problem you will have is finding a certified kit for the conversion. Because of the low demand for converting the Maxima kits haven't been developed.

Nissan’s recommendation is to use 95-octane fuel, and it says it is suitable to run on E10.

The door locks are a known problem on the Maxima and you might be able to get that fixed free by Nissan if you go to a Nissan dealer. The company has a service alert out on the problem and has been fixing cars free of charge. Otherwise the Maxima is a reliable, sturdy car with no serious mechanical issues.

It seems to be temperature related, and sounds like an engine sensor is playing up, it could be a connection that's faulty. Have a mechanic, preferably a Nissan specialist check the sensors and their connections.

The burning small could be from a hot engine. Check the cooling system and make sure it has coolant; I wouldn’t expect to be able to remove the radiator cap as easily as you say you can after running the car for some time. The fact that the temperature gauge is saying all is well doesn’t mean it is.

If as I suspect the fan is not working on positions ‘one’, ‘two’ and ‘three’, but is working on ‘four’ it’s likely to be the power resistor module and the only one you can use is the genuine Nissan part. If it’s not working on any fan speed position it’s possibly a fuse, or the fan motor itself.

The most likely culprit is the idle speed motor. Nissan service specialist Jerry Newman says he’s had to replace a number of them on customers’ cars he looks after.