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Topic
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Friend got a family deal on a gently used 2004 Altima 2.5
It only has 60,000 miles and I did a quick look everything seems in order.
I want to help him get all the basic maintenance done so he doesn’t have to worry about it for a few years. Already got brand new brake pads as the original ones are starting to squeak on the wear indicator. Going to do brake fluid as well with the pads. Rotors are fine.
So
Putting in new brakes and fluid soon
Got new tires mounted and alignment
Engine/cabin filter were new alreadyQuestion, car is 10 years old but only 60k miles. Should we drain and fill the auto transmission fluid a few times?
What other general maintenance should be looked at. Car was running rough at idle with fluctuating idle but did a computer reset/relearn sequence I found on a Nissan forum and has been running good for more than a month now.
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Just check the plugs are the right NGK plugs. Other than
that drain and refill the trans fluid. There is no filter.
If you wanted to do the drain and refill twice great. But
not necessary. Also check the serpentine belt for cracks.
replace as necessary. 🙂 You may want to drain and refill
the coolant.Dig in the glove box to see if the car came with an owner’s manual. If it does see if it includes a section on routine maintenance. Look under the severe service section because most vehicles, driven gently or not, fall into the severe service definition.
Seems those have a timing chain so probably no worry there (I could be wrong)
Well just jack the thing up, throw under some jack stands (safety) and check out the tie rods, CV boots, ball joints, and if anything looks like it is about to fall apart.
Just for the heck of it, maybe change the power steering fluid. You will need a fluid extractor though. They cost about $2 at the grocery and can double as a turkey baster.
[quote=”barneyb” post=112576]Dig in the glove box to see if the car came with an owner’s manual. If it does see if it includes a section on routine maintenance. Look under the severe service section because most vehicles, driven gently or not, fall into the severe service definition.[/quote]
This is automotive gospel for any car you own.
Your owner’s manual should have a service table. In a general sense, many cars have a maintenance table set on a 30K – 60K interval for the larger maintenance items like trans fluid and timing belts. GM is more of a 50K interval for the maintenance. Neither interval is an absolute. A lot of spark plug maintenace these days is trending more towards 105 to 110K for intervals. At least with asian cars anyway. If you don’t have that owner’s manual, you can likely find another somewhere between the dealer and ebay. Most shops these days have access to auto repair info sources like Mitchell or Alldata online. Any good shop will be able to pull maintenance intervals for your car and get you a printed copy.
Everything I would have suggested, these other gentleman/woman already pointed out. One thing, I do this EVERY TIME I get a new car or my friends/family/customers want a small service on their car, dump fuel injector cleaner into a full tank of gas next time you fill it, this will most likely clean the fuel injectors a little, maybe giving better gas mileage and possible power. Yellow bottle, round at the bottom, gets skinny at the top. It says fuel injector cleaner, runs around 5$ last I bought it in PA
be sure to check the spark plugs for the proper gapping.
also you could index them as well for fun and increased performance. (indexing means installing the plugs so that the open end is facing the intake)
fuel filter?
The dealer I work at now avoids cars with that 2.5S engine because of various engine mechanical problems we’ve seen on it. I’d advise frequent oil and coolant changes to minimize the likelihood of having issues. Some engines are going to have problems no matter what, but if it is preventable, quality oil and coolant maintenance is what prevents them. Many headgasket problems on a variety of engines, for example, are the result of coolant deterioration allowing corrosion to occur and compromise the seal somewhere. I myself run synthetic oil in every personal/family/friends car I’m responsible for a plethora of reasons.
[quote=”PaulKim” post=112746]Does Nissan have it’s own coolant for this car? Or will any of the green stuff do?[/quote]
The green stuff.
As some have pointed out, the owners manual, or better yet, the service manual, have all the information you need concerning maintenance and upkeep of that vehicle.
Good luck and enjoy the new vehicle.
I’m going to repectfully disagree with part of what you recommended.
Seafoam is glorious stuff, and I run it through my car and motorcycle religiously.
However, I am -not- a fan of putting it in the crankcase, especially on older vehicles. Seafoam is fairly harsh stuff, and it can do extremely rude and unpleasant things to seals that are already degraded. I’ve seen it first hand, buddy ran Seafoam through the oil (against my recommendation), and within a few hours had an oil leak that hadn’t been there before.
YMMV, but IMHO, Seafoam is great for gas but leave it outta the crankcase.
-Hinoki
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