03 Maxima 3.5L numerous issues

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Background - Acquired a free 03 Maxima 3.5L for a new driver. 140k on body, unknown engine miles. Young female PO gave up on it, her Dad bought her a new car. Sat for approx 3 years outside in the dirt. Mouse squirrel infested, rusted underneath, under hood pretty good. Body excellent considering. PO says all it needs is muffler, alternator. Engine swap 40k ago.

Looking into the alternator claim I started it a few times for tests. At first the engine was idling ok, no rapping. Then things went downhill. Began to shake, vibrate. Oil was low, added 3 qts 5w30. Coolant low, added 3 qts Zerex Asian Blue. Service engine soon light was on! I puty the car in self diag mode to get the following code.



Looks like P0304 which is a misfire.

According to online info thats the front middle. I had to spray the mouse nests and acorns off the engine before swapping coils and plugs





No pics but #4 cyl's Iridim plug was pretty wet with oil. Swapped plug and coil with #2 cyl to the left. Both plugs pretty worn down. Reconnected battery, same code. The code stays with that cylinder. I am not clearing with a code reader, using the Nissan diag/accelerator pedal procedure.

I figure do all the basics before giving up assuming the PO killed a second engine. Throttle body off, saturated with oil.



Want to take what looks like an upper intake manifold off for a peek. Do I have to worry about coolant? Or does that aluminum upper intake pop right off? Can I get to/see the valves/cylinder from there? want to try a soak. Maybe a ring is stuck.
 
Going off memory here, but that upper plenum should pretty much pop off once you get all those little doodads out of the way. There's also a bracket in the back by the firewall that has 2 or 3 bolts holding it on. Get ready for some finger cramps getting to those. There is 1 or 2 small coolant lines but I can't remember if they connect to the throttle body or the upper plenum. They'll dribble, but you won't lose much coolant. Once the plenum comes off, you should be able to look down into the lower intake manifold and see at least part of the valves. The gasket that goes between the upper plenum and the lower manifold is recommended to be replaced anytime the plenum is removed (Fel-Pro MS96471 works great and torque plenum bolts to 35 lbs if I recall). You don't want to induce an air leak when troubleshooting other stuff!
 
Car is spent. Abused by a young girl. Give up while your ahead! Should be able to get a couple of hundred at the salvage yard.
 
Head over to the Maxima forums; a lot of helpful guys and info there.

As long as you got everything off, replace the plugs (only NGK), coils (only Hitachi), and front & rear valve covers - get updated 6th gen ones since the old ones are known to crack and leak oil into the spark plug wells. OEM valve covers also come with a new PCV valve.

Clean the MAF since they're known to cause issues. Check the oil religiously since early VQ35s are known to guzzle quarts b/w OCIs. Looks like the high pressure PS hose is new(ish); good since they're known to fail and are a PITA to replace.
 
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Originally Posted By: daddi
Car is spent. Abused by a young girl. Give up while your ahead! Should be able to get a couple of hundred at the salvage yard.


Wow.. you're quick to give up. It's also entirely possible that a little diligent and reasonably competent repairs and maintenance could turn this car back into a usable driver.

Besides, the car was free, and it sounds like most of the parts he'll need to try to fix it are reasonably cheap. Even after he goes through the effort, the car will still be worth a couple hundred at the salvage yard, and he'll still at least break even.

OP - Good on you for trying to put a little life back into this abused/neglected car. IMHO, it's worth trying.
 
Originally Posted By: SirTanon
Originally Posted By: daddi
Car is spent. Abused by a young girl. Give up while your ahead! Should be able to get a couple of hundred at the salvage yard.


Wow.. you're quick to give up. It's also entirely possible that a little diligent and reasonably competent repairs and maintenance could turn this car back into a usable driver.

Besides, the car was free, and it sounds like most of the parts he'll need to try to fix it are reasonably cheap. Even after he goes through the effort, the car will still be worth a couple hundred at the salvage yard, and he'll still at least break even.

OP - Good on you for trying to put a little life back into this abused/neglected car. IMHO, it's worth trying.


Well maybe I'm being a little harsh, but this car just seems like it's had a hard life There's a reason it sat for three years in the weeds. Also needing to add three quarts of oil right off the bat spells trouble to me. To each his own.
 
Someone ran it out of oil -- now knocking = engine is done. 40k or 400 miles all the same.

Why did you run it at all without checking oil and coolant first?
 
I got a free car years ago,2 years after i got it i spent over $2k for repairs ,i junk it!It looks like you are heading down the same road,good luck!
 
If the plug is wet, that means the spark plug seal is bad.
Which means the Valve Cover Gasket may be bad which explains the low oil level.
Should not be too difficult to replace.

Now, the question is the low oil level caused by leaks or by engine burning oil.
If it just leaks, it is easy to fix but judging from the vibration, it may be burning the oil.
If it is burning oil, what cause that? Piston issue, head gasket issue, etc.

Just thinking out loud.
 
As long as some basic maintenance items might get it running OK (low $$$ input), that's a $2000 any day of the week in this part of Texas.

Shoot... Lots of "hoopties" running around on 3 cylinders..... still driving!
shocked.gif
 
The VQ from the 02 and 03 have several issues to watch out for.
1) Valve covers - as mentioned above, they had issues with cracking. 6th generation valve covers fix that problem.
2) Oil consumption problems. Some say when precat begins deteriorating, the material gets sucked back into engine and scores the cylinders. Others say the rings were defective in some engines.
3) On some cars the screws in the butterfly valves had no thread lock and came loose into the engine. You can imagine...

Oil change with filter is 4.25qts. Since this one was 3 quarts low on oil, the damage is done. A compression test would verify this.
 
I HATE these cars! I have a 4th gen which is bad enough, but the 5th gen is even worse
crazy2.gif


TPS, MAF, fuel injectors, knock sensor, ignition coils, most engine electronics go kerplunk on these cars; theseare normally not wear items.

Yours is worse because your intake doesn't have cutouts for the rear spark plugs/coils, so you have to pull the intake to replace them! But while you're back there, replace the injectors and valve cover gaskets while you have that [censored] off!

ONLY use good injectors (OEM, Bosch, Hitachi, Beck/Arnley)
 
Thanks all. Its not rapping, knocking, nothing. Just missing #4 cylinder
laugh.gif
I'm going to give it $200 thats it. Pop off the intake tomorrow, see whats underneath. Try swapping the injector. Piston soak. Can anyone tell me how to test the wiring harness at the coil? Maybe a rodent chewed that.

If things don't work out my neighbors going to enter it in the demolition derby. But its a great starter car, that would be sad. I'd really like to get this car going.
 
Lots of dead P0304 threads in the Nissan forums with no resolution. They replaced plugs, coils, injectors, etc and that didn't fix it. Seems to be common for this cyl, which gives me hope the motor is ok. One thread did show as fixed, claims fixing a IMG leak near cyl 4 resolved it, thats a cheap try. Looks like there is an upper and lower IMG.

http://www.autozone.com/external-engine/...9_230765_12080/

Wondering if I have to drain the coolant to get to the lower, or just let it pour out, can't imagine that much would leak. Thoughts?
 
I will say if it fails a compression test, you can quit wondering about other stuff.
 
Originally Posted By: mk378
Test compression, of the three cylinders you can reach easily anyway.

Originally Posted By: mk378
I will say if it fails a compression test, you can quit wondering about other stuff.

+1
 
Originally Posted By: wag123
Originally Posted By: mk378
Test compression, of the three cylinders you can reach easily anyway.

Originally Posted By: mk378
I will say if it fails a compression test, you can quit wondering about other stuff.

+1


I don't have the tools or knowledge to do a compression test.
 
Did a quick teardown for a peek at the intake gaskets, what is the opinion of their condition?

Upper intake/plenum


Head, #4 cyl visible behind something, sorry.


Lower intake, #4 cyl gasket peeled back.


Also, is that the knock sensor taking a bath? Wasn't wet long, maybe a day. I had to spray in there before opening, so much debris from squirrels.
 
Another view of #4 cyl. Front center. Wish I had pushed the injector cables out of the way. Does that one look dirtier than the others? that perhaps there was a leak?

 
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