The Max

Just air bubbles? Have you considered that maybe you just have air trapped in your coolant and not a blown head gasket?

For me, I find that as mechanically good a vehicle as Toyota produces, I much prefer Nissan's attention to aesthetic detail, despite their partnership with those damn Frenchies! Many a Toyota interior to me just looks cheap and they're an arsehole to pull apart if you need to do any work in them. I've worked on a few to help out a mate's car yard and the dash is a BITCH compared to Nissan's efforts. Also, I'm getting older and don't want to be seen as going through a midlife crisis if I were to be driving the Supra, despite that it would probably be a more fun vehicle to drive.

Pull top and middle straight towards you but don't go too crazy because there is a vertical clip at the bottom which is meant to slide out upwards once you've unclipped the top and middle sections. Failing that, angle grinder.

That last bit of advice from GTSBoy is solid. It's a lot easier to work with your doors than it will be to take apart your dash and then the stereo. Swap the speakers around. If the problem follows the speaker, bad speaker. That would be the most likely place to start, especially if you like to crank that very average sound system (in my opinion) that these cars have.

Unexpected update: Need to upgrade power cabling for the replacement subwoofer after a small incident last week while driving home.

You might well be the first person in Australia who will be required to have a breathalyser and blood testing unit attached to their computer before it can be switched on.

Well, I stand corrected about my comment concerning the BCM not supporting remote start. I'm massively surprised. Well done dude!

It's a poor attempt at writing haiku using a massive shovel.

Thanks for the videos. I'm laughing, on the inside. Enjoy your Nissan-built freak Maxima.

It's not a fact when you haven't proven anything. You're a complete stranger on the internet and you expect us to take your word for it. If you came here to beat your chest before the gullible, you're in for a rude shock. Photos, videos, timeslips, a visit to the dealership where you work, you name it, we expect to see it, not your empty words.

While it's good you did at least that, it is not the same thing as a full mechanical inspection, which is what Nightcrawler was referring to. History checks won't tell you anything about how well the previous owner looked after it, when it was serviced nor who serviced it. If someone were to purchase my vehicle, they'd find no service history documented at all for the simple fact I'm a DIY kind of guy. The car could have been in zero accidents and yet still be riddled with mechanical faults.

That's a pretty decent price. Did you get to keep functionality of your side mirror camera?

Another thing I forgot to mention is to make sure you have all working keys with you when you do get it done, because they all need to be registered into the BCM. Of course, if you read the Nissan document, you would have already seen that but figured I'd cover that just in case. Hopefully that's enough ammo, otherwise, as Kiwi suggested, find a decent locksmith who can do it all instead and tell the dealers to eat their own poop they love to shovel.

OK. I did a bit more homework and I think I have the missing piece in the puzzle. So, the locksmith/dealer in question needs to have: Consult III+ scan tool (or compatible) Security module (what I was previously terming as the immobiliser peripheral) In the event that the secondary PIN code needs to be calculated - access to Nissan's Techinfo site for their PIN code calculator OR a piece of software released by a clever mob in the UK for about $30 Process: Plug in scan tool, load the Consult III+ software and enter the Immobilizer menu Follow the directions given in the software, whereby it will either extract the PIN code from the BCM or you take a note of it from the label on the BCM (will be four digits under the barcode) Secondary PIN code: If you have the metal tag which has the four digit PIN code punched into it, that will be the secondary PIN code and you enter that when requested by the Consult III+ software If you do not have this metal tag, then you will need to use either the (ahem) acquired software calculator or have someone with access to Nissan's dealer support website to perform that calculation for you. The resulting calculated secondary PIN code is then entered into your Consult III+ software. Continue following the directions to program your keyfob and away you go. Still no mention of "frequencies" anywhere.

If only I were that well-versed at it! I take it you don't have the little metal tag that would've been supplied by the dealer in Japan to the original owner? I would need to buy the immobiliser peripheral for my scan tool to have a poke around and see how it works because it turns out that I can't access that menu option without it. However, according to the procedure manual, there are two PIN codes involved. One of them is the PIN code I referred to, which can be obtained by the scan tool or otherwise is physically on the BCM's label. The second code apparently has to be obtained from Nissan's website after entering the other PIN code on their site (I suspect this is the same as the four digit code I have punched into a tiny metal tag that came with my keys when I imported my car). I might buy the immobiliser peripheral for the hell of it. I've spent more money on less useful stuff in my lifetime. More information about procedure can be found here: https://nissan-techinfo.locksmithsdrm.com/sdrm/ni_02_4218/Overview of the SDRM process.pdf In short, the dealerships have the scan tool and as long as they have the immobiliser peripheral (aka Security module), then they most definitely can do it and if they bullshit you about frequencies, you can tell them that this process is done via their scan tool connected to the OBD port, not over the airwaves. Otherwise, hopefully there is a very well-equipped locksmith (not talking about his wedding tackle) who is more willing. Good luck!

That doesn't make any sense to me. My understanding with these vehicles is when you're adding a key to your vehicle, you are programming the BCM to accept its unique signature, not the other way around. So this thing about frequencies smells of horseshit to me. It's a ballache to say the least, no doubt about it. One thing I can give Ford credit for is that they will allow you to program your own keyfob in their crappy Falcons as long as you already have two working keys on hand. Nissan seem to have made it more difficult but not impossible with the right tools. I'll go through my Nissan Consult software when I get home and see what this screen is all about because I'm willing to bet that with the appropriate peripheral plugged into the Consult III+ scan tool, that ought to allow the user to plug the key into the slot under the steering wheel and add it to the BCM.

Agreed. Nissan are so full of shit. If you take a look at the Nissan Consult software (I have it here with my Consult III+ scan tool), our vehicles are definitely listed in there. Maybe the dealership you spoke to doesn't have the Immobiliser auxiliary module for their scan tool but I highly doubt that. Maybe I should look to buying that module for my scan tool as a future consideration, even though I have two keys and the PIN code.

Thank you sir. Looks like I'll be grabbing the Z1 mounts and their magnetic oil sump drain plug then. I don't mind feeling a little bit of vibration. I've always heard it's quite insignificant and besides which, I'd much rather sacrifice a bit of comfort knowing that everything is sitting in there a little more solid. I'll grab the Whiteline bits while I'm at it so that I can do it all in one fell swoop on my mate's hoist. Any tips/tricks on changing the engine mounts? I see the space is a bit cramped in there for getting at the top nuts.

Figured as much. I always err on the side of "I don't need this unless someone convinces me otherwise." Can't say I've ever really been worried with our vehicles. I think the JDM ones get a little more love than the USDM variants anyway.

I'm liking your video blog of your project's progress mate. I don't see myself ever going to that effort but that doesn't stop me from admiring your commitment and craftsmanship. Question for you about your engine mounts. I noticed you've got the Z1 Motorsports urethane mounts on it. Do you consider them to be worthwhile even before embarking on the turbo project? Did you do the transmission mount while you were at it? Any other mounts along the line that are worth mentioning, such as the diff bush? Just been working my way through the Z1 catalogue and I'm contemplating what I should add to my retail therapy list. Thanks!!

Hey guys, After seeing some folks using the Z1 Motorsports trinkets on their vehicles, I did what anyone would do and browse the parts catalogue. I figure if I'm going to order stuff, I may as well grab more than just a couple of bits. So I came across the oil pan spacer (https://www.z1motorsports.com/engine-parts/z1-motorsports/z1-vq-hr-vhr-oil-pan-spacer-p-8184.html) and many in the US claim that it's better for the fact that the oil pickup is less likely to suck in air and with the 937mL of additional oil, the oil temperature decreases to the benefit of longer engine life. Has anyone installed one of these on their VQ37VHR motor and do you believe it to be worthwhile? If I'm going to have it up on a hoist doing engine and transmission mounts, may as well go the full hog and add this piece in as well, so all thoughts are welcome!

Not that easily, given what mycarhaspossessedme went through for his fuel pump upgrade in his turbo project. Definitely doable though and most definitely the way I would go too. That being said, I can understand the Haxor's heart not being in it given he's selling the car off soon but I'd still do it to avoid the headache of an unhappy buyer.

What does your window have to do with an aftermarket head unit? Copy and paste?

I've got another idea for that, which will be explored when I have a bit more time on my hands in future. Where you see that BridgeX video converter, as you already know yourself, the unit underneath it is the unit which manages the Nissan GPS side of things. I'm thinking since the GPS video feed from that is superfluous, I suspect it will have the CXB1457R transmitter IC and in which case, I could probably intercept the RGB input to that serialiser IC. In doing so, I should then be able to switch to the car's GPS video input. The other benefit would be that I can do away with the BridgeX unit altogether and just have an HDMI to VGA cable instead. That way, we should be able to achieve full-time GPS video while still having the Bluetooth audio available to us for streaming the occasional podcast from the phone. Of course, the screen would be a lot sharper because of this too. However, the problem with this is that VGA is analogue whereas the CXB14xx family expects parallel data, as noted in their datasheet with the 8-bit parallel inputs for each of the three colours in the RGB group. So I would need to digitise it first into 24 data lines before pumping into this little IC. Or, I could go one better and just take the HDMI out directly to feed into a Texas Instruments TFP401 converter and then into the CXB14xx. This is why I've cheated with the composite video input for now, purely because it has taken me over a year in scrounging for whatever spare time I've had to even get this far. Love my car, love my job but sometimes I just hate my life!! Many thanks for chiming in though dude. It's always a pleasure to hear from you mate.

Excellent! Glad to hear you haven't thrown the towel in yet. These cars don't make it easy but it'd be remiss of me not to push owners to make the most of them.