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Car Forum / Nissan / Nissan Maxima / June 2005Maintenance Question
Have an 03 max bought new. Live in Massachusetts and do not have a garage. I plan to keep this vehicle for a long time. All work is done by local dealer. Car does 85% highway driving. I change oil and filters every 5k. Car has needed no repairs, but I replaced tires, front brakes and rotors at 60K and, on advice of dealer, replaced belts at 65k. Am wondering about transmission fluid, coolant and spark plugs. Should I go by the manual or do those earlier? Anything else? tia Coolant every year, no flush, just replace. Spark plugs at 30k or 60k depending on price. OEM only for me. Since the ignition coils are on the plugs, very little need to replace plug wires. Transmission fluid every 60k or 4 years. Replace only, no flush. Alignment / balance every 30k/2years, rotate tires every 5k. Buy *good* tires and replace before they reach the wear bars. Bleed brakes every 5 years. New battery at 5 years, inspect ground cables. That covers many of the common issues with an aging car before they tend to fail. Some of the parts I'd consider replacing anytime a mechanic is 'in the area' doing other work once the car is over 100k. It depends on whether a breakdown is a major problem vs. an inconvenience. Those are: - starter - alternator - water pump - clutch (incl. pilot and t/o bearing, incl. flywheel resurfacing) IMO, the better/more frequent tires are a great investment in comfort and safety. Often overlooked. Dave > Have an 03 max bought new. Live in Massachusetts and do not have a > garage. [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > tia > Coolant every year, no flush, just replace. > [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > > Dave This is a good list, except I change my batteries every 3-4 years in the northeast. They seldom make it to 5 with the cold winters. -jim > Coolant every year, no flush, just replace. > > Spark plugs at 30k or 60k depending on price. OEM only for me. Since the > ignition coils are on the plugs, very little need to replace plug wires. > > Transmission fluid every 60k or 4 years. Replace only, no flush. Not frequent enough. I'd do it every 30k. Bill G '91 SE Auto >> Coolant every year, no flush, just replace. >> [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > Not frequent enough. I'd do it every 30k. I agree. Tranny fluid changes are cheap enough to do this often and sure isn't going to hurt anything. I also don't care for the "flush", just a drain and fill.  SignatureSteve http://www.atlantaracing.com > Have an 03 max bought new. Live in Massachusetts and do not have a garage. > I plan to keep this vehicle for a long time. All work is done by local [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > tia Myself I have the radiator coolant flushed every three years by a real radiator repair shop not the Nissan dealer. Also if you plan on keeping your maxima having the transmission fluid flushed and filter changed is a good idea. Getting a real tune up depends on how you think your maxima is running and how much money you care to spend. There are also O2 sensors that have a habit of failing you will sometime get a check engine light from them. Some items you just have to depend on the dealer to guide you. Good Luck. > Myself I have the radiator coolant flushed every three years by a real > radiator repair shop not the Nissan dealer. Also if you plan on keeping > your maxima having the transmission fluid flushed and filter changed is a > good idea. Tranny filters normally need no service on modern cars. most use a screen rather than a paper filter and I've never seen one give a problem even when the trans was self destructing. A basic fluid drain and fill every 15-30K (depending on conditions) should work fine . SignatureSteve http://www.atlantaracing.com Why important to have tranny fluid changed every 30,000 ? > > Myself I have the radiator coolant flushed every three years by a real > > radiator repair shop not the Nissan dealer. Also if you plan on keeping [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > http://www.atlantaracing.com Automatic transmissions espeically have trouble if the oil breaks down or fills with dirt. One driving session that builds a lot of heat in the tranny can 'burn' the oil (i.e. long uphill) and changing this oil out extends the life of the tranny. I personally feel it's cheaper and better to simply pay for a drain/replace rather than that flushing procedure. It can be argued either way that flushing is good for completely cleaning the tranny or bad for shaking things up too much. Either way, it costs money and a drain/replace takes care of the most important issues. Like the others said, once every 60k is probably on the high side - every 30k is really the best way to see that your auto tranny lasts a long time. Dave > Why important to have tranny fluid changed every 30,000 ? > [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] >> >> http://www.atlantaracing.com > Why important to have tranny fluid changed every 30,000 ? Go price a rebuilt one and you'll see why doing this every 30K is a smart thing.. Most places get WAY over $2000 to do these.. SignatureSteve http://www.atlantaracing.com Sorry about my question. I guess I did not phrase the question in the way I meant. I wanted to know why they don't last. Back in the 60's I had 1958 Plymouth Belvedere (sp) car with 318 engine with auto tranny. I put a hitch on the back of the car and used it to pull wagons, etc around on the farm. I dont remember ever changing the tranny fluid and I put over a 100,000 miles on the car. Changed the engine oil every 3000 miles. The reason I stopped using the car was body rust ( minnesota winters). The engine and tranny still ran good, only used about a quart of engine oil every 3000 miles. so, with current SE's, 1. is the auto tranny just not built well ? 2. is the fluid much poorer quality ? 3. design flaw ? 4. ??? > > Why important to have tranny fluid changed every 30,000 ? > [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > http://www.atlantaracing.com > Sorry about my question. I guess I did not phrase the question in the way > I meant. [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] >> >>http://www.atlantaracing.com I don't think it's so much that today's cars are not built well, it's more of a case where the older cars were just over-built. With so much that was not known about automotive engineering, you just err on the safe side and build it bigger, stronger etc, that way you have evrything covered. Of course this leads to over-sized and in-efficient vehicles, which most, if not all, cars of the 60s were. Today's cars are built to more exacting standards today. Carmakers like Nissan know the market they want, and then they build the car to suit. Let's see, 5+ passengers, extra roomy, with enthusiastic power plant, good crusing capability, all weather friendliness, high output V6, let's build a Maxima:) They fiddles with the cimputer work up and plant requirements etc and lo and behold, the image becomes reality. In a case such as yours where you use the car for towing, the Maxima was buit to do that, but not very well, probably because most people who own Maximas usually dont use them for towing. But say, those who own a Dodge RAM will have a much much higher liklihood of using the truck for towing, so Chrylser will make sure that the truck has the towing part well covered. CD Actually, in that era Chryslers were known to have absolutely bullet-proof transmissions. No longer the case. > Sorry about my question. I guess I did not phrase the question in the > way I meant. [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > wagons, etc around on the farm. I dont remember ever changing the tranny > fluid and I put over a 100,000 miles on the car. Several things come to mind, you got lucky, those trany' were overbuilt (probably a cast iron case etc) and if it had torn up, they were simple to rebuild. Also probably ran at much lower temps which has a HUGE effect on fluid life. > so, with current SE's, > 1. is the auto tranny just not built well ? > 2. is the fluid much poorer quality ? > 3. design flaw ? > 4. ??? Well you can roll the dice and see what happens. It just seems foolish to me to attempt to save less that $100 over the life of the car to risk several thousand. SignatureSteve http://www.atlantaracing.com > > Sorry about my question. I guess I did not phrase the question in the > > way I meant. [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > rebuild. Also probably ran at much lower temps which has a HUGE effect on > fluid life. so - would adding a tranny cooler system to a max be a good idea? [ lines deleted..... ] And keep waxing that paint. Two or three times a year will protect your resale value. Spray the underside with lots of water after winter, and try to control the salt damage as best you can. > And keep waxing that paint. Two or three times a year will protect > your resale value. Spray the underside with lots of water after > winter, and try to control the salt damage as best you can. I second this process. It's what I have always done and it seems to help keep the finish looking good and the metal from rusting away. Thanks for the responses. I did get good tires from tirerack.com and you've given me some good tips on keeping things going. I love the car... its a keeper. b > > And keep waxing that paint. Two or three times a year will protect > > your resale value. Spray the underside with lots of water after > > winter, and try to control the salt damage as best you can. > > I second this process. It's what I have always done and it seems to help > keep the finish looking good and the metal from rusting away. > Thanks for the responses. I did get good tires from tirerack.com and you've > given me some good tips on keeping things going. I love the car... its a [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] >>I second this process. It's what I have always done and it seems to help >>keep the finish looking good and the metal from rusting away. Concerning coolant, does it make sense to stick with the Japanese style, non-silicate coolant such as OEM Nissan and Toyota, or can we just go ahead and drop prestone in with all its silicates? Even though the Japanese non-silicate coolant is a more expensive, I tend to go that route since the water pump in the Maxima is buried in the timing cover and is quite a challenge to replace once it fails. And you have-to change the oil, as well. CD |
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