CAR Went to Boston for a Red Sox game

[Morgan06]

came back with a Maxima instead of a baseball hat.

111K miles, loaded, $2700. Needs about $500 in parts and I spent 6 hours cleaning it up. This is my 1, 2, 3, 4, 5th? Maxima and my second 2002.

Not many before pictures, but it was very rough. Started with 105 and yellow but switched to a wool pad. Followed it up with 205 on green and topped with Collinite 845.

There was a lot of bad paint work done to this over the years, not noticeable to a layman but there was and still is some wetsanding to be done to level clear in certain areas. Sides of rear bumper, clear coat flaking that I THINK can be blended with the original clear.

Dead giveaway for a respray is improperly placed emblems. Knowing these cars inside and out it was easy to spot the Maxima and SE badges about 2" higher than they should have been. Cheapskate body shop reused the old ones with trim adhesive instead of spending $30 on new ones. A little heat, a little solvent, a little plastic razor blade- still ended up peeling the clear coat off in spots but was able to wetsand it 1500-2000 to blend the layers together.

Interior was a 6/10 when I got it, I'd give it a solid 8 now. Optimum Power Clean and a horse hair brush worked magic on the seats, carpets are rough due to lack of floor mats. SPEND THE $100 and BUY OEM FLOOR MATS! Mine are coming tomorrow- it's one of the most effective things you can do to clean up the interior of a used car.

 

[Morgan06]

Bonus pic, left side 1500 then 2000 grit. Right side untouched, that's the condition I got this car in.

 

[Scottwax]

Nice job, love the color. Sorry about the lack of a 3rd pedal.

 

[Morgan06]

Nice job, love the color. Sorry about the lack of a 3rd pedal.

The last one I had was a 6spd HLSD and I was strictly shopping for 6spds this time around, but this price was so stupid low that I had to buy it. You of all people know that a loaded 02-03 with 110K is worth at least ~$6K I might just fix it and keep an ad on Craigslist to see if anyone bites.

Right now I'm into it:

$2700 for car
$40 fuel door
$90 floor mats
$80 front struts

Still needs a Bose CD at ~$80. There's a front end noise that I won't be able to narrow down until I swap the struts today that could be bushings/ball joints/links. Needs an accessory trunk mat to hide some stains and spills. I found a P0507 code which is Idle Speed, could need parts thrown at it or just a ECU relearn procedure. That and $200 worth of PDR or a pair of doors swapped on- then it'll be all done I hope

 

[Scottwax]

At $2700 and that mileage, definitely a steal. I paid $5k for my 6 speed '02 SE (leather, Bose, climate control) with 150k miles and that was a grand under book as it was.

Front end noise might very well be the passenger side engine mount, very common problem and it sounds like a front suspension clunk.

 

[JRock10]

y'all make me feel better and better about buying my wife's '03 SE Titianium w/48k for $9750 two years ago. and it's the same blue, too. beautiful car.

 

[Run N. Gun]

Definitely a great deal and the detail looks awesome! Great ride there.

 

[Morgan06]

Thanks for the compliments.

Driver side seat does not slide. Up/down, Seatback Tilt, Cushion Angle, Heater- all work; just not Front/Back. Shark farts!

 

[Scottwax]

Thanks for the compliments.

Driver side seat does not slide. Up/down, Seatback Tilt, Cushion Angle, Heater- all work; just not Front/Back. Shark farts!

Rap the motor with a hammer as you push the switch, usually gets it going again. There is a fix for it on maxima.org, apparently the contacts pull away and need to be pushed back into position.

 

[Paulie Walnuts]

Another Maxipad owner on OT nice!

I have a 2003 Polished Titanium SE Titanium Edition that I bought with 6 miles on it and at 126k as of today.

 

[Morgan06]

Detailing crew is also Maxima crew

 

[Scottwax]

Detailing crew is also Maxima crew

No shit, eh?

 

[Morgan06]

Did the idle relearn last night, tripped the car into limp mode when I unplugged the TPS. So I pulled the battery and let it sit over night then reconnected it this morning. Idles at 700, accelerates out of limp mode and back to normal, Bose stereo mysteriously works now, SES light gone.

Turned the car off and on, gave it some gas, all seems normal with the RPM and it returns right back to where it should be so I'm not losing the relearn procedure during either of those cycles. Obviously have to put a couple hundred miles on it to see if anything comes back; but it feels good, man.

Don't know why the headunit didn't power up before? Last mechanical issue I've found is that the fusible link on the pos battery to the alt is only a 90A fuse when I'm pretty sure it should be a 120A. Could this possibly affect the electrical system enough to trip the stereo?

 

[Morgan06]

90A vs 120A fuse

All the current regulators are in the alternator and this fusible link on the battery is just to prevent a surge in power to electrical components and overcharging the battery, right? So having the 90A vs 120A isn't technically undervolting the system. I don't know why this smaller fuse would be there, unless someone just got lazy and used what they had laying around. Doesn't make any sense to me- it's like a $2.50 part and the 'hardest' part is removing it- so if it's out or blown already why not just do it right?

 

[Scottwax]

My son's car wouldn't start several weeks ago, someone gave him a jump and since then, the stereo had no power. Wednesday, it wouldn't start again, gave him a jump, he got the car home and once he turned it off it was completely dead again. Picked up a new battery Friday, put it in, car fired right up and the stereo was working again. Go figure.