yunior32

that suckss

swamper8

Hello all,
I have this same noise with my 05' Altima SER. I've been searching Altima forums and never thought I'd find my answer at a Maxima forum.

Anyways, since there seems to be a lot of Nissan techs on this forum, can someone tell me if it's necessary to pull the motor on the Altima to replace the timing tensioners/guides? I've been working on cars since I was 16, and have NO plans on paying 1000's of dollars for a dealer to do the work. (especially since I just paid thousands just last week to buy the car) I'm capable of pulling the engine, but obviously would rather not. If it doesn't need to be pulled, I'd appreciate tips and tricks to doing this work as well as a list of parts needed.
Thank you!

Cleankill

Finally i got time to upload a video on the Quest high pitch whistling/whining noise

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4w5NQilg-I

It was very noticeable at 7-10 seconds

turbizzy

iTrader: (3)

What your describing sounds to me like the typical 6th gen Aisin 5 speed transmission goin out. Ask any one who's had a 5 speed 6th gen tranny replaced. Sometimes shift shock occurs, other times its long shift delay then BAM shift shock. You might need a tranny. See your local dealer for more info if your under 60k miles, you may still have powertrain warranty. The timing chain issues will not cause issues with your tranny nor fluid FYI.

Well don't mean to sound like an *** but we typically keep our methods a trade secret, I know you may not understand this but im only following what Nissan school tells us. But I will say this, most find it easy to pull the engine/tranny out since it only takes less than 2 hours but i rarely do it that way anymore. I just yank the cowl off completely and reposition the power steering resevoir, washer tank and theres actually alot of room. Then just pull the cover out the top. And just between us, you don't need to take the valve covers off like the service manual tells us to lol.

Ok i heard the sound loud and clear and can tell you that is NOT the timing chain noise we're talkin about. That actually sounds more like a vibration of some sort or maybe a bad drive belt tensioner bearing. If I were the diagnosing tech i would being by removing the alternator belt off first and starting the engine and see if the noise is still there or not. If it is, then i would remove the power steering belt off and recheck. If the noise is still there with no belts then put them back on and continue looking. Kinda sounds like an alternator when its got a load on it however the fact that it comes and goes away like that seems very odd.

brianfu777

I'm having a high pitch whine coming especially from the passenger side.
The pitch gets louder with RPM changes.
It's constantly there, as soon as the car is on, whether the car is idling, accelerating or decelerating.

This whine comes from the speakers, because when I disconnected the oem Bose Amplifier, the noise was gone.

I believe this is known as the "Alternator Whine"
So I changed a new alternator told by the dealer, and changed to another oem bose amplifier, but the "whine" still remains.

HELP??? please?

SuperMario

I know I have to change my belts, there's no question about that, I can hear them clearly.

However, I think my problem is really the motor mounts as per HMR explanation since my noise is real loud clanking during acceleration, hard or slow on my 04 Max 3.5 SE.

Does anybody else have this noise? Is not whining at all, it feels like it comes from underneath the car, almost like a metal metal piece is loose.

I admit I have had this for at least 15K, just have been avoiding it really.

otibmagv

Hey everyone,

Well I own a 2004 Nissan Murano SE with 111,500, I use synthetic oil and change it every 5,000miles. Anyways the Saturday before last (7/18/2009), my car started making this loud clunking/rattling ..like metal hitting metal noise. It started making that noise when I got off the freeway(the same day). I took it to my mechanic, he had a shop in the area where I was, and he told me it sounded like the Timing Chain Tensioner/Guide had malfuctioned, he knew what the sound was because his Altima 3.5 SE had the same exact problem, but he got his fixed under warranty, he told me to take it to Mossy Nissan and have it inspected. So I get on the freeway,to take it home to park it till Monday, but when I was going up this incline on the freeway I started loosing power. Then BOOM!!!! all I see is smoke and I hear metal parts or sharpnal flying under the car. I pulled over to the emergency lane, slammed on my brakes and turned off the engine...as I recovered from shock, I poped open the hood and got out...(thinking it might catch fire or something, since their was so much smoke).5min later I tried to start it up, but nothin, a few min later two firetrucks show up and a cop, someone had called in a car fire.

After I had it towed to my grandma's, I started doing a lot of research. And ive found a lot about this Timin Chain problem...mostly with Maxima's, and Altima's. After reading all these fourms, im not surprised if my engine died because of this. Well its been a week and a day since the incident(money issues, im 23..im not made of money lol), I had it towed to Mossy Nissan National City to get their "diognosis" to what caused the catastrophic engine failure. They called my mom and said it was something to do with the Cat Converter I had installed from when the other one had failued..."faulty welding"is what he told her..yea right. Keep in mind we played dumb when we took it in today. So tomorrow when we go down there to pick up the report, that's when were gonnna bombbard the service tech with all the questions about the timing chain TSB. LOL I already printed out all this info about this problem.


oh and yea my mom already called Nissan, to file a complaint and NHTSA...yeaa boy

AscendantMax

iTrader: (7)

alternator whine is commonly linked to bad electrical ground(s) in the audio system. the hard part is trying to locate those bad grounds. is the whine still there with the radio off?

turbizzy

iTrader: (3)

Sounds to me like you need to check your bank 1 catalytic converter heat sheild for broken welds. There's 3 spot welds that break in random order and cause a metallic buzz/tinging sound on acceleration or sometimes when just shifting between N to R or D.

Ok, i don't mean to come off as an ahole but what your describing sounds EXACTLY like a plugged cat that eventually blew out and may have caused some engine damage. This does NOT sound like a timing chain problem, in fact i have yet to get a Murano needing the chains.

Beleive it or not but for some reason all VQ35s from like 04-06 have some sort of issue with the bank 1 catalytic converter (closest to the firewall). They have a welded on heat sheild that only has 3 spot welds holding it on and sometimes these spot welds break loose and sometimes they break clean off, other times the break off the cat and leave a small hole which now makes it sound like an exhaust leak and can sometimes set a check engine light for a Lean Condition due to air entering the cat near the o2 sensor and throwing off the o2 sensor readings. I seriously do like at least 2 of these a week, i swear i have a fatazz pile of cats stacked at work, i can snap a pic if you wanna see it!

What sounds like happened to your Murano is, and i've seen this a few times on Muranos specifically, your Bank 1 cat (im assuming b1 since we have very little issues with the b2) most likely started goin out, breaking up slowly into little chunks causing your rattle noise as the catalyst material is just rattling around inside the converter. Then eventually it plugs the exhaust completely and therefore you started choking off the engine causing your loss of power symptom. Then as you climbed the hill you put alot of strain on the motor and eventually the power of the engine's exhaust got soo intense that it eventually BLEW up and shot out the catalyst material straight into the exhaust stream into your Y pipe resonator/cat. I bet if you remove your exhaust Y pipe and shake it youll be able to hear and see all the material. You may have also damaged the engine if the catalyst material got sucked into the exhaust ports into the cylinders and scored up your cylinder walls and may have also taken out some compression and oil rings. I did a Murano short block under warranty for this same reason once, sucked in catalyst material which lead to oil consumption.

Suck part is those cats are warrantied to 80k miles so obviously your SOL. I have plenty of those cats laying around i could sell you but it may need to have at least 1 heatsheild weld welded back on if you wanna reuse it. Cuz i know those converters are like 800 bucks from Nissan right? Plus labor...

SuperMario

I'm not too much of a mechanic. What's the bank 1 catalytic converter? Is this a specific part of the exhaust system?

How easy are these welds to be repaired? How much will it be to pay out of pocket?

Thanks for your professional help turbizzy

maxout!

Does anyone know if this problem affects only maximas of a certain year or does it impact all years on the 6th generation model? thx

turbizzy

iTrader: (3)

Here's a pic of a Murano Bank 1 converter i did, same as the Maxima only the Maxima/Altima/Quest's converter is flatter rather than round like this one but the heat sheild is the same.

Here's the 3 spot welds on the heat sheild and you can see the bottom weld broken off and my finder wedged underneath the sheild.



Here you can see the little tiny hole on the bottom where the broken spot weld broke off and left that hole behind. This hole is so close to the rear o2 sensor that it will sometimes set a check engine light for lean condition or bad cat and you can sometimes hear an exhaust leak.



This cat started breaking up just as the guy with the Murano in the previous post stated happened to his, you can see all the catalyst material that fell out of the header pipe and was causing a restriction.



Catalyst material.




Replacing the cat would cost near 1,000 retail but if you can find a muffler shop to just fix the weld or reweld the sheild back on then your lookin at maybe less than 100 bucks. But you better make sure the cat hasn't already started breaking apart due to excessive oxygen entering through the hole and overloading the converter.

The timing chain issue is only with the 6th Gen Maxima 04-06, Quest 04-06, Altima V6 04-06 and all the VQ4.0L trucks 04-06.

AscendantMax

iTrader: (7)

thanks for all your informative posts turbizzy!

next time i have the car jacked in the air, i'll take a look at the heat shields as well. i fixed the damn exhaust gussets issue by replacing them with some new ones (i fig it was the cause of the grinding noise, NTB05-021). but the noise that is still there under medium acceleration.

turbizzy

iTrader: (3)

FYI cat converters and ECMs are all warrantied to 8years/80k miles from the day the car was bought new.

filipinowise09

@AscendantMax This is a great post. Thanks for the heads up.

AscendantMax

iTrader: (7)

no problem. glad this thread is being helpful to others.

much credit for turbizzy though!

SuperMario

Is this part of a Service Bulletin?

Also, does this include 2004 Maxima with 74K miles? Or it doesn't cover certain years?

I'm sure it was purchased by the first owner sometime in 2003, so that puts it about 6/7 years. I believe I'm second owner, may be third, not completely sure.

Thanks for all your help, I hope this is under warranty. I'll take it immediately, the sound is too loud to miss.

turbizzy

iTrader: (3)

Yeah 8/80 from original purchase date. Give me your VIN and i could see if your warranty is still good on the cat. Sometimes it only applies if sold in CA but i don't think this is the case.

eternalsoul16

Hi all, Im new to this maxima forum and I have been really intrigued by all the information on this thread.
I have an 04 max and my issue is in the mornings when i start the car and I hear this whining noise. as soon as it warms up tho it goes away. Any thoughts on the issue turbizzy!
thanx in advance

otibmagv

Thanks for informing me about the cat converter, but that bank 1 cat converter, closest to the firewall...well it had already gone out almost 10 months ago. Yea, at that time my murano's exhaust sounded like an old chevy truck..it just happened out of nowhere. Soo i took it Nissan and it turned out to be a cracked manifold, lucky for me that part was under warrenty...but when we got the car back. The Tech told me the bank 1 cat converter was bad. The inner comb like material had started disinagrating and it would have been a total of $1200 for the part and labor. I had to decline because I didnt have that kind of money..soo the guys "rebulit" the inner comb so I would be able to drive for a while, till I was able to replace that cat converter, I also need a rear motor mount.

So I ended up driving the murano for almost 5 months without any problems..untill I took a trip to six flags magic mountain. I made it up there fine...me and my cousin following me in his Honda s2000...lets just say we had a very spirited drive from San Diego, to North L.A. I made it up there fine, it wasn't until I had returned home that I started having problems. After that trip is when my murano started losing power, and having engine straining on the freeways. Like I would be driving 80mph when suddenly the engine would rev really high and my speed would decrease...all the way to like 40mph .. !on the freeway! Of course I knew what the problem was.

A couple weeks after that I took my car in for an oil change, the guys showed me the bank 2 cat converter..the one near the front of the car and ...it was hallow..soo in other words, both cats were bad. It was about a month later when my home boy took me to this muffler shop, some friend of his, he gave me a deal of $350 for a magna flow cat converter, he didn't charge me labor. So I had him install it, he cut off the exhaust pipe right past the Y tube part...right before the middle resonator muffler. After the guy removed that Lil section, he started the engine and revved it, it blew out all this crap that was in the exhaust pipe...it all came from those to cats. He installed it and then I was on my way. As soo as I left the shop...mann......it had sooo much more power. Haha, I got on the freeway and it drove better then new, it accelerated like crazy. To me, it had more power then before, and I know this for sure because whenever I floored my murano from a dead stop. The tires would only make a chirp, then it would accelerate, but now it would peel out...lol with or without the VDC.
So it had been about 3months since I had that cat converter installed. The car had been driving perfect, no problems at all. Until Saturday July 18, 2009, It started out normal..it drove absolutely perfect from my house in eastlake, in east chula vista, to the 805freeway. But it wasn't until I got halfway to my destination...I was having power loss and after I got off the freeway and heard that loud noise coming from the engine. At first I thought it was something with the those stupid cats.

But when I opened the hood I noticed it was coming from the engine (the left side)and the noise wasn't an exhaust noise. It was a metal on metal scraping noise, thats when my mechanic looked at it and told me about the Timing Chain Tensioner Guide issue. He had been a nissan tech, but now he and a friend bought their own shop...now they have three. Anyways his Nissan Altima 3.5 SE had the same problem, but was under warranty. And as I had posted before on what happened later...yea....catastrophic engine failure.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Since then I towed it to Nissan to do their "diagnosis", and of course they said it was from the cat converter. BUT we didn't say anything about the timing chain issue until after they did the diagnosis. When I asked about that, his facial reaction was like (oh ****, how do they know about that) he quickly changed the subject, he quoted me $12,000 for a new engine and both cat converters, or $7,000 for a rebuilt engine. So its been about a month since the dreadful Saturday, my mechanic found me a used engine for $1,200, so I bought it, now im just waiting for them to do my engine swap.
oh and it was from a nissan murano with 40,000 miles on it.

turbizzy

iTrader: (3)

Well its good to hear that at least your aware of your converters being bad. Im confused on how the exhaust shop welded on a UNIVERSAL cat and your B2 cat is still hollow because the downstream o2 sensor is still not seeing a good cat since the sensor's location is immediately after the cat.

Anyway, this timing chain issue has nothing to do with Muranos so i don't see why your service advisor was speechless or whatever. I don't understand how they "rebuilt" your cat but imo it really sounds like a messed up converter.

Also, i can't beleive your puttin a used motor in on a "hunch". I understand your ex nissan tech friend says it needs an engine but if the dealership is telling you otherwise i don't know... I guess im really confused at this point, I don't see how you got an exhaust manifold done under warranty yet they were gonna charge you for a converter... did you have some sort of extended warranty or something? becuase the converter shoulda also been under warranty... like i said im very confused.

Anyway goodluck with the used engine, i hope for your sake your buddy is right because thats a pretty expensive guess. At least if he pulls the manifolds off he might be able to see if the cat really is plugged. Keep us informed.

Eternalsoul, sounds like bad tensioners, def get it lookeda t.

Cooter007

I'm taking mine to the dealer today. I noticed the "whine" a month ago. 2007 53,3011. Wish me luck.

otibmagv

lolz
well ill try and iron things out..

I bought my murano in April of 2007 with 42,000 miles on it. It was a Certified Used car with a LIMITED warranty. i put about 60,000 miles in 2 years. when the engine blew up, i had 112,000 miles..as of July 18,2009.
When the manifold cracked in OCT of 2008..only the manifold was covered in the limited warranty since it was part of the engine, the cat converter was not.


as for the "rebuilt cat" (oct 2008 80,000miles est. ive got to check the service records) idk how they did it..but they did do it..i mean if i was able to drive for about 5 months after that visit without any problems..is well ... hahaha its amazing

when i had the universal cat installed (around march 2009), he told me it might not turn off the "check engine light"...well i did turn off for a day, but came back on the next day. so yea, the o2 sensor still read it as a bad cat.

the used motor isnt a "hunch". right now there is a 3"x2" hole on the bottom of the engine. when my engine was making that loud metal on metal noise, i took it to my mechanic's second shop...mainly because it was right down the street from a party i was at. the other reason is because it was about 4pm on a Saturday, and the nearest Nissan dealer was at least 20min away..if i took the freeway.
a week after it blew up on the freeway, i had it towed to Mossy Nissan. Nissan told me i would need a new engine, with both new cats. which came out to about $12,000
so i took it to my mechanic's main shop to get a better price for the new or used engine. i picked the used engine because #1 it was cheaper and #2 it has a better warranty..i was getting a 3month warranty.

my ex-nissan mechanic that mostly runs the second shop, who had the tensioner issue, is the one who said it sounded exactly the same when his altima v6 had that problem. he just started dropping the engine yesterday. they told me it would b done today (wed august 19, 2009), i don't think they well...but maybe.

as of right now im not 100% sure what went wrong..i do know it wasn't from the cat converter. because when i still had the catalyst material clogging my exhaust, i truly thought my engine was gonna explode or something...but it never did...multiple times i lost power while on the freeway. it revved super high and a few time i pulled over due to the decreased speed i was getting. and that happened 5 months AFTER the they told me about the bad cat. plus both times (cracked manifold, and bad cats) they made a different sound from what happened that Saturday.

anyways, my gut feeling tells me it was someway related to that NTB:
NTB07-042
July 17, 2007

VQ ENGINE; BUZZING / WHINING NOISE
FROM TIMING CHAIN AREA

APPLIED VEHICLEs:
2004-2007 Maxima (A34)
2004-2007 Quest (V42)
2004-2006 Altima (L31) VQ35 engine ONLY
2005-2007 Pathfinder (R51)
2005-2007 Xterra (N50)
2005-2007 Frontier (D40) VQ40 engine ONLY

I dont understand why my murano wasn't affected...i mean it does share the exact same engine...especially the maxima, altima , and quest. the only main difference in those model years that I see, is that my car has a CVT transmission...maybe sine it keeps it from over revving or high revving. but mine did...back when i had the clogged exhaust. BUT that problem was fixed after i had the universal cat installed. since then my engine was fine until that sat, when that noise started out of nowhere.

well ill find out more when the take my broken engine apart. ill keep u informed...and thanks for discussing this with me.

I tried posting some pics of the hole in the engine, but it didn't post..so you guys can check them on my pics, on my profile on Myspace.
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=284 32563&albumId=2770167
if that link doesn't work...then just look me up and find the pic in my albums
just look up: Anthony Gambito
word

turbizzy

iTrader: (3)

Thats too bad. I don't know why the Murano isn't affected by the faulty tensioners but i do know that i have not yet to do them on Muranos yet. Only those cars mentioned in the TSB. Perhaps the Murano drivetrains are assembled in a different location than the standard FWD vehicles, who knows. To be honest I don't know how the faulty tensioners could have caused your problem though, with that much engine damage seems like something else let go. But go ahead and pull the front cover off and look at the chains just to settle this suspicion lol.

Im not sure what that part is in your hand (you wear nail polish?) but it may be a wrist pin from a piston rod??? Not sure. Anyway here are your pics...



Nah bro, that is not where the timing chains are. The timing chains are at the very front of the engine.






It is just very uncommon for that to happen to these engines, besides the stupid tensioner and chain design and some oil consumption issues they're pretty solid engines. Theres guys on here boostin or squeezing on stock bottom ends and holding together really good. Im not there so i can't really see for myself but in my expert opinion i think something else happened that led up to your piston rod/wrist pin letting go. Maybe low oil pressure/lack of oil, overheating or like I keep saying the cat being plugged. Ask the tech to see if there is any catalyst material inside the Y pipe from the bad cat. Also, maybe the "rebuilt" cat and "universal" cat may have flowed alot less than the stockers and possibly caused increased amounts of backpressure on the pistons and boom. Because what your describing happened right before your engine blew, sounds identical to a plugged up/plugging up cat, doesn't matter if it happened 5 months later, it may have started going bad little by little and eventually failed, thats what happened to a cheap universal cat i put on my turbo mustang, worked great for a few months and then began to overheat and plug up since i was doggin on it alot. Seems like your mechanic seems to think its the chains/tensioner but it makes no sense to me at this point and if he really was an experienced nissan mechanic he would know this problem doesn't affect Muranos, i don't know why but it doesn't. Im not cappin on the guy, im just not there so i can't say for sure what happened.

Anyway keep us informed. Engine replacement on Muranos shouldn't take more than a day, maybe 2 tops with a lift.

sunny2007

I have that same problem I am mad I didn’t find this forum before I hit 60k. I originally thought it was a trany problem. I took it to the dealer and they of course they said everything is ok. When I took it in I was at 59k and now I am at 62k. I do have an extended protection plan that covers me till 75k. I tried looking it up and see if the tensioner is covered but was unable to find it. Does any one know where to find that info? It is a Nissan protection plus plan. I got another appointment to the dealer for the 18 what should I take with me and how to explain it in a way that they will get it, because if I don’t they will say there is nothing wrong.

sunny2007

So I went to the dealership and they took 3 hours looking at the car[IMG]file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/sunny/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image001.gif[/IMG]. The advisor said they couldn't find anything wrong. I asked him to come out there and let me show him the noise, he said it was normal. I told him that is not normal. The tech wrote on the paper work it could be the tensioner but can’t find the noise. They asked me to drop it off over night and they will check it again. I called Nissan they told me they made a case but they can’t do anything about it till they find the problem.[IMG]file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/sunny/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image002.gif[/IMG] They told me to call them back after Monday and gave me a case number. Wtf what do I have to do.

rohanmax14

After install nEw motor I been hearing whinning noise at idle stratup, while pressing gas, n we did replace drive belt. U think it could be idle pulley?

sunny2007

Is it the same exact noise or did it change. That is crazy that if its the same noise to be there after a new engine.

sunny2007

I am really confused can someone please post a video of what the engine is supposed to sound. I am so focused on that noise I don't know what it is suppose to be.

rohanmax14

After new engine the only thing is doing is making noise at stratup it goes
away until it get warm but then it come back while driving.

How can we tell if idle pulley is bad, if not is bad can we looses
horespower, or loose gas miliage?

maxout!

anyone know if this tensioner problem will have an extended war

311rulzz

Thanks for all the info on these tensioners....I wish I had pictures of mine, they were bare whent hey came out. My friend is a Nissan mech at a local dealership. He won;t really help me out but he did show me the tensioners and they just look bad!

sunny2007

I have been dealing with Nissan consumer’s affairs for 3 week now. First I was waiting on the regional manager to call me and tell me what is going on. He kept calling and said I will call you back and never gave me an answer. He finally called yesterday and said because you are out of warranty I have to contact a different department to see if we can help you. I told him I was under warranty the first time the tensioner started to make noise and faxed him the invoice. I called this morning and the guy on the phone said we have new updates but I can’t tell you what. You will have to wait till the regional guy call you and he will call you today. This is my second maxima and third Nissan if they don't take care of me I will never buy another one again. By the way I do have an extended warranty also. if they don't fix it i will ask for my extended warranty money back and sell it.

turbizzy

iTrader: (3)

What extended warranty do you have? And whats your mileage? PM me your VIN so i can check your extended warranty.

The only update i've seen is that we no longer replace the entire tensioners but instead we just replace the tensioner shoes and secondary chains.

turbizzy

iTrader: (3)

Well guys thought i'd update this thread. Lately we've been getting in a few more VQs with a sorta small rattle type noise-not really the typical tensioner whine noise this thread is focused on. The rattly type noise sounds like the timing chain is loose, and is hella noticeable on startup for first few mins of runnin at idle then kinda goes away as oil warms.

Here's what we're finding, the primary timing chain's slack guide is breaking off from the top causing the plastic portion of the guide to slide downward and then the tensioner's plunger fully extends out past it's designed travel to try to take up the slack but can't so you end up with excessive slack in the primary chain. This also ruins the tensioner as it has a small wire lock that gets damaged which is to keep the plunger from bleeding down with the engine off.




This pic shows what happened.


The green lines show the peice of the slack guide that broke off.
The red arrow shows the direction the plastic slack guide slid downward
The blue line shows how the tensioner is supposed to line up to the slack guide
The purple lines show the damaged/missing anti-bleed down tensioner lock

sunny2007

So i get a call back today form nissan and they said we will only cover the parts for the tentioner and chain replacement. I told the guy that my extended warranty covers the parts and labar. The guy on the phone said the list he has they are not listed. I called warranty my slelf and they said all the parts are covered. i left a message for the regional rep and now have to wait for 48 hours to get a call back. They want me to pay $700 in labor and only cover parts that is bs because the warratny and extended warratny covers it. This has been going on for a month and this is the worse service I have ever gotten. has anyone else have to deal with this too?

PLAYNU2

I bought an 05 Maxima SE last x-mas with 57k miles. It now has 69k miles and I'm wondering what kind of maintenance do I need to focus on? My previous vehicles were honda's and mitsubishi's so i do know about the timing belts and spark plugs w/ sp wires for replacements but with my max, I have no idea of what and when.

I'm definitely not a mechanic and have no idea when it comes to working on cars. I don't have synthetic oil in it yet either but I was thinking about next time around having the upgrade done.

Maybe turbizzy has an idea for me to follow. Definitely appreciate any information fellas, thanks.

PLAYNU2

Forgot to mention, I have the 3.5 liter v6 AT.

EZfrank

I noticed my 2004 Maxima (90k miles) producing a high-pitched whine, and thought it might be a bearing somewhere, but took it in to the dealer and found out it is the timing chain tensioner. I was quoted about $1500 to fix it. After checking out some threads at Maxima.org, I contacted Nissan Customer Service , and was given a case number, and told a Regional Rep would follow-up. I am waiting to see what happens, but feel Nissan needs to step-up and fix post-warranty since it is a defect. Other than the timing chain issue, my 2004 has been a great car. Really, my only wish was that they had put better seats (more side bolstering) so that you don't slide around when you corner at speed.

maxout!

I'm wondering why the govt hasn't forced nissan to issue a recall for this. Makes you wonder. I would fight for it, beyond basic warranty, just like the 100K new coverage for CVTs.