CarComplaints.com Notes: The 2007 Nissan Maxima has a significant trend of timing chain problems, which can ruin the engine.
Nissan used an "interference" design where the valves pop out into the path of the cylinder heads. Normally the timing chain keeps the valves opening at all the right times, but when Nissan's timing chain breaks or "jumps time", the cylinder heads smash into open valves & cause thousands of dollars of engine damage in one very quick & surprisingly unimpressive "PPPRRRRING!" sound.
Nissan Maximas from 2004-2006 have a widespread transmission defect, but judging from our complaint data, Nissan managed to fix the transmission problem for the 2007 model. The engine timing chain problems are a serious concern though.
Purchased my 2007 Nissan Maxima in 2009 after a month the catalytic converter had to be replaced...June 2012 noticed that the car would lose power going from 65 mph to 40 mph and when I tried to give it gas the motor just roar and wouldn't go faster. Couple of days later I'm driving and with no warning the car jerks and cut off, had it towed to Nissan dealership right away they suggest the car needed a computer ($1200) once that was in they said 6 coils had burned out and replaced the resister...they called to tell me my car was ready after $2500.00 worth of work, before we could pick the car up they called and said they had driven the car and it wouldn't get over 40 mph they come back with...it needed piping another $1200 and a rear catalytic converter $800 plus labor we are looking at another $2600 in repairs for a car that is only 5 years old. the Nissan dealership tells us that this type of problem is very rare that they see this maybe once every 7 years. My warranty expired 6 thousand miles ago so I call the Nissan Cooperation to see if there was anything they could do that this was a hardship... they took my info and said they did have a Goodwill outside warranty program that we may qualify for... they call me back after several days to say they couldn't help us because we bought the car used from Carmax and that we should call them...Nissan refused to stand behind their product...I will never buy a Nissan vehicle again. We've bought and paid for 3 Honda's since 1989 and never experienced this sort of pain. The Maxima only looks nice but is nothing but a hunk of junk...going back to Honda.
Update from Apr 29, 2015: After another year of trying unsuccessfully to remedy the problems of this car we had to let the car go, it was draining us financially.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
Purchased my 2007 Nissan Maxima in 2009 after a month the catalytic converter had to be replaced...June 2012 noticed that the car would lose power going from 65 mph to 40 mph and when I tried to give it gas the motor just roar and wouldn't go faster. Couple of days later I'm driving and with no warning the car jerks and cut off, had it towed to Nissan dealership right away they suggest the car needed a computer ($1200) once that was in they said 6 coils had burned out and replaced the resister...they called to tell me my car was ready after $2500.00 worth of work, before we could pick the car up they called and said they had driven the car and it wouldn't get over 40 mph they come back with...it needed piping another $1200 and a rear catalytic converter $800 plus labor we are looking at another $2600 in repairs for a car that is only 5 years old. the Nissan dealership tells us that this type of problem is very rare that they see this maybe once every 7 years. My warranty expired 6 thousand miles ago so I call the Nissan Cooperation to see if there was anything they could do that this was a hardship... they took my info and said they did have a Goodwill outside warranty program that we may qualify for... they call me back after several days to say they couldn't help us because we bought the car used from Carmax and that we should call them...Nissan refused to stand behind their product...I will never buy a Nissan vehicle again. We've bought and paid for 3 Honda's since 1989 and never experienced this sort of pain. The Maxima only looks nice but is nothing but a hunk of junk...going back to Honda.
Update from Apr 29, 2015: After another year of trying unsuccessfully to remedy the problems of this car we had to let the car go, it was draining us financially.
- Jan T., Jonesboro, GA, US