Blenderhead
New member
Hello there everyone! Just thought I would introduce myself an dhopefully get some advice. My name is Mike, and I recently acquired a 97 I30 with 170K on her for the paltry sum of $300! When I got it, the car ran and drove, but it had failed inspection for an exhaust leak and check engine light, and they didn't want to spend any more money on it. I'm mostly a Ford guy, with the occasional Subaru thrown in there, and I generally avoid anything front wheel drive, but the girlfriend wanted something smaller and with 4 doors, and the price was right, so I picked it up, and thus far I am actually very impressed with the ride and comfort of the car!
As for the car itself, the body has some dents and scrapes, but the interior is almost immaculate, especially considering the age and mileage, so my first concern was dealing with the mechanical problems the car had. Thus far I have welded up the leaks in the exhaust system, cleaned out the EGR passages and replaced a blown out EGR vacuum actuator to get rid of the check engine light, and replaced a right front wheel bearing and front sway bar links. It will also need tires and a wheel alignment soon, but for now at least it passed inspection and is roadworthy.
That brings me to my 2 current problems that I can not figure out. First, the car rides great, and Nissan definitely did a good job keeping road noise out, but I have an extemely annoying squeak coming from what sounds like behind the driver's side of the dashboard! It happens more when driving around town than on the highway, and it is loud enough that you still hear it over the radio at a normal volume. I have crawled up underneath the dash to try to find something loose or signs of something rubbing somewhere, but I can't find anything, and since it only happens when the car is moving, I can't reproduce it and so I have no idea where this is coming from, but it drives me nuts.
The other problem is much less of a concern, but I figure I'll mention it anyway; the factory radio in this car has really crappy reception! When I got the car, they had installed a transmitter that was hard-wired into the antenna to allow you to plug in an ipod, and with that installed I got no radio reception at all. I removed that, and now I get OK reception, but I find that stations go out of range much sooner than on any other radio in any of my other cars. I checked both antenna wires, and both are connected at both the radio and the trunk. Anyone else have this problem? Did the transmitter they had installed possibly damage the radio itself? It would just be nice to know before I go and replace the radio with an aftermarket one.
Anyway, that's about it for now. I'll try to get some pics of the car this weekend. Thanks in advance for any help.
Mike
As for the car itself, the body has some dents and scrapes, but the interior is almost immaculate, especially considering the age and mileage, so my first concern was dealing with the mechanical problems the car had. Thus far I have welded up the leaks in the exhaust system, cleaned out the EGR passages and replaced a blown out EGR vacuum actuator to get rid of the check engine light, and replaced a right front wheel bearing and front sway bar links. It will also need tires and a wheel alignment soon, but for now at least it passed inspection and is roadworthy.
That brings me to my 2 current problems that I can not figure out. First, the car rides great, and Nissan definitely did a good job keeping road noise out, but I have an extemely annoying squeak coming from what sounds like behind the driver's side of the dashboard! It happens more when driving around town than on the highway, and it is loud enough that you still hear it over the radio at a normal volume. I have crawled up underneath the dash to try to find something loose or signs of something rubbing somewhere, but I can't find anything, and since it only happens when the car is moving, I can't reproduce it and so I have no idea where this is coming from, but it drives me nuts.
The other problem is much less of a concern, but I figure I'll mention it anyway; the factory radio in this car has really crappy reception! When I got the car, they had installed a transmitter that was hard-wired into the antenna to allow you to plug in an ipod, and with that installed I got no radio reception at all. I removed that, and now I get OK reception, but I find that stations go out of range much sooner than on any other radio in any of my other cars. I checked both antenna wires, and both are connected at both the radio and the trunk. Anyone else have this problem? Did the transmitter they had installed possibly damage the radio itself? It would just be nice to know before I go and replace the radio with an aftermarket one.
Anyway, that's about it for now. I'll try to get some pics of the car this weekend. Thanks in advance for any help.
Mike
