My 89 Maxima (114k miles) has electrical issues I think may be all related: auto a/c doesn't work, but you can hear solenoids working, bose stero has power, but almost inaudible, digital dash lights don't adjust, speedo fluctuates 10-14 mph when ignition on with car STOPPED, then reads way high when moving. Auto shifting funny, makes groaning/vibrating noise when coming to stop (this may be unrelated), sometimes doesn't go into drive. Engine starts and runs great. Could electrical problems have common cause, such as a bad ground someplace???

HELLLLLLLPPPPP!

Could be a grounding issue, or some form of connection issue.

Anyone here have diagrams or FSM for a '89 Maxima? I don't have any that old

Very useful page for J30 Maxima owners:

Climate control schematics and more.

Can't offer much help for the instrument lighting issue or bose system, sorry. I've yet to front the cash for an FSM, and my Chilton manual only offers basic chassis schematics...nothing as far as stereo or instruments.

I had issues with my instrument cluster a few years back. For a while, the tach was acting very funny. Then one day the whole gauge cluster quit working altogether. Ended up having the cluster replaced by the dealer. Apparently there was an issue with the electronics in the cluster. This may or may not be related to the problems you are experiencing. Sorry I don't have more specifics. I'm also not sure how common a problem the malfunctioning instrument cluster is.

The Infiniti people are VERY well acquainted with the horrors of Bose systems from this era. I'd have a look at Q45.org and see if there's any pertinent material. Hopefully Jesda (now also a J30 owner) will see this and add his input.

Grounding system is a very likely culprit (see page 10 in the link above).

As for the trans stuff...Common cause for funny shifting is a bad TPS. That's also covered in the link above...check the index...basically, you just make a small hole with a solder iron, completely flood the TPS with electrical contact cleaner, move the TPS through the full range of motion several times, drain the contact cleaner, and seal the hole back up.

Another culprit is of course a faulty TCU. The TCU diagnostic procedure is also detailed on one of the pages of the above link.

While we're on the subject of transmissions:GET A COOLER! Heat is THE number one killer of JATCO transmissions from this era. Seeing the low milage yours has, you may be able to prolong it's life significantly if you take care of this now.

That's assuming, of course, that the symptoms you describe are not signs of the transmission nearing the end of it's life. But, as I said before, 114k is far sooner than one would expect that to happen.

As far as not going into drive...Do you mean that the lever won't go into position, or that the car is not actually in "Drive" even when the lever is in "D"? If it's the latter, try tapping the lever forward (without depressing the release button) to the "front" of the "drive" position. That may put it into drive properly. My car suffers from this problem. I assume it's merely electrical. It only happens occasionally, though. As with many J30 electrical issues, it seems to worsen as the temperature decreases.

Describe the odd shifting in more detail? Does the transmission kick up and down as expected? (Cruise at 25/30 long enough for the car to shift to 3rd gear for a moment. Then floor it. Does the car kick down to first as expected? Try the same thing at 60mph. Flooring it should drop from 4th to 2nd.) If not, it's possible that it's simply a TPS issue.Does the car shift abnormally hard? Shift late or early? Does it "lag" before shifting (mine does this--again, I believe this to be TPS related).
Modified by MinisterofDOOM at 9:01 PM 1/29/2006