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2003 Maxima Rattle / Rattling 1500 to 2000 RPM Forums > > 2003 Maxima Rattle / Rattling 1500 to 2000 RPM 2003 Maxima Rattle / Rattling 1500 to 2000 RPM
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  #16  
Old 08-02-2008, 07:52 AM
snowmedic
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Mines got the same metallic rattle too....doesn't happen when in neutral though so I'm gonna asume a loose/rusted heat shield or exhaust issue.
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  #17  
Old 08-02-2008, 09:47 AM
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You could try going to a shop that uses BG chemicals and have them run a can of 44k through the engine. You will want to have it run through the bag not just put into the fuel tank. This will clean any carbon build up on the top of the pistons which can cause pre-ignition or spark knock.
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  #18  
Old 08-02-2008, 07:51 PM
3.0bnm
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Snowmedic i to thought it was the heat shield or exhaust that was causing this rattling but its not (at least on my car). can you describe when your car is making this sound. is it at a certain rpm or is it constant. I removed the heat shield on my car and had my mechanic thoroughly check the bottom of the car on several occasions and nothing was or is out of place. My car to does not make the sound when in neutral, strickly between 1500 and 2000 rpm. and it makes a brief rattle (putting) right when i turn the car off, sound is coming from engine bay.

Snowmedic could you better describe the symptoms your car has, like when and how often is the rattling noise occuring. Also could you better describe your Maxima. what kind of fuel do you use, is your check engine light on? do you hear noise when you shut the car off?

My Maxima is a 2003 SE titanium Edition. 6 speed manual tranny. NO check engine light is on. i only use premium fuel, synthetic oil. ngk iridium spark plugs that were installed 2 months ago. (the sound was there before and after the spark plugs were changed, i thought that may be the problem, it wasnt) the car has 102000 km or 60k miles.
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  #19  
Old 08-05-2008, 03:57 PM
Jack Rabit Slims
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Are you riding with your A/C on? I have noticed that noise when driving with it on, but do not hear it when it is off. Don't know if that helps or not.
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  #20  
Old 08-27-2008, 03:15 PM
3.0bnm
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No i dont have the a/c on, but i have noticed that when i do have it on the rattle gets a little bit louder, and it happens at different rpm's.
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  #21  
Old 08-31-2008, 11:58 PM
tegman810
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Default Same Problem (could it be related to the 6 speed)

To all in this post. This is not an octane problem! Period end of story. I have a 2002 Max 6 speed manual. I have 101000 miles on the car and have experienced this problem since the car had some 20000 miles on it. I took it in for diagnostics way back then. Everyone all said bad gas and the dealer could not get codes to report. No code--no diagnosis! (that was when I ONLY used Chevron with techron) I tried octane booster to see if it would go away to no avail. I tried the NG (I think that is the name) to clean my injectors. Everyone told me if that did not clean them out--nothing would.

That did not change it either.

I notice that the car sounds like a diesel when under slight load. I get more rattle when my car is going up a slight incline, when the air is on, and when it is hot out regardless of air being on. Furthermore, the hill going to my house has a 30 mph limit. I cannot use 3rd gear or it rattles like crazy. I put it in 2nd and the noise generally goes away but my revs are at 4000+. The rattle always goes away when gas is given liberally. In this scenario, I can put it in 2nd going up the hill. If I continue with the same pressure on the throttle, then I get no sound. However, if I am coming up on a car and have to back off the throttle, the rattle returns when I reaply the throttle as I want to acccelerate. This problem seems to show up mostly on hills, but seems to show up more and more given the miles on my vehicle. I get the rattle in ALL gears and even on flat highway in 5th and 6th gear. As I said before, when I back off the throttle and then reapply to keep speed up it shows up almost always at this point.

By the way, I gave up with the Nissan dealer. They could not diagnose and solve the problem. Nissan america was no support either even in the light that I spent $1200.00 for and extended warranty through Nissan America (6 years or 100K). It was a worthless piece of paper and a waste of money. As long as the engine runs-even with a diesel like rattle, they are obligated to do nothing. I told them it was bad publicity for them to ride around with such a rattle but they didn't see it my way. I thought once I bought Japanese that they stand behind their product more but I have found out that this is not the case.
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  #22  
Old 09-02-2008, 07:22 AM
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My money is on the CVT's. Although i cannot conferm the noise without listening to the engine a good nissan tech should be able to conferm this for you.
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  #23  
Old 09-03-2008, 06:59 PM
3.0bnm
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From what i understand CVT is an abr. for Continuously Variable Transmission which is used in nissan's auto tranny's. Both my maxima and tegman810's maxima are manual tranny's, as stated in prior posts, so no, its not the cvt.

tegman810 i could not have described it any better than you already have, im having all the same issues and symptoms you are experiencing. You are correct in saying this problem is not caused by gas/octane. Funny that my mechanic is convinced that it is gas related and so is the dealership.

tegman have you tried anything like retarding the timing etc. or what have you tried. I read that it may be related to valve clearance or maybe something to do with cylinder heads, do you know anything about this?

Its really a shame that everything else seems to be in fine working order except for this annoying sound (and potentially a major problem). Im sure that more people are experiencing the same prob. and hopefully some peeps have already solved this issue, it would be great if we could get more posts and some better idea of WTF is causing this.
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  #24  
Old 09-05-2008, 10:56 AM
tegman810
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Default New info as of today about rattling noise

Hey 3.0bnm,
I just got my car back from the nissan dealership. I took it in for diagnostics. They have the ability to drive the car and hook a laptop computer up to the ob computer to watch for timing issues etc. This was something new to me as the other dealers did not offer this technique as of a few years ago. Unfortunately, the results were still the same. Nothing wrong!! Or so they say. I liked the mechanic and was able to talk to him at length as to what it could be. He took a spark plug out to view the piston head and said the spark plug and the piston looked good. (not unusually carbonized) The only POSSIBLE remedy and I stress POSSIBLE that he suggested was to change the spark plugs (mine are due to be replaced anyway) and he suggested that we pull all the plugs, poor some solvent like cleaning liquid in the cylinders on top of the pistons and let the solvents eat away at any carbon build up. He was saying that IF there is a lot of build up it could reduce the room inside the chamber possibly causing some pre-detenation. I asked him about retarding the timing, but he said he can do it in the shop with the computer but once disconnected it would revert back to factory settings so it sounds like there is no way to change it. The test sounded somewhat limited in the completeness of the diagnostics. It almost sounded to me as if it was unable to measure anything with the Knock sensor which is a bummer since maybe that is defective for all I know. I don't know. I am just so very frustrated with the whole matter and I do not accept there is nothing wrong. No one else is driving around with this diesel noise. Thankfully the car runs good otherwise and the mechanic said that it was tight otherwise. Stay intouch and maybe we can resource one another. My email is [email protected] (Timothy Gregory) Hope some of this helped. (at least solidify your conclusion it is not bad gas)
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  #25  
Old 09-07-2008, 04:23 AM
nissan 19
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Default 2003 Nissan Maxima Gxe

Hey, I was surprised to see that we both have the exact same problem with our vehicles. I have had this whole car checked out for this pinging noise and I still can't find it. I't only makes the noise when my rpm is between 1500-2000 rpm. With octane 94 gas it pings a bit less. Most mechanics told me that it isn't the timing chain cause as your speed increases the noise would be louder. I changed the Catalyc Converter under my car and it still made the same noise. I also changed the spark plugs, same result. I've been trying to solve this problem for the last 8 months and last week a mechanic thinks he has found the remedy. The problem could be that the lifter could be hitting the valve which is what is causing the pinging. This job is very difficult to fix cause this is a twin cam vehicle. One false slip up, by by engine. Most mechanics will tell you that they don't even want to touch the vehicle if that's the case, or which I think is very well the problem is that it's the KNOCK SENSOR that is causing the pinging. NISSAN IS KNOWN FOR VEHICLES WITH PINGING NOISES AND KNOCK SENSORS ISSUES SINCE 1996. JUST BECAUSE OF THE YEAR OF VEHICLES DOESN'T CHANGE THE PROBLEM. WHEN THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH THE KNOCK SENSOR THE SERVICE ENGINE LIGHT DOESN'T COME ON AND WERE NOT AWARE THAT THE KNOCK SENSOR IS NOT WORKING PROPERLY WHICH COULD BE CAUSING THE PING. THE PINGING IS TELLING US TO CHANGE THE KNOCK SENSOR FROM WHAT I'VE BEEN TOLD. THE KNOCK SENSOR IS TELLING THE COMPUTER I CAN'T CALCULATE THE SPED PROPERLY WHY IT PINGS. It sounds like the only logic thing why it pings like that. Everyone who I've brought this to says it's no big deal and that engines ping from time to time. I'm still having this investigated and have to make a decision shortly whether I should change it or not. It's a part that u don't want to put in used. If I find the solution I'll let u know, I hope u do the same..

Last edited by nissan 19; 09-07-2008 at 04:30 AM.
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  #26  
Old 09-08-2008, 05:00 PM
gcarlson88
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Default same problem

2003 Maxima SE 6spd
exact same problem down to a tee, aside from the knocking no other issues. had it looked at by a couple of mechanics with no success, hoping one of you finds the magic mechanic to solve our problem. Seems that the 6spd is the common thread to those of us that are having this problem

Last edited by gcarlson88; 09-08-2008 at 05:03 PM.
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  #27  
Old 09-10-2008, 07:59 PM
3.0bnm
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I used to own a 1998 Maxima SE 5spd, and yes it did have a knock sensor issue but it never made this kind of rattling noise. Also the check engine light did go on when it had this problem, as a matter of fact when the 1998 had a knock sensor prob it never made any noises, the only thing was the check engine light and it also burned a little more fuel. Before owning the 1998 Max i used to have a 1992 Maxima SE 5spd and the problem with that was the whole sprockets thing etc etc.

Guys im no mechanic and this is just a hunch, so i dont want to discourage any of you but i dont believe this is pinging or knocking. I believe this is caused by internal mechanical engine components. I'm convinced (but i cant confirm)this has something to do with the cam shaft and cam shaft associated components (like bearings etc.). Like mentioned on this thread before, could be something to do with the lifters, that sounds logical.

Also could everybody out there with this problem listen to their vehicles after they shut off the car, is it making noise immediately after or any type of sound?
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  #28  
Old 09-22-2008, 03:14 PM
tabachoy
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Default Carbon buildup on lifters

i watched my bro in law fix this problem on an 03 maxima. now i need to get him to do it to mine. he sprayed some sort of cleaner & it cleaned up the carbon buildup on the lifters. no more rattling. my wife would kill me if she knew i could have this fixed by now. anyways, i'll post again once he does it to mine & let you know if it comes out the same way.

also, he went through a few cans of the cleaner in the process while having me rev the engine up to high rpms. i guess the cleaner won't do the job unless you give it a chance to really burn the carbon off...
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  #29  
Old 09-25-2008, 12:42 PM
SlvrMax115
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I'm glad I found this forum, although I wish I didn't have this problem to begin with!! I drive a 2003 Maxima GLE Automatic (yeah I know GLE?? and Auto?? I did lower it with Eibachs and Tokicos though...nice. Anyway, it makes the same noise, atleast the way 3.0bnm describes it. I hear it just under 2k RPM mostly in 3rd & 4th gear (just under 40 MPH. It is freaking annoying and embarrassing...I tried the 91 Octane gas thing and the oil change, but nothing. It does have 95k miles already, so I figure something is worn out. I also noticed I can't really hear it while in neutral?? My best estimate is that it's done it for the last 5k miles or 2-3 months? I hope that tabachoy lets us know how that cleaner works out.
Hey 3.0bnm, thanks starting this thread.
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  #30  
Old 09-25-2008, 01:05 PM
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high five!!! 02 gle auuto
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