Thanks, guys, for all the suggestions and advice so far. After
some more searching around the Maxima.org forums, other sites online,
under my hood, and through my Haynes manual (yep, I've got one, but I
figured some advice from someone that's tackled these problems before
would be much more help), I've come to a few conclusions:
- I may replace whatever valve cover gaskets I can get to (the front
ones, which I hear are the easiest) myself.
- The oil pressure sender unit, if it's bad, I can definitely do
myself.
- The upper radiator hose, when the car is off and cool, seems just
fine. It's still soft and squeezable, not hard and cracked, so I'm not
sure how the mechanic thought it was bad.
- The power steering lines I should let a mechanic do, so they can do
it correctly the first time, and if not, will have a guarantee on
their labor.
- The power steering fluid must be what's leaking because the drips
are falling directly on the rubber boot of the lower control arm and
that seems to absolutely identify the power steering pump/hoses (I
can't tell the difference between p/s fluid and motor oil based on a
small puddle on the ground).
- The lower control arm is fine, but since the power steering fluid is
leaking on the rubber boot, it's in for some corrosion over time and,
with over 100k miles on the car, I should probably replace it anyway
for a slightly smoother ride.
I've got an appointment with the local Nissan dealer****p
(Celebrity/Classic Nissan in Orlando...anyone have personal experience
with them?) in a few days, so hopefully they can give me a pretty
definitive answer as to which parts are ACTUALLY in need of replacing
and what else may need to be done with the car while it's in the shop
(I probably need both a transmission and coolant flush at this point
in the car's life). After I get an estimate from them, I've got two
friends in another city that work as mechanics for the Mazda and
Mercedes dealer****ps that can give me some more over-the-phone advice
since these repairs are for non-Nissan-specific parts that they would
know about.
Again, thanks for the really helpful responses. I'll keep
everyone up to date so this thread may be useful to someone like me in
the future.
- Josh
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