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Well Josh welcome to the real world of having things on your Auto that needs
fixing and learning it will cost some real money.
Now if you can do some of the work your self meaning you have the tools and
the knowlege to get it done then you will save some $$$$.
and Auto with115K miles means some things have worn out. If it's worth
$1,100 to get this Nissan fixed that another thing.
Make wise choices Josh.

My thoughts are that you could probably do the hose repairs easily and maybe
the oil pressure sending unit. I'm not sure where the oil pressure unit is
located but if the shop only figures 0.5 hours, it must be pretty easy.
Next in difficulty would be the valve cover gaskets but there might be a lot
of things to unbolt and move out of the way. If you do the hoses and
gaskets, a key to good seals is to make sure all mating surfaces are clean
before you reassemble. Personally, I'd leave the control arms to the shop.

JS

In article
<b21ed5cc-2e8f-47c7-acdb-210e54ed90c5@l32g2000hse.googlegroups.com>,

What kind of oil: motor oil, transmission, power steering, brake/clutch
fluid? Crawl under the car, swipe, sniff and compare to known oils. This
is the first thing.

If you can do plugs, you can do this. But check for yourself if this is
where your leaks come from. Valve covers usually leak during *running*
and create a lot of smoke where the oil hits the exhaust manifold. Not
so much leaking when sitting.

Why does the mechanic believe it is confirmed bad? Oil light not coming
on? Tested with ohmmeter?

It doesn't get easier than this! If it is old, hard or cracked, the
lower hose also probably needs to be done. And then do the one below the
water control valve. These kind of jobs are a real confidence builder.
You *can* reuse the old clamps. Really.

Power steering hoses can be a bitch. However, by checking the PS
reservoir fluid level and examining the oil on the ground (PS fluid is
not the same as motor oil) this can be confirmed or eliminated as a
source of your trouble. If this isn't your issue then save yourself the
money.

Does he mean the *transverse link*? Is it cracked? By the way, when this
part goes bad it doesn't leave puddles on the ground! If you replace it
ask for your old one back.

Get a list of the parts your mechanic wants to replace, take it to
Nissan parts counter and get pricing information. The Nissan guys will
even print out an exploded diagram of the assembly for you. $1,100 is
accurate for all that work, but ask yourself how much is really
necessary.

I found drive belts to be a pain on this car. If you can handle hand
tools, hit these repairs one at a time, focusing on the oil/coolant
leaks first.

Oh yeah, get a Haynes manual or better yet a shop manual. I found a
download online for nothing a few years ago.

Replace both left and right valve cover gaskets - easy, but tedious. You
to remove some stuff just to get at the valve covers. The front facing
valve cover has 24-valve written on it. You should do this yourself,
give yourself time, like half a day, and keep track of all the parts.

Replace oil pressure sender unit - Easy as pie, do it yourself. The
sending unit usually sits just above the oil filter. If you can change
your oil, you can do this.

Replace upper radiator hose -  easy as dirt. Don't even THINK of using a
mechanic for this one.

Replace power steering suction and pressure hoses - This may be a bit
challenging. the hoses are hard to get to at the rack end. You may want
to leave this to the mechanic. If you can't afford to do this job now,
you can wait, just keep an eye on your power steering fluid reservoir
and keep it topped up.

Replace front passenger lower control arm - Leave this to the mechanic.
Quite labor intensive. By the way, this has nothing to do with your leaks.

Also, none of these issues are life threatening to your car if the leaks
are slow. Just make sure all your fluid levels are OK. Once a week check
your oil, power steering and coolant levels. You can do each repair
slowly to spread out payments.

CD

Thanks, guys, for all the suggestions and advice so far. After
some more searching around the Maxima.org forums, other sites online,
under my hood, and through my Haynes manual (yep, I've got one, but I
figured some advice from someone that's tackled these problems before
would be much more help), I've come to a few conclusions:

- I may replace whatever valve cover gaskets I can get to (the front
ones, which I hear are the easiest) myself.
- The oil pressure sender unit, if it's bad, I can definitely do
myself.
- The upper radiator hose, when the car is off and cool, seems just
fine. It's still soft and squeezable, not hard and cracked, so I'm not
sure how the mechanic thought it was bad.
- The power steering lines I should let a mechanic do, so they can do
it correctly the first time, and if not, will have a guarantee on
their labor.
- The power steering fluid must be what's leaking because the drips
are falling directly on the rubber boot of the lower control arm and
that seems to absolutely identify the power steering pump/hoses (I
can't tell the difference between p/s fluid and motor oil based on a
small puddle on the ground).
- The lower control arm is fine, but since the power steering fluid is
leaking on the rubber boot, it's in for some corrosion over time and,
with over 100k miles on the car, I should probably replace it anyway
for a slightly smoother ride.

    I've got an appointment with the local Nissan dealership
(Celebrity/Classic Nissan in Orlando...anyone have personal experience
with them?) in a few days, so hopefully they can give me a pretty
definitive answer as to which parts are ACTUALLY in need of replacing
and what else may need to be done with the car while it's in the shop
(I probably need both a transmission and coolant flush at this point
in the car's life). After I get an estimate from them, I've got two
friends in another city that work as mechanics for the Mazda and
Mercedes dealerships that can give me some more over-the-phone advice
since these repairs are for non-Nissan-specific parts that they would
know about.

    Again, thanks for the really helpful responses. I'll keep
everyone up to date so this thread may be useful to someone like me in
the future.

- Josh