opinions on early 90's maximas

in my continuing quest to find a good reliable car with a nice interior and good gas milage (around 30 highway), i keep finding relatively inexpensive maximas. some even have 5 speeds!

i looked at the edmunds site and they indicated some problems were possible with cam sprockets, cam sensors and some other electrical doo dads, but the reviews seemed to be largely favorable and the problems seemed to be centered on a few example cars that had EVERYTHING go wrong.

i personally like the 91 91 body style best and would prefer to find one of this vintage. what has been the experience on people on the board with these cars? any things to look for when shopping that would indicate a lemon type car?

thanks!

I've had 3 89-90's (same body style 89-94) and 2 95-99's.

They are great, but eat gas pretty easy in town if you get aggressive with the gas. But high 20's and 30ish mpg on the highway is easy.

Very reliable cars, but the window regulators do go bad pretty often. I forget the other little stuff, but over all very reliable cars.

I had $800 in the '90 i drove for 3 years. Great car, I miss it.

~Alex

I had a 1989 SE. That was one of my favorite cars ever, even though it had a slushbox. I bought it with 199,000 miles on it, and it ran like it had 9,000 miles on it! It was comfortable, handled well (last generation of Maxima to have IRS), returned decent mileage, and was reliable beyond comprehension.

The only issues I ever had were the CV shafts (I ripped the boots driving through a surprise ditch, thanks Mass Highway Dept!) the ball joints (easiest ever to replace! mine were original too) and that's it. It was the easiest car to work on that I've ever had. A full tune-up only took me 10 minutes to do.

The only other downsides I can think of are rust issues and the stock Bose radio crapping out on me. They rust fast, especially in the wheel wells. Before my car was totaled, it had a gaping hole in the rear wheel well that sprayed water at rear seat passengers in the rain. I had to replace the radio and the speakers because Bose speakers are individually amped and run at 1.8 ohms instead of the traditional 4. It was kind of a PITA, but had to be done.

Also, the 89-91's have the 160hp SOHC VG30, the 92-94 ones have the 200hp DOHC (and more problematic) VG30DE. I like the early SOHC motor. I bet you could make 80's 300ZX Turbo stuff fit somehow.

I had a 91 SE 5sp and a 95 SE 5-sp. The 89-91 cars are SOHC, very durable. 92-94 had VCT that tends not to last. VCT is next to impossible to remove and expensive to replace, symptoms of failure include top-end noise that may help you by scaring the heck out of the seller. A common and simple cure is defeat VCT by basically grounding the system out, which usually gives you a nice-running car again.

Bose speaker unit amps tend to die due to failed capacitors, but the caps can be replaced if you know how to solder. Rear window regulators fail far more frequently than they should but are easy to replace yourself and aren't too spendy. The 89-94s seem more "solid" with more build than the 95-99s, but all are a treat.

For DIY, used parts and tech, www.maxima.org is a pretty friendly community. Best thing is you can almost take the whole car apart with two wrenches or sockets: 10mm and 14mm. Oh and look for an SE (white-face gauges) for more driving enjoyment.

01/06/11: Edited to remove incorrect info on timing belts/chains. Sorry!

vg30e motor cars (all 89-91, & 92-94 non-se) have timing belts.

I love em all.

purchased my 97 with 109000 for $2500 now has 178K and still running strong, slushbox 3.0L SE

Issues it has had,

Sunroof stoped working (warped frame from florida heat then hit with cold water) O2 sensor, anti knock sensor (still not replaced) On very cold mornings won't direct defroster to have cold air Bose stereo comes and goes along with CD player. Trunk release stopped working, it clicks but just doesn't open.

The alternator was replaced under recal, and I have put brakes on it, tires and when I first bought it I replaced the axles.

Thing is rock solid and very comfortable. I am 6'4" and 230Lbs. I love this car, for a DD it is a great benchmark.

Was the LSD from the SE available on manual trans models? Possible to swap this onto a VG30E motor, to escape the unreliability, but still get an LSD?

My aunt had one of these cars, she had alotta electrical problems out of hers, mostly from the alarm which would go off any time you opened the passenger side door. She couldn't drive, backed into alot of things, burned cigarette holes everywhere, totally ruined that car.

I've always liked these cars too, its another one of my wants that isn't really all that farfetched. They're kinda hard to find that haven't been beat to hell.

I love me some maximas. I personally prefer the 4th gen (95-99) because i like the vq30 over the vg30de, and the sohc VG is a little dull. I like the vq35-ability of the 4th gens as well.

My mother has a 1996 GLE, and has been pretty reliable up until last year, when some electrical gremlins and other issues (like a clogged cat and the knock sensor) started rearing their ugly heads. It is nowhere as easy to work on as my old car. I still can't fix the electrical issues. It keeps draining batteries over and over, and I can't find a draw anywhere.

SilverFleet wrote: My mother has a 1996 GLE, and has been pretty reliable up until last year, when some electrical gremlins and other issues (like a clogged cat and the knock sensor) started rearing their ugly heads. It is nowhere as easy to work on as my old car. I still can't fix the electrical issues. It keeps draining batteries over and over, and I can't find a draw anywhere.

Nissan had a service bulletin about the alternator. Replaced mine and that issue went away. Worth a check.

In reply to FlightService:

I'm pretty sure that's been replaced at one point, but I'll have to check on that. I've read about that issue before.

Had a '95 that the ex got in the split in '99. Not cryin' though, I kept the '88 Jag XJS.

Great car, good power, very comfortable and quiet. Styling was meh, though. She ran the car another 6 or 7 years and finally managed to kill it by ramming the back of a BMW and not fixing the radiator leak that resulted. I think that was the third or fourth time she had bashed it into something.

I recall I had to replace the axles for her, though I don't remember at what mileage. Fairly easy DIY with guidance from the Haynes manual.

Only other issues I know about were a CD player that crapped out a couple of times. It wasn't a well-maintained car, but held up well, nonetheless.

early 90s: Best/most fun option is the 92-94 SE which got the DOHC motor (only time motor was ever used in production).
It has VTCs which can clack if not maintained properly.
It came standard with VLSD (a/t or M/T) has a timing chain instead of a belt, the A/T used in it is a much stronger unit.
It had the sport suspension, spoiler, white faced 145 mph gauges, black mirrors, 4 wheel disc and blacked out window trim.
The entire 89-94 production run has IRS FWIW I have had 4 92 SEs, and another 4-6 4th gens. My favorite of them all was a 98 I30t. after that my 2 grey 92s.

One of the first cars that I looked at buying. I was turned away by lack of 5 spds in my area. My sister has been abusing Nissans for about 10 years and they have stood up to some amazing torture. 10,000 mile oil changes when it runs out of oil, continuous overheating, binary throttle control, and never had one die on her.

One watch out if you are in a northern area is rocker panel rot at the bottom of the A B C pillars. This is a reason some people are ditching these cars.

The 95-99 arent the easiest things to work on, but not the hardest either. I did a rear main on one and dont have any bad memories of that, so i dont think there'd be much left to frighten me after that.

thanks for the info. so far sounds like the question is do i need the extra 40 hp for a 92 to 94 or do i want the simplicity of the single cam in the 89 to 91. the gas milage part of me says go for the simpler one... but the other side really digs the hp......

one other question. is there anyone who makes a conversion for the r134a refrigerant? or do i have to jus find some r12 stuff?

the VG30e does not get better mileage than the VE30DE.

My '94 SE would regularly score over 30mpg on the highway, and once even averaged 33 on an 900 mile round trip.

itsarebuild wrote: thanks for the info. so far sounds like the question is do i need the extra 40 hp for a 92 to 94 or do i want the simplicity of the single cam in the 89 to 91. the gas milage part of me says go for the simpler one... but the other side really digs the hp...... one other question. is there anyone who makes a conversion for the r134a refrigerant? or do i have to jus find some r12 stuff?

as belteshazzar pointed out, the MPG difference will be nil.

all you need to convert the A/C is fittings. swap on new fittings and recharge yearly IF the R12 is empty.

BTW, the DOHC motor is much easier to work on externally IMO. COP ignition makes life so easy.

plus I hate timing belts.

fwiw, my VE30DE never had any issues at all.

I did, however, learn how to rebuild that automatic transmission.

belteshazzar wrote: fwiw, my VE30DE never had any issues at all. I did, however, learn how to rebuild that automatic transmission.

I had no issues other than injector failure on mine. Trans were all good. at least the 2 I drove for a while were good other than the injectors.

my grandfather had a '92 SE and replaced 4 or 5 injectors. he bought the cheapest fuel he could find. I use premium only, and never bought even one injector.

belteshazzar wrote: the VG30e does not get better mileage than the VE30DE. My '94 SE would regularly score over 30mpg on the highway, and once even averaged 33 on an 900 mile round trip.

my problem with the extra 40 hp wont be the milage of the motor itself... but the comparable flogging my left foot would do to my milage WITH the extra 40 HP!

The only thing I ever heard about these cars was that injectors can become a problem past 150k miles. This was per a couple good technicians I worked with at a previous stint at a service shop (I was up front 95% of the time).

Don't know that I've ever seen a rusty '89 or later Maxima although most of my time is spent in KS and not the more snowy climates. They seem like good cars although new ones are pretty big and costly.

a 1990 GXE was my first car, and stood up well to my abuse as a 16 year old. never cared what oil went in it, always pulled great highway mileage, started on the first crank all year, never leaked, and was pretty comfortable all around. mine had the VG30E, which had enough power and the induction noise sounded kickass. the auto's had a little switch on the console to change the shift characteristics...power/normal/comfort (i used to love telling my friends it changed the engine mapping too, like a secret power switch)

the paint on the bumpers faded almost overnight and the suspension felt really underdamped. steering was pretty light and the turning circle was huge IIRC. the steering column lock in ours liked to play games from time to time. the exhaust studs are known to snap and can be a PITA to fix.

it died with 110k on it after i masterfully stuffed it into a ditch trying to play Colin McRae one snowy night. i have no doubt it would've gone to 200k miles easily. a 5 speed SE would have been really fun.

oh, and first post! waves

My personal opinion on the sohc vs dohc (either vg or vq) is that the power of the dohc's is most of what separates the maximas from competitors of the era. Either vg or vq dohc maxima with a 5spd can run low 15s stock. go with the sohc or the auto, and you're back in the running with every other plain-jane family sedan of the time, mid-low 16s at best.