2000 Nissan Maxima SE from North America - Comments

The service engine soon light on my 1999 SE lit up in early July. It was the ERG (or EGR) Temperature Sensor. Cost was approx. $300. Two weeks later the light lit up again, only to go out for several days. Now it has lit up again... this time dealer's service dept. says it's the ERG (or EGR) valve which is located behind the sensor??

They struck a deal with me... no labor charges and discounted price on the part...$140...ca-ching! This is my second and last Maxima.

I had the Check Engine Light on four times on my 2000 Max. GXE. The most recent time was for a coil for the emissions system, they pinpointed that one of the six was bad- 200 repair. The other three times was for the Oxygen (O2) Sensor, still under warranty.

Yes, I fill with premium always. Yes, the gas cap is tightened. One co-worker had his fixed ten times! Since there are two in front and two in back, the chances are that one or more are going to be faulty.

The "Service Engine Soon" light came on at 65000 miles on my 1999 Maxima. I took it to my local mechanic who said that the #4 cylinder is not working properly. It needs a new coil. He will replace all 6 spark plugs. The total cost is $400.00 incl. labor (3 hours), and PA sales tax (6%). My fear would be when are the other coils going to go bad? How much would it cost to replace the remaining ones.

I have a 2000 Maxima SE and at about 61k miles the dreaded "Check Engine" light came on. Brought it in for it's 60k mile check up and the dealer said that I needed a new pre-catalytic converter to the tune of $1200! Anyone heard of this?

I have a 2000 Nissan Maxima SE with about 85,000 miles on it. About 100 miles ago my SERVICE ENGINE LIGHT came on. After reading here, I disconnected the battery for 5 minutes and reattached with no success.

Then I completely opened my gas cap and notice a strong rush of air. I closed the cap. Disconnected the battery again and VOILA the SERVICE ENGINE LIGHT went out.

My question is - is this a bad gas cap? Or do I have a bad Fuel Vent Valve?

Dave in Minnesota.

I have a 2001 Nissan Maxmia and the service engine light is on. It came on for about a week and then went out. Now it on again and it hasn't went out. The first time it went out when I put gas in it. I'm going to disconnect the battery cable, and see want happens. My car only had 25,000 miles on it when I brought it on March 17, 2004. I kinda regret it now, I shouldn't be having problems already.

I have had the same problem with the Check Engine Light. I disconnected the battery for about 10 minutes and the light went out. There was no noticeable difference in the performance which indicates to me that it's a Nissan scam. About 2,000 miles later it came on again and I did the same thing.

If its really not broken don't fix it. You'll know if you have a real problem.

I own a 2000 Nissan Maxima GLE- and guess what happened about three weeks ago? The now infamous "Service Engine Soon" came on! Took it to the dealership and they told me that it was 3 of the 6 ignition coils, but that I should consider replacing all 6 as they work in pairs and the 3 that are currently working, are working harder. So we're talking about $850!!! Not to mention that I also now have to do the 60,000 miles service which is another chunk of change. Needless to say, I am not a happy camper! I love Nissans, but after reading the other comments, I'm not so sure I'll be purchasing another one!

Has anyone else had ignition coil problems?

ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE PROBLEMS WITH NISSAN MAXIMAS AND THEIR FAULTY IGNITION COILS- PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR GRIEVANCES TO www.bigclassaction.com. IT'S TOTALLY FREE AND MAYBE THEN WE'LL BE HEARD AND HOPEFULLY GET SOME HELP!!!

FROM: A VERY PIST OFF 2000 MAXIMA OWNER WITH RECURRENT SES LIGHT/COIL PROBLEMS!

I have a 2000 Nissan Maxima and I had my car for about 2 years and it started giving me problems when the weather was cold and I first started it, I have taken it in twice and have spent 400.00 per repair. Then about a month ago the check engine light came on and the spuddering has gotten somewhat worse. I have started putting premium gas in and am hoping that will help. If anyone knows how to fix this please let me know.

I have the same problem in a '99 SE. It started at about 10K miles - had it fixed then came back around 30K. Never had it looked again. Never had any probs with engine, gas mileage still good. Now have 64K miles. I too think it is a scam by Nissan Service Dept's. With all these probs, you can't tell me they can't figure out what it is.

I bought a nissan maxima 2000 SE in July 2004. It had 50,000 miles on it when I made the purchase. Today, I started the car and it made a putting noise when it was idle and also when I accelerated. The check engine light has come on and I am almost certain that the problem has to do with the Engine Coils. Now the question is, should I go to the dealership and get ripped off, or should I take it to my mechanic who will probably not have the equipment to test the car? Nissan should have fixed this problem with a recall about 4 years ago. If anyone has any advice feel free to email me at mikejuc855@hotmail.com. If anyone is considering buying a Nissan Maxima, don't, if I had a chance to make another buy it would have been a reliable Honda Accord.

I have a 2000 Nissan Maxima GLE with 57,000 miles on it and the Service Engine Soon light came on. I was immediately worried so I read the manual. Although I am always careful when filling the tank and even turning the cap beyond clicking I still went ahead and made certain the cap was tightly secure. I have always put premium gas in my car. I decided to go on-line and do some research and that's when I found this thread. I tried disconnecting the battery, waited, then took it for a test drive right after. The light didn't turn back on for about three or four weeks after that. Until the other day. The car hasn't been driving differently at all so I decided to try disconnecting again. Well the light turned back on the next day. It's going to be $90 just to see what the problem is. I must add that when I bought the car (which had at the time 10,000 miles) the SES light was on and it turned out to be an O2 sensor, which was still under warranty. After I find out what the problem is and what it's going to cost I'll post again. I have to say that I love my maxima (maybe too much) but it's been a very reliable car now with this happening it's really disappointing. I'm going to have to keep in mind all of the comments when they trouble shoot on my car. I'm dreading the expense. It really is unfair how all of us Maxima owners are having to shell out various amounts of money for these problems.

Regarding the $70+ fee that the dealer charges to tell you what is wrong when the Check engine light goes on, check out.. http://vbxmaxima.8m.com/ecu.html.

I have not yet used this myself, but it appears to be a fairly simple way to self diagnose your car. You need internet access to get the results of the code, but if you are here reading this, that shouldn't be a problem. Post back and let me know if it indeed works. I will be trying it soon b/c my light recently went on and the dealer charged me $60 to tell me I need 6 new ignition coils for $600 or so. 42K miles on my car. But this site and others (http://www.nissanforums.com/showthread.php?t=44363) prove that this is somewhat normal for 2000 Maximas... I want to check the codes myself before paying such money..

I have a 2001 Maxima se (58K) with the SES light on too. I took it to Autozone because they preform computer checks for free. they told me it was the O2 sensor in the first bank. My guess was the sensor right on the exhaust manifold before the catalytic converter. First I took it off and cleaned it with solvent and it cured the problem. Three weeks later the SES light came back on so I bought a new O2 sensor and put it on. Now the SES light stays on so I took back to Autozone for another check. they told me that the code said VOLTAGE LOW O2 or something like that. Anyways, I tried disconnecting the battery to reset the computer, but no luck... That SES is still on even though I haven't felt a difference in performance... Any thoughts??