1992 Nissan Maxima SE from North America - Comments

The car was nothing short of a dream until she got around 120000 miles. It started with the variable timing control sprockets, for the low price of $1150.00. Then the starter went out, (FYI stay clear of your discount auto parts store, very poor quality) after replacing it for around $160.00, A week later did it all again, then again, till I finally found a shop to sell me an OEM rebuilt by him for $90.00. I guess I won't mention replacing the clutch twice at about $350.00 each, I'll blame that on my wife. Just when all seemed right with the world on Easter 2002 at 11.30 p.m., in the rain to boot, the drivers rear window regulator broke. I had to tear it down that night and rig the window. That wasn't bad, only $50.00 at the auto dismantlers. Then a week later the passenger rear went and another 30 days later the passenger front went at the same cost.

At about 150000 miles, some how two exhaust manifold studs broke, and you guessed it, it was the manifold right next to the firewall, that was fun.

But my latest and probably most irritating adventure started about four months ago, the car would hesatate under acceleration, no big deal just change the fuel filter, right? Wrong, I then changed the fuel injector seals, (I also noticed fuel leakage) but I still had the same problem, very intermittent.

I took the the car to a shop and after about 3 days with the car and 20 or so road test I was told that the Cam Position Sensor was bad and that it was a dealer item which cost about $589.

00, so I bought one at a wrecking yard for $188.00, It was finally fixed.

With the exception of the above problems and repairs, I still love to drive it and it has been the best car I've ever owned. She handles and corners very well and the mileage, its not too bad, but what I love most about it, is her 3.0L DOHC V6. God that car really goes.

Thanks for the insight. I've had two 92 maxima SE 5-speeds and my second one (current) is hesitating under acceleration. I replaced fuel filter and checked injectors and seals. You must have hit it on the head. That Cam Position Sensor is probably it!

I have also had to replace a window regulator and the bose speakers are crap. I am getting an entirely new stereo in this one soon.

I purchased my beautiful baby, used ‘92 Maxima SE late in 1998 with just under 20,000mi. Within a month, the first thing that went out were the Bose speakers. One by one they were going out. I replaced the head unit and removed the individual relays to each speakers’ amp. Sounds great now.

Next to go were the two rear window regulators. After some investigation playing bro-chanic (mechanic skills 2/10), it seems to have some plastic housing break which houses the cable stop. My theory, the plastic housing breaks, windows go down, too much slack on cable which pulls the window up and down, pulleys get tangled, windows won’t go up. Conclusion; broken window regulators.

The water pump started leaking at 83,000mi. Purchased a rebuilt one for $50 and replaced it.

At 94,000+miles, I leave my baby at home, for one week, on vacation. Upon returning, she starts jerking when I try to accelerate normally. When I am at a stop light, she suddenly dies out on me. I leave her idling in park and sometimes the rpm will drop to practically nothing before it picks up again or sometimes it wouldn't recover and just die out.

How is this, sometimes, I can be riding at 45mph and the motor will shut off on me. Like she ran out of gas, but yet she has a full tank. So, to avoid an accident and without panic, I have to switch gears to neutral to start up my baby with the ignition, while in motion.

Broke-chanic Confucius says, “Eliminate the cheap possibilities first.” So I replaced the air and fuel filter, added fuel injector cleaner and moisture buildup remover to a full tank. Did a test run and same results. Now, this problem has gotten way out of broke-chanic’s league. So I pass my baby on to a Licensed and Certified Diagnostics Technician. He does a fuel pressure test, normal. Hooks her up to the diagnostics machine ($40) for a reading, no red flags. He creates a temporary problem by unhooking a sensor to see if the computer will read that, nothing. He creates various other problems which auto computers normally reads as glitches, still no red flags. Not even the check engine light comes on. Now I’m really worried.

He suspects it could be a computer problem which in turn won’t tell him what is wrong with my baby. Put it this way, this is the fist time he has ever come to this situation. But yet, he doesn’t want to tell me to get a replacement computer and nothing changes after replacing. He’s pretty cool though because he has spent at least 12 hours ($40/hr) on my baby and is not going to charge me for that because he cannot find the root of the problem (but I’ll give him something for his efforts). Which brings me to this site. I figured, where else can I find a solution to my predicament than to go on-line and look for others who have experienced the same difficulty. So far this review is the closest to what I am experiencing so I will have to look into it. Thanks.

Try the MAF, (mas air flow sensor part of the airfilter system).That cause your car to lose power and hesitation.

My maxima had the same problem of hesitating to accelerate. I changed the fuel pump and checked the mass airflow sensor, to no avail. But changing the O2 sensors did the trick. The car runs ever so faithfully now.