Post by
Jacobus77 »
https://forums.nicoclub.com/jacobus77-u106909.html
Thu Sep 25, 2008 5:31 pm
I just registered for this. I have a '96 Sentra GXE 1.6 Liter with 218,00 miles on it, which I've had a little less than a year and a half and I put the last 16k on it. My son got me started on Sentra because he has a '92 Sentra 1.6. Both have 5-speed manuals. His has almost 200,000 miles on it and he has driven it basically like a bat out of hell for about 3 years. His has had the trans rebuilt (supposedly), and a new alternator and distributor. And oyeah, tailpipe. It's been street-raced on rough roads and slammed through 4wd trails (it's 2wd) at speed and survived amazingly well. Our Sentras have stronger a undercarriage/suspension than most cars their size. His saving grace is that he's constantly looking for any sign of a problem and fixing it with OEM or better. It has done over 60 mpg below 80 mph. Both cars run NGK Iridium plugs and Royal Purple oil with Wix oil filters. You can observe better power and mileage from both. Both have high-flow aftermarket Sceptre air filters (looks like K&N) and KYB (Kayaba) struts with Cooper tires. Both have had the front brake rotors and pads replaced, and the clutch, and drive axles/joints. Both run quality synthetic transmission oil; mine is Royal Purple. Some people mentioned a notchy 1-2 shift problem - the RP oil helps that (no, I don't work for them). My '96 has 2" pipe from the cat back with a 2.25" muffler, welded on locally, about $130 with an additional muffler tip. Torque and HP and MPG are better. The forward exhaust system is still good until I get a good header in there. I have some further efficiency mods in mind but it currently gets 40 mpg running a steady 80 mph. Reliability in my humble opinion is excellent considering its miles. Besides what was already mentioned, I've replaced ball joints, wiper drive bushings, and need to get the headliner replaced (it's letting go of the roof). All in all, not a bad deal. Mine appears to have been taken care of by the first owner which helps; I'm going to keep on improving it as I can. I suspect the reason some folks in this thread have had a bad experience is due to poor maintenance by the previous owners, which can trash anything. Both cars also have aftermarket JVC stereos with Pioneer and Infinity (not Infiniti) speakers - not a reliability issue UNLESS you put in a high power system without upgrading at least the battery; then you may have ignition insufficiency.