Repair estimate

==== Well Josh welcome to the real world of having things on your Auto that needs fixing and learning it will cost some real money. Now if you can do some of the work your self meaning you have the tools and the knowlege to get it done then you will save some $$$$. and Auto with115K miles means some things have worn out. If it's worth $1,100 to get this Nissan fixed that another thing. Make wise choices Josh.

My thoughts are that you could probably do the hose repairs easily and maybe the oil pressure sending unit. I'm not sure where the oil pressure unit is located but if the shop only figures 0.5 hours, it must be pretty easy. Next in difficulty would be the valve cover gaskets but there might be a lot of things to unbolt and move out of the way. If you do the hoses and gaskets, a key to good seals is to make sure all mating surfaces are clean before you reassemble. Personally, I'd leave the control arms to the shop.

JS

What kind of oil: motor oil, transmission, power steering, brake/clutch fluid? Crawl under the car, swipe, sniff and compare to known oils. This is the first thing.

If you can do plugs, you can do this. But check for yourself if this is where your leaks come from. Valve covers usually leak during *running* and create a lot of smoke where the oil hits the exhaust manifold. Not so much leaking when sitting.

Why does the mechanic believe it is confirmed bad? Oil light not coming on? Tested with ohmmeter?

It doesn't get easier than this! If it is old, hard or cracked, the lower hose also probably needs to be done. And then do the one below the water control valve. These kind of jobs are a real confidence builder. You *can* reuse the old clamps. Really.

Power steering hoses can be a bitch. However, by checking the PS reservoir fluid level and examining the oil on the ground (PS fluid is not the same as motor oil) this can be confirmed or eliminated as a source of your trouble. If this isn't your issue then save yourself the money.

Does he mean the *transverse link*? Is it cracked? By the way, when this part goes bad it doesn't leave puddles on the ground! If you replace it ask for your old one back.

Get a list of the parts your mechanic wants to replace, take it to Nissan parts counter and get pricing information. The Nissan guys will even print out an exploded diagram of the assembly for you. $1,100 is accurate for all that work, but ask yourself how much is really necessary.

I found drive belts to be a pain on this car. If you can handle hand tools, hit these repairs one at a time, focusing on the oil/coolant leaks first.

Oh yeah, get a Haynes manual or better yet a shop manual. I found a download online for nothing a few years ago.

Replace both left and right valve cover gaskets - easy, but tedious. You to remove some stuff just to get at the valve covers. The front facing valve cover has 24-valve written on it. You should do this yourself, give yourself time, like half a day, and keep track of all the parts.

Replace oil pressure sender unit - Easy as pie, do it yourself. The sending unit usually sits just above the oil filter. If you can change your oil, you can do this.

Replace upper radiator hose - easy as dirt. Don't even THINK of using a mechanic for this one.

Replace power steering suction and pressure hoses - This may be a bit challenging. the hoses are hard to get to at the rack end. You may want to leave this to the mechanic. If you can't afford to do this job now, you can wait, just keep an eye on your power steering fluid reservoir and keep it topped up.

Replace front passenger lower control arm - Leave this to the mechanic. Quite labor intensive. By the way, this has nothing to do with your leaks.

Also, none of these issues are life threatening to your car if the leaks are slow. Just make sure all your fluid levels are OK. Once a week check your oil, power steering and coolant levels. You can do each repair slowly to spread out payments.

CD

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 dealership (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 dealerships 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