2000 Nissan Maxima SE from North America - Comments

As an original owner, I've been very happy with my 2000 Maxima SE, except for the really annoying SES light. I had the coils replaced a while ago, and at various times the light had come on and off. When my mechanic checked the diagnostic code ($75) it said "Catalytic Converter", but I have not experienced any problems. The light stayed off for a little while, but now it's been on for several months. I'm taking it in for a 143k (aka 15k) service tomorrow, but will tell them not to bother checking it. From what I've been reading, it seems like there's just a faulty sensor.

If it stays together for another couple of years, my son might end up getting it as his first car (it might be close to 200k by then!).

To all Nissan Maxima owners before you do any costly repairs replace the MASS AIR FLOW SENSOR because it will make your car have all the following syptoms, hard starting, loss power, rough idle and stalling when could, false codes even make your car seem like the transmission is bad. Trust me and save yourself a lot of trouble and money because Autozone has it for $169 and it takes about 20 minutes to install.

I own a 2000 Max and it has been a very good car. I currently have 97K and I have had all of the coils replaced so far (60K).Nissan has had problems with that one. Recently the car would run rough until it warmed up and then it would smooth out. However, the past few days it would cut off suddenly and not restart until it cooled down. I had a diagnosis test run and got a CAM position sensor ($83) fault message along with the mass air flow sensor ($113). I just had them replaced and the car is purring like a cat and I'm on the road again. :o)

I too replaced my mass air flow sensor and the car is running much better. I normally try to do repairs myself but I am under the gun for inspection so I handed $450 over. However, my ses light came on again and it's throwing a 0400 code, EGR System. Dealer said it needs to be cleaned. Didn't have that code before I brought it to NISSan. Basically a particle could set that off. They want $360 for that. Rediculous. I have replaced one coil and it's easy.

I have a 2k Maxima with almost all of the above problems.

I changed a mass airflow sensor; that helped the acceleration problem immensely, and as for the "miss", I have replaced 4 of the six coils (most auto parts stores will read your SES codes and let you know what they say for free, which is how I knew which coils to change).

As for the O2 sensors and cat converters, that get flagged, most of the time they are bogus due to the way the engine runs if a coil is misfiring or the mass airflow sensor is bad. The diagnostic will almost always tell on a bad coil, however, if the engine has no power or runs like crap when cold with no chugging or missing, the SES is on and diag. says O2 sensor, tranny, or cat. converter, I would go for the mass airflow sensor.

Hope this helps.