[bcbickers]

Hi Everyone!

Great message board! I haven't been around Nissans for a while, so it's good to see such an active and informed community.

Sorry for the lengthy post. I am currently driving my 1998 Mustang Cobra because my mother's car went kaput. So I gave her my Mazdaspeed 6 to drive. I feel like the Cobra's odo is spinning out of control, so I need an inexpensive, reliable daily driver. Plus, I have three kids and cannot fit them in the Cobra nor can my wife drive a manual. Hence the desire for a nice daily. (Ok...sob story over. LOL!!)

I found a nice 1992 Maxima SE ithat needs some work. I just don't know how much. She is an automatic with 164k miles on the clock. Cosemtically, she's actually in good shape, save for the typical wear on the leather seats and steering wheel. The front suspension is pretty much shot and most probably will need everything (struts/shocks, ball joints, inner/outer tie rods, endl inks, etc). I can pick this Maxima up for $500, so I don't mind spending a few bones fixing things. Labor is all me, so my only investment would be parts and the typical misc stuff.

First, the car runs bad. The owner says it needs lifters, but my searches have turned up the VTCs are the actual problem 9 out of 10 times. Here are the symptoms:

-> at idle - she sounds like a broken sewing machine running full tilt. The only sound I can think of is if you put a piece of plastic in a spinning fan blade. This noise climbs and drops with engine rpms. The idle is also very rough, but I don't smell fuel in the exhaust. When I put the car in gear, it almost dies but then comes back to idle (~700 rpms).

-> take-off from a standstill - Take-off from a standstill is VERY sluggish. But just how sluggish depends on how long the car has been sitting in gear at idle. Just a few seconds, take-off is ok-ish. If I sit for a minute (like at a stoplight), take-off is very, very slow. It's almost like the cylinders are full of fuel (ie. rich), but I don't smell fuel (at least inside the car) nor does the car doesn't buck or complain. She just lumbers on out until 3,000 rpms (see next point).

-> at speed - This is where things get weird. Below about 3,000 rpms, the car is sluggish but moves ok. Once you pass 3,000 rpms, the car smooths out a little and is much more responsive. At WOT when the car hits about 4,000 rpms, she takes off like a rocket! The loud, sewing machine/clicking noises go away and she flies. The motor also becomes silky smooth and pulls HARD all the way to about 6,000 or so when the tranny upshifts.

So, my first question is: based on the info above, is the problem lifters/actuators or the VCTs?


Second issue/question: the tranny. The transmission engages into reverse decently. But when you put the selector in drive, it takes about 5 seconds for the gear to engage. And it does so rather abruptly. RPMs drop to about 400 but the car recovers just fine.

When driving, the tranny shifts ok from gear to gear with no problems. However, at about 30% throttle, upshifts occur at 3,200 rpms or so. At 50-60% throttle, she'll hold the gear to 4,000 rpms. At WOT, shifts are held until 6,200 rpms or so, with one issue. The upshift is so violent that it yanks the wheel hard to the right. I can't imagine with less than 200 hp, there would be that much torque steer. And it doesn't pull at all when getting to redline. Just at the upshift point.

For the Power/Comfort switch, I'm not sure that it is working at all. The button moves between all three positions just fine, but the P or C light does not come on when switching between the modes. FWIW, I left the switch in the middle during my test drive.

So, my questions here are: is the transaxle ok? Will a fliud and filter change help clean things up a bit? And with the rpms being held so long, is the power/comfort switch broken or malfunctioning?

Once again, my apologies for the long post. And I greatly appreciate any and all responses. Thanks everyone!