2004 Nissan Maxima SE from North America - Comments

At about 1,000 miles I was feeling a light shake coming out of the front end at higher speeds. Brought it to the dealer, they balanced the tires and it went away. (Covered under warranty)

At about 4,000 Miles the "service engine soon" light came on. Brought it to the dealer and they could not find anything wrong with it. I was told that I may have put the gas cap on to lose, I guess that can cause the light to come one. (Covered under warranty)

At 16,000 Miles there was a major short in one of the main wiring harness that caused my headlights not to work and made the service engine soon light to come on. Brought it to the dealer and it was fixed in two days. (Covered under warranty)

I would have to say at this time I am very happy with this car. It has had a few "bugs" as with any new car. Although the wiring problem has me a little worried. I just hope nothing major goes wrong with it after the warranty is gone.

I love the options that I have, heated leather seats, heated steering wheel, VDC, Power 8 way seats, the Bose 6 CD Sound system, etc. The interior of this car seems to be durable and sound, now noticeable rattles.

The Power of this car is great, along with the handling. The 265hp V6 is more than equate for this vehicle. Although I think Nissan should do a spec check on the HP ratings. On a Dyno test this car was pushing about 280HP @ 4200RPM. (No complaints)

In regards to the Nissan Dealerships, I have not been too happy. The dealership that I bought this car from has been horrible from the day I drove my car off the lot. When I bought my car I was in question about getting the Navigation System installed after the fact of buying the car, along with XM satellite radio. The sales guy that I was working with clearly stated that I could have these options added after the fact of buying the car, now I want to get these options added and I am being told by the dealer that I cannot get the Navigation System put in because it is an option that needs to come from the factory. In regards to the XM, there telling me that my car is too old? It's a 2004? And it's too old? Now dealing with Nissan directly and filing a complaint with the BBB.

I seriously question that your 04 dyno'd at 280hp. I had my 04 dyno'd with a Greddy Catback exhaust and Stillen Hi-Flow intake and it didn't have those high of numbers...

Dyno comment does sound possible. Nissan's rating is "at the flywheel". Unless the commentor pulled the engine (and I seriously doubt that), the dyno test was at the front wheels which will always show less hp due to the load from the drive train.

Gentleman, it is completely possible and actually very common for engines that are built in production line standards to have variances in their horsepower... it is not hard to believe that the engine could easily produce an additional 15 horsepower to achieve the 280 horsepower. This would have to be an estimated horsepower however unless as stated above the engine were removed... you would lose significant horsepower through the drivetrain before measuring on a dyno testing horsepower at the tested at the contact patch.

I would certainly think the two upgrades to the exhaust and intake would boost your power by at least 15 measly horsepower... that would be conservative in my opinion.

I have a 2000 Nissan Maxima SE. I put a high flow catalytic converter on it and my check engine light came on. I got it checked and the code was PO420 "Catalyst efficiency below threshold" if anyone can help me out that would be great. The guys at Autozone said it was b/c of my high flow cat, but they said there is something you can do to make the light not come on when you add aftermarket parts to your car. If anyone knows something please give me some info. Thanks.

The 280 does sound high, however not all engines are exactly the same (as someone has stated previously). I've read a few reports of the 04's engine being dynoed at higher than specified numbers so its likely that this car is one of those cars. And I've read numerous reports of cars other than the 04 Maxima having numbers higher than listed on the spec sheet, so its not just a Nissan thing.

For the person with the 2000 with the P0420 code: There is a part called an "O2 simulator" that basically tells the ECU that there is nothing wrong with the cat by bypassing the O2 sensor downstream of the cat. If you do a search, I am sure you will find what you are looking for. Good luck!

I love my 03 maxima 6 speed, I was looking to do only minor upgrades so I installed stainless steel exhaust and put a K&N air filter, no sooner did I spend the fifty bucks on the filter that the dealership told me to remove it because it fouls the mass air flow sensor! K&N denies all claims to this and will not refund money. I put springs and tires on it and will rave about the improvement I received from that (255/40/17) Falken tires, eihbach 2 and a half lowering springs.

Chances are, this 280 dyno run was done calculating power to the wheels. An engine rated at 265 crank hp stock will not put down 280 hp to the wheels, ever. That would mean that the car is producing well over 300 crank hp, and putting 15 more horsepower to the wheels than it is rated at the crank. Drivetrain losses alone should put this car at 230 hp or less on the dyno. 230 to 280; That's a 50 horsepower difference. While I will agree that some differences in output between engines is possible, if not common, a difference of that much is just unreliable information at best, and farce, at worst.