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HELP! 2005 Maxima SE Issues!

4K views 5 replies 5 participants last post by  Crebereo 
#1 ·
2005 Maxima SE
I've now been to two dealerships and 4 local mechanic shops. Nobody has a clue. Just keeps telling me different things. So some advice needed and a question for you

I noticed one of my flex pipes is a bit shreaded and could soon be a full out leak.
Is it ok to chop out the flex pipe thats shredded and just weld a new one in place like I did on my 4th gen? It looks a bit more complicated and $800+ for the entire section of piping seems a bit retarded. This isnt mine but its a picture of the section I'm talking about:


Could this cause random idle at normal operating temperatures?

When I'm parked after have been driving for 15-20 mins so at normal operating temp all of a sudden my idle just jumps to 1.5-2K for no reason. When idle at a light I'm getting rough slightly low idle and tons of vibration in the steering wheel and a dull bass like muffle sound plus when I accelerate sometimes I lose all gas pedal and the engine feels choked, cuts out, and the car either goes into limp mode or fixes itself once im in going above 40 or so.

Also when I rev up then watch the revs going down the needle lags and jerks down slowly. Its not smooth at all.

I have replaced:
- front right upstream o2 sensor by the firewall,
- spark plugs,
- throttle body,
- MAF,
- air filter,
- did a tranny flush.
- All other fluids are fine except I do have a small p/s leak (it was really bad even from the pressure switch/sensor on the high pressure hose which I replaced as well which fixed the leak when it was really bad. So now maybe from the pump or other part of the hose.
- I've done 2 idle relearns at the dealership as well


Happens way more frequently when it rains!

One dealership says it could be the ground wire. Sometimes I notice some flickering in the gauge cluster lighting. Dealership did say the batt voltage was a little jumpy or something to that affect. Could this really be the cause of all my problems? Why would that really only occur once the car has warmed up fully?

I've spent nearly $3600 now trying to fix this issue. Its extremely dangerous. HELP!
NO CEL CODES.

I live in Toronto. Doesnt matter but just saying.
 
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#3 ·
Yes, a $40 battery cable could really be all that lies between hating and loving your car again. It happens A LOT on this generation of cars...especially the one's that have salty winters. Compared to what you've spent...it's a drop in the bucket to find out.

As for the symptoms...since everything is electrically controlled and electronically sensed, a bad ground could cause all sorts of erroneous info to be sent back to the engine computer.

To add some incentive...if your battery cable is done, and probably has been for some time....the grounding you get now is probably through some pretty bizarre paths, including, but not limited to, your drive shafts, which unfortunately wear out prematurely due to the pitting of the bearing surfaces caused by electric arcing.
 
#4 · (Edited)
If you are from Toronto, it could be worth going to Burlington for exhaust work by Budget Exhaust. They do their own mandrel bending and can make custom exhausts from components you choose. Best part is that their SS systems are cheaper than OEM and even cheaper than many indy garages charge for carbon steel aftermarket systems. They made a custom system for my 3d gen Maxima years ago for $1000. It gave a few extra WHP, was a tad noisy but that's my fault.

Before getting the SS mandrel bent exhaust from Budget, I drove with the rusted and leaking flex section for about 1 year and never had issues with idle. Doubt that it could cause your issues.

Check IACV and EGR valves for sure, they both may cause misfires and rough idle.
 
#5 ·
I just about make all of my exhaust pipes now [except for the headers].

All you have to do is go to the Summit Racing website, and search exhaust.

I can't remember how to get to the pipes, or bends, but Summits website is really easy to nav.

Anyway, what I did was buy the mandrel bends, and the stainless baskets [like in your pic in the op].

Also you will want to go to Ebay to buy the Vbands as they are waaay cheaper than Summit. Vbands make it super easy to take apart the exhaust in the future if you ever need to do so.

For example if you had Vbands on both sides of those baskets all you would have to do is just open the Vbands, drop out the old baskets, then weld Vband flanges [you can buy them separately] on the new baskets, and bolt them right in.
 
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