1990 Nissan Maxima
Where to even start. When I first got this car was almost soiled myself
with excitement. My previous vessel was a 82 Mercury Topaz. I thought "oh
my god, nothing can be worse than the topaz". My how I was mistaken, in
retrospect the topaz was not that bad, I just crashed into a lot stuff
with it. Not really it's fault. None the less, I full boar went for a
"new" car. Enter the pain. First little things started to break. I would
fix them as they happened, but as with any lemon after a while you stop
caring about the trivial eye candy pieces in your car and just pray to God
the thing doesn't lose control on the freeway and careen into a barrier.
Repairs that I recall:
- The "sunroof" got stuck open, It was the middle of summer no worries,
then the rain came. I must have spent a least 2 hours tearing that thing
apart just to get it to close. It is currently closed and not leaking. But
good luck getting the thing to open, it is stuck solid. Better stuck
closed than open I guess.
- I live in Washington state. Sometimes I travel up to the mountains to
ski or whatever. One time coming back over the mountain pass on a dark
rainy night, the brakes decided to go out. The master brake cylinder just
stopped caring about my safety. Suffice to say, I must have hit 110Mph
coming down the mountain dodging cars the whole way. I gotta say I am
surprised to be alive, let alone make it all the way home with no brakes.
I did have a few close calls rolling through intersections though.
- The rear passenger window stopped rolling up. You could force it up by
hand only to have it slip back down. The replacement parts to fix it was
in the area of like $400, just for the parts. I went with a $5 duct tape
seal around the glass and fixed it right up.
- The brakes squeal like a stuck pig. All the time, no matter what. I
replaced all the pads and rotors at a time when I actually cared. I took
it to the dealership, spent way to much and the problem was fixed for like
2 days. They basically told me it was my problem, something trivial like a
squeal is not something they will look at again without charging more.
Frustrated I went to NAPA auto parts and got some of the anti-squeal
sauce. It worked great for another 2 days. I have become numb with the pig
and just deal.
- The 2 of the 4 welding points that hold the driver side seat in place
broke. It was like taking "Mr. Toads Wide Ride" all the time. I some ways
it was kind of neat having a rocking chair as the captains seat. But it
was really hard to get my foot securely applied to the brake or gas. I
welded it back together after about a week.
- One time while working on the brakes, I noticed that the e-brake was not
even hooked up. One side was completely frozen and it looks like someone
previously just cut it instead of fixing it. The other side is still kind
of working, but I dare not park my care without being in gear, if not the
damn thing would roll away even on level ground.
- Both CV joints in the front went out. This was kind of my fault. I
noticed that the CV boots were leaking months before and just neglected to
do anything about it. As it seems, after all the fluid drained out from
the cracked boots, the joints just started to grind. Whenever I took a
corner it would make a sound like putting a baseball card in the spokes of
your bicycle. If I was a pedestrian and heard this thing coming I would
have found cover right away. Driving it around while both joints were on
the brink of total destruction was like playing Russian roulette. I kept
neglecting to get it fixed and saying to myself, I bet I can make it one
more day... Fortunately when it's time came I was pulling into my parking
space at home, a loud cracking noise and then some sort of fluid started
pouring out of it.
Well that is just some of the memorable times I have had with this SOB. I
will say for sure that I will never buy a Nissan again. I probably
wouldn't take one as a gift. A horse drawn carriage would be a much better
choice that this garbage.
James Lapic |
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