02 Maxima crankcase pics

[asiancivicmaniac]

Got around to doing my plugs today. As expected the tube for cylinder number 5 had oil in it and the coil and plug were soaked. Replaced the valve cover with one from a 6th gen since it's the only remedy. Took pics of the internals while I was at it.

Was a little intimidating at first since I've never done anything more than the basic oil change and maintenance stuff. It was straight forward, but tedious. Took me ~3 hours from start to finish, except when I put the last bolt on I realized one of the coolant hoses to the intake manifold got kinked and I had to undo the whole thing to free it. Hopefully I don't have to do it again for a few years. Started the car and no cel, but still have to go for a drive to see if I screwed anything up. And maybe, my car will decide to love me back and give me even a slight increase in fuel economy (wishful thinking). Enough rambling, onto the pics.

Plugs. Only the rear

 

[Herz]

Looks good, what is the oil change history?

 

[asiancivicmaniac]

Originally Posted By: defektes
Looks good, what is the oil change history?


I've only had it for ~19 months and ~14k miles. When I changed the oil right after I bought it there was a Fram XG so the previous owner might have used decent stuff since he bothered with an $8 filter.

After I bought it, I did ARX with Valvo 5w30. Then rinsed with Proline. Had Synpower for 4k miles and now it has Ultra with ~2k miles on it.

 

[beast3300]

Wow those plugs are wasted. What spark plugs did you go with? Engine is looking good! Alot better than when I bought my car used.

 

[asiancivicmaniac]

I'm 99% sure the plugs are 8 years old with 93k miles on them. Surprisingly, the car still ran well. Maybe it will run even better now.

Put in Denso Iridiums. Thought they would last 100k miles, but discovered they may only hold up for 50-60k miles. That's okay though since it's about 5-6 years of driving for me.

 

[AlienBug]

Originally Posted By: asiancivicmaniac
And maybe, my car will decide to love me back and give me even a slight increase in fuel economy (wishful thinking).


Yup. Wishful thinking. My 5 sp Max has never really gotten much more than 20 mpg.

 

[asiancivicmaniac]

Originally Posted By: AlienBug
Originally Posted By: asiancivicmaniac
And maybe, my car will decide to love me back and give me even a slight increase in fuel economy (wishful thinking).


Yup. Wishful thinking. My 5 sp Max has never really gotten much more than 20 mpg.


Managed 27 mpg once, but that was with mostly highway and about 1/3 of it going 55 mph. Otherwise 20-22 is the norm for mixed driving.

 

[Jim 5]

Nice work.

The insides look good and clean.

 

[asiancivicmaniac]

My stash of SOPUS syns should keep it that way

 

[StevieC]

Nice

Thanks for posting...

 

[UNC017]

Originally Posted By: beast3300
Wow those plugs are wasted.


I figured that since they're platinum plugs, the conical tip was normal- I never use NGK so I'm not sure how they look out of the box, but Autolites look similar except the electrode "stepped" not a smooth cone. They actually look extremely good to me assuming the cone shape is normal.

 

[Nick R]

No. They should look like this

 

[asiancivicmaniac]

This one is from the front. I check the gap and I think it was at 1.45 mm. The new one was something like 1.05 mm.

 

[Johnny]

Originally Posted By: asiancivicmaniac
Originally Posted By: defektes
Looks good, what is the oil change history?


I've only had it for ~19 months and ~14k miles. When I changed the oil right after I bought it there was a Fram XG so the previous owner might have used decent stuff since he bothered with an $8 filter.

After I bought it, I did ARX with Valvo 5w30. Then rinsed with Proline. Had Synpower for 4k miles and now it has Ultra with ~2k miles on it.


Any idea what it looked like inside before you did the ARX treatment? Sure looks good now and your plan of attack should keep it that way.

 

[asiancivicmaniac]

I looked through the fill hole, but couldn't really see much. I did cut open the ARX and rinse filters though and there was some precipitate and a few specks of black stuff. It probably wasn't dirty. No indication on the dipstick or filler cap of any varnish or sludge.

 

[Lethal1ty17]

Those plugs are definately done. and the Denso Iridiums that I run are only rated for 30k from Denso themselves? Perhaps I have the "power" type and not the "economical" type though. they have a very fine 0.4mm electrode on them.

Everything else looks great, super clean, how many total miles on this baby?

 

[asiancivicmaniac]

I think I have the same plugs. Didn't check what Denso says, but I read something about 50k. I guess I'll check them around 30k.

It has 93.5k miles right now. Hopefully it'll keep running for another 8+ years.

 

[CROWNVIC4LIFE]

Nice....Thanks for posting.

 

[wavinwayne]

Nice pics. Thanks for posting.

 

[Lethal1ty17]

looks pretty good for 93k

i think denso makes a few different iridiums, mine are recommended to be changed at 30k though.