Altron
Well-Known Member
the Maxima strikes again
Here's the backstory.
My dad bought a '97 Maxima in October 1996. He drove it for almost ten years, about 130k miles. In late 2005, it started having lots of electrical/wiring/sensor/ECU problems. We spent a fair amount of money fixing all of this stuff.
In January 2006, I bought the Oldsmobile that you all know and love.
My dad was a sales rep (mainly NEC semiconductors, but sold a bunch of other stuff too). So he drove a lot for work, and having a car with all of these electrical problems wasn't working. The engine would randomly shut off (which is not a fun experience when you have power brakes and power steering and you lose intake vacuum). The car would start once or twice a day, and if it had to start any more times after that, it needed a jump start or to pop the clutch.
He got a better job in like April 2006, but with a 25 mile commute through Philly. So we said "fuck this", and he bought a '05 Mazda6 with about 10k miles on it and got a really good price for it.
But, because of the Maxima problems, we were looking at terrible trade-in values, so we didn't bother to get rid of it.
So it spends about 14 months being a driveway queen.
In july 2007, I start driving it, and sell the Oldsmobile because shit kept breaking on it.
Now, the weird thing with the Maxima is that it just randomly stopped having electrical problems within a few weeks after buying the Mazda6.
For the past four years, it has been running like a champ, with a minimal amount of repair costs. I had the starter go, and the tires went bald and dry rotted (so I got a full set of wheels and tires from a newer Maxima used for $100, and they're on the car now). The exhaust rusted apart, but it didn't fall off. The struts are blown, so it's loud and it rides like crap, but it's still pretty quick. I haven't really fixed anything on it since about 2006.
I put 20k on it over the past three years, and it has been running solid. Just ticked over 153k two weeks ago.
But, today, I was driving on the turnpike, and shit hit the fan.
I was going about 75mph, in 5th gear. Car ahead of me slowed down, because there was traffic. I put the car into neutral, and used the brakes. We all slowed down to about 40mph. Speed started to pick up again, so I hit the clutch and went to drop it into 4th gear. I couldn't get it into 4th gear. There wasn't noise or anything, it just wouldn't go into any gears. I pulled over on the shoulder, and after about five minutes of playing with the shifter, I was able to get it into 1st gear. I limped along the shoulder for eight miles to the next exit. It sucked, because there was bumper to bumper traffic, and there is a NJ law that you can't use a tow truck on the turnpike. I have 'roadside assistance' as part of my insurance company, and insurance refused to dispatch a truck unless I was able to get the car off the highway. So I crawled along for eight miles, and then there was bumper-to-bumper shore traffic on the first exit I got to. so I had to deal with all these people getting pissed off at me as I drove past the traffic on the shoulder with my hazards on.
The car wouldn't get into gear. I was able to force it into gear a couple of times, but if I took it out it wouldn't go back in. The car was stalling, even with my foot on the clutch.
The car behaved fine when it was in gear, but I had a bitch of a time getting it into gear. Was eventually able to get it towed back home.
Here's the backstory.
My dad bought a '97 Maxima in October 1996. He drove it for almost ten years, about 130k miles. In late 2005, it started having lots of electrical/wiring/sensor/ECU problems. We spent a fair amount of money fixing all of this stuff.
In January 2006, I bought the Oldsmobile that you all know and love.
My dad was a sales rep (mainly NEC semiconductors, but sold a bunch of other stuff too). So he drove a lot for work, and having a car with all of these electrical problems wasn't working. The engine would randomly shut off (which is not a fun experience when you have power brakes and power steering and you lose intake vacuum). The car would start once or twice a day, and if it had to start any more times after that, it needed a jump start or to pop the clutch.
He got a better job in like April 2006, but with a 25 mile commute through Philly. So we said "fuck this", and he bought a '05 Mazda6 with about 10k miles on it and got a really good price for it.
But, because of the Maxima problems, we were looking at terrible trade-in values, so we didn't bother to get rid of it.
So it spends about 14 months being a driveway queen.
In july 2007, I start driving it, and sell the Oldsmobile because shit kept breaking on it.
Now, the weird thing with the Maxima is that it just randomly stopped having electrical problems within a few weeks after buying the Mazda6.
For the past four years, it has been running like a champ, with a minimal amount of repair costs. I had the starter go, and the tires went bald and dry rotted (so I got a full set of wheels and tires from a newer Maxima used for $100, and they're on the car now). The exhaust rusted apart, but it didn't fall off. The struts are blown, so it's loud and it rides like crap, but it's still pretty quick. I haven't really fixed anything on it since about 2006.
I put 20k on it over the past three years, and it has been running solid. Just ticked over 153k two weeks ago.
But, today, I was driving on the turnpike, and shit hit the fan.
I was going about 75mph, in 5th gear. Car ahead of me slowed down, because there was traffic. I put the car into neutral, and used the brakes. We all slowed down to about 40mph. Speed started to pick up again, so I hit the clutch and went to drop it into 4th gear. I couldn't get it into 4th gear. There wasn't noise or anything, it just wouldn't go into any gears. I pulled over on the shoulder, and after about five minutes of playing with the shifter, I was able to get it into 1st gear. I limped along the shoulder for eight miles to the next exit. It sucked, because there was bumper to bumper traffic, and there is a NJ law that you can't use a tow truck on the turnpike. I have 'roadside assistance' as part of my insurance company, and insurance refused to dispatch a truck unless I was able to get the car off the highway. So I crawled along for eight miles, and then there was bumper-to-bumper shore traffic on the first exit I got to. so I had to deal with all these people getting pissed off at me as I drove past the traffic on the shoulder with my hazards on.
The car wouldn't get into gear. I was able to force it into gear a couple of times, but if I took it out it wouldn't go back in. The car was stalling, even with my foot on the clutch.
The car behaved fine when it was in gear, but I had a bitch of a time getting it into gear. Was eventually able to get it towed back home.
