'02 Nissam Max - 1800-2400 RPM Engine Rattle / Mysterious Oil Leak

[robilles]

I am new here... Because I just got my first Maxima, which I freakin love! I have a question, hopefully someone can help...

Upon acceleration in my Maxima (not aggrssive acceleration, but moderate driving acceleration) I have a rattling coming from under the hood. I can not find anything loose under the hood, and none of the heat shields seem to be loose. Has anyone else had this problem?

I also have an oil leak, but I have no oil spots or anything inside the engine! I have a friend that works on my car (Infiniti and Nissan Specialist) that hasn't gotten a chance to look at this yet, but he thinks it may be coming from a leak of oil into the Spark Plug Chamber? I am loosing 1-2 qts of oil in a matter of 3 weeks!

If anyone has any thoughts or opinions, I greatly appreciate it.

Thanks Much!Rob

'02 Nissan Maxima GLE136,000 Miles

Modified by robilles at 5:52 AM 10/6/2009

Modified by robilles at 7:44 AM 10/6/2009

Modified by robilles at 7:45 AM 10/6/2009
Modified by robilles at 7:45 AM 10/6/2009

[maxhopper]

Welcome to NICO!

If it's not the exhaust or a heat shield, I'm not sure what could be causing you rattle noise.

Your friend is probably correct on the spark plug tubes, although the amount does sound excessive.

[robilles]

Sorry this took so long for me to reply... I forgot my password, and time slipped away, then the website changed... Anyways...

This issue was finally determined to be a ctalytic convertor. My buddy cleaned it out, and tried to repair it, but that lasted a week. He said the front cat needed to be replaced. The cost to fix both of the cats was going to be around $1500 - $2200... So I weighed my options vs. the milage I had on the car... I decided to trade it in...

Now I am the proud owner of an '07 Nissan Altima 3.5 SL with ALL the options. I believe my Maxima is on its way to Slovakia after being sold to a whole saler that was going to fix it... Good Luck Max!