Here's our Max coming in second at the Shenandoah Valley British Car Festival Autocross back in '95. Classes were by engine displacement only! Max was stock then, and we went up against the 2500-3000cc entrants. Included were some tricked out 260s and 280s with Webers, headers, and flared and lowered suspensions. I was a tick slower than the winner, but lots of heads were turning at the family sedan that was eating up the Z cars! But I digress....

As you probably know, the '92-'94 Nissan Maxima SE has a 4 cam engine prone to developing ugly noises. The noise sounds like solid lifters that are out of adjustment... something rattling around. More often occuring with a cold engine, but occasionally occuring sporadically. Synthetic 10W30 doesn't help, nor does HydroKleen, or other "sticky lifter" remedies.

The problem lies with springs in the Variable Timing Cam (VTC) Sprockets. These apparently weaken causing the rattling noises. I've heard from a number of sources that this is an annoyance, but not a danger to the engine. With 24 valves on an interference engine, however, piston-valve overlap would be catastrophic.

Nissan is aware of the problem. Though not under recall, there is a Technical Service Bulletin (TSB) #NTB-95-022 describing the problem and repair. There is a VTC sprocket Spring Assembly Campaign 200 descibed in Mr. Trancik's invoice below.

In both cases, the warranty work was performed for under $400. I was quoted, and several people have paid, as much as $1500 for this problem. Perhaps that price included replacing the entire assembly, but in Mr Trancik and my case, the problem was solved in under six hours with around $40 worth of parts.

If anyone has additional information they would like posted, feel free to e-mail copies to me and I will add them to the list below. Any additional information describing the depth of this problem would also be apprecited and published here.