I'm looking at the 1995 - 1999 Maxima's and interested in buying one soon. I was just wondering if anyone has had or known of any problems that recur in their Maxima's. Just trying to do some research before I buy one. If you know of any problems that happen typically I would love to hear from you. Or even just tell me how much you love it because it has no problems, either or. Thanks for any help.

Since I wrote this earlier... :p

Common problems with the 4th generation (1995-1999) Maximas:

- starters. These tend to fail as you get near 100K miles. Some tend to die sooner, others later. Fortunately starters are a 15 minute replacement job and they're relatively cheap.

- throttle position sensor (TPS). Again cheap and easy to replace, again for cars that get older... Maybe 30 minutes if you're handy with a multimeter.

- knock sensor. Rarely actually fails, but is a common failure code when something else dies, the knock sensor code will also come up. Fix the other part and the knock sensor code will go away. Still, it can and does fail, and the wiring harness connecting it may corrode, too. Major pain in the butt to do because it's in between the cylinder banks. Not very expensive at least, and if you can squeeze your arm and tools in there without pulling the intake manifolds that simplifies things greatly.

- mass airflow sensor (MAF). Doesn't die too often, another 15 minute replacement, but one expensive part ($600 list). Bad MAF and bad TPS may cause similar symptons. Being handy with a multimeter helps.

- o2 sensors tend to degrade as the miles rack up. Most will be fine, but don't expect them to last indefinitely either... by 80K, o2 sensor failure is more than a freak possibility.

- a small percentage of manual transmission cars have bad input shaft bearings. It's not anything I would worry about, but the failure rate does exist. Not cheap to fix.

Plus the usual... crap paint, squeaks and rattles, dead/dying Bose system.

i have personally owned 2 maxima's. my first car was a '96 maxima gle and now i drive a '99 gle....i love BOTH of these cars!! only complaint is that the factory didnt feel obligated to install a turbo the size of a dinner plate!!

Heh from everything i've heard and all the research i've done, it sounds like a great car. I was probably a day or 2 away from buying a 1998 GLE today; I saw the ad for it yesterday which is when it was posted and I called about it today and it was already sold. Its hard to get my hands on one of these it seems but i'll keep trying since it sounds like a great car, it will be my first car.

my advice....next time you see one that your interested in (model, color, options, etc)....GRAB THAT MOFO!! even if you somehow get stuck with a car that needs a bit of repair work (my white one somehow had metal shavings in the tranny line when i bought it, which had to be flushed out) you will be happy you stuck with it! i absolutley LOVE my car!!

nismo1219 wrote:my advice....next time you see one that your interested in (model, color, options, etc)....GRAB THAT MOFO!! even if you somehow get stuck with a car that needs a bit of repair work (my white one somehow had metal shavings in the tranny line when i bought it, which had to be flushed out) you will be happy you stuck with it! i absolutley LOVE my car!!

After i bought my 95 GLE i had to get both temperature sensors replaced and a left axle and outter tie-rod But since then i've had only to replace the thermostat which got stuck open in one of the coldest winters we've had in a while(that sucked).

I have a 95 and my wife's is a 98

Ditto for the previous reader

On the 95;2 Starters (very easy fix)MAF ($) 125KCV joints 125K1 coil went out (easy fix but TOUGH diagnose) $80O2 sensor 100K

Your emmission stuff will probably crator after 125Kespecially;Idle Air control valveO2 sensors

Also I recomend synthetic oil.

Fuse cover inside falls off by itself on both of them

Radio antenna raiser broke on both of them

By the way I love my car

Beats the #@% out of my last two fords

sounds exactly like mine

BOSE is dead

yeah, maximas are legit vehicles. friends all gimme **** for mine but its better than their civics. haha. i havent had too many problems with mine other than batt/alternator and tires, lots of tires. somethings wrong with the front end that ive had to get 2 sets of tires inside of 3 years. Ive had it aligned everytime but something is just not right.

I still haven't cracked the stalling puzzle on mine but its gotten better since I installed my chip, synthetic oil, but other than that its my favorite car outta the 10 ive owned. Once you start putting work into ur max u just have so much more respect for the potential it has.

im going on my second gear box in 13 months and my warranty ends 12 months don't get a 5spd

I had a '99 Maxima SE and the only problem I eva had wit it was the starter goin out. Other then that, I wish I still had it.

I had 97 SE and the major problems were the alternator, knock sensors, and the fuel system charcoal canister.

273,xxx and counting.

HOWEVER, mine is an I30. They're the same car, but their not lol.

I would suggest you get yourself a 4th gen I30 instead of the Maxima.

The infiniti dealerships I spoke with said that Nissan produces their cars for numbers and produces Infinitis for quality.

I'm not bashing on the Nissans because I love em, but in 9 years and 190,000 miles my I30 has had three major hiccups:

Oil leak caused by the timing chain cover and ignorant Jiffy Lube guys who messed up the threads on the oil pan bolt.

Cracked Radiator (2 of them, one completely my fault). How many cars can go over 200k with the same radiator?

Cylinder 6 misfire- Caused by my dad's mechanic breaking a plug wire.

So that means that in 273k, I've had 2 problems that were out of the ordinary.

I don't consider brakes, struts, CV axles or bushings to be major out of the ordinary repairs.

Yeah I had the same idiots strip out my oil pan threadson my old Mustang

Thats the reason to use synthetic so you only changethe oil half as often

1995 Maxima SE

MAF sensor $600 --->> expensive as hellnew tires

that's about it, the car works fine other than that damit MAF and its a Civic killa

brianw wrote:Since I wrote this earlier... :p

Common problems with the 4th generation (1995-1999) Maximas:

- starters. These tend to fail as you get near 100K miles. Some tend to die sooner, others later. Fortunately starters are a 15 minute replacement job and they're relatively cheap.

- throttle position sensor (TPS). Again cheap and easy to replace, again for cars that get older... Maybe 30 minutes if you're handy with a multimeter.

- knock sensor. Rarely actually fails, but is a common failure code when something else dies, the knock sensor code will also come up. Fix the other part and the knock sensor code will go away. Still, it can and does fail, and the wiring harness connecting it may corrode, too. Major pain in the butt to do because it's in between the cylinder banks. Not very expensive at least, and if you can squeeze your arm and tools in there without pulling the intake manifolds that simplifies things greatly.

- mass airflow sensor (MAF). Doesn't die too often, another 15 minute replacement, but one expensive part ($600 list). Bad MAF and bad TPS may cause similar symptons. Being handy with a multimeter helps.

- o2 sensors tend to degrade as the miles rack up. Most will be fine, but don't expect them to last indefinitely either... by 80K, o2 sensor failure is more than a freak possibility.

- a small percentage of manual transmission cars have bad input shaft bearings. It's not anything I would worry about, but the failure rate does exist. Not cheap to fix.

Plus the usual... crap paint, squeaks and rattles, dead/dying Bose system.

Ive never had any of these problems with the 1995 Maxima GXE (270,000 mi) or the 1999 Maxima GXE i have now (109,000)... only small squeaking breaks... but not a big problem