I just bought a 97 altima gxe on Saturday.:grinyes:
I test drove it and fell in love.
I have a few problems with it thou and hope yous could help out.
1. I want to replace the headlight bulbs, what would you suggest and are there 2 bulbs(1 for low and 1 for highs) in each?:banghead:
2. There seems to be a big change in the idle when you start it. At first it goes up to around 1100rpm, then will drop down to around 750, but it fluctuates between 750-1000 at times if left idling? What might I do to fix the problem :disappoin
The car seems to run on 1/2 power until u get almost to 2000rpm, then takes off like a rocket.
I've change plugs, the platunm 1's that where in there where carb'd up so bad I'm suprised they fired, that help'd some with the lack of power, but my wife and son will be in this alot so I want to make sure its running great

First off, congrats on buying your new Altima. I have a 94 & as far as the lack of power is concerned & making sure its running at its peak, I would change the plugs, wires, cap & rotor (if 97's still have cap & rotors, my 94 does), along with air filter, fuel filter, pcv valve, belts & oil change, that way you can start out fresh on everything & know its all done. It wouldn't hurt to do a coolant flush & tranny flush if you have an automatic also. Once you do all of that, your lack of power should be taken care of. As far as I know the headlights are the same & they headlights are a double filament bulb, so only one bulb does both your low & high beams. As far as the idling, I've had similar to the same problem with mine & haven't managed to take care of it yet, but it doesn't cause no problems so I wouldn't let it bother you as long as its running good & all the normal mantainence is done to the car. Hope this helps you out.

Thanks,
I've done the oil change, changed the plugs, the transmission flush was done 9000km ago according to the service records so I should be good there.
I'll change the pcv valve, spark plug wires, cap and rotor aswell as the fuel filter this weekend hopefuly.
thanks again demotim00

Yeah Congrats on your Altima. I myself have a 95 GXE and teh I changed the bulbs myself and one bulb does give high and low beams. As far as the idling goes, I haven't fixed that yet but it does get worse when the AC is on. Just watch out for for the battery or alternator. I had to replace my battery twice and my alternator once and I haven't even had my car for 9 months. But hey look at the bright side, you get better gas mileage than a six or eight cylinder car.

JoeShmoeAltima, sounds like your altima probably had some charging system problems do to someone not taking care of it properly before you bought it. Either that or the alternator or batteries were quite cheap. I haven't had any problems out of my charging system, battery or alternator wise. However I do know if you replace the alternator & the battery isn't fully charged, it will kill the battery & you have to get a new one.

Yeah I got that down. Unfortunately I had to find out the hard way when my bad alternator took out ot batteries in anohter car I had. But yeah, a bad alternator does not send current back to your battery so if you run for a while on your just your battery, it can turn the engine of in mid highway. The best way to see if your alternator is bad, turn on your car and leave it in Park. Unplug the positive wire from your battery, if your car is still running then your alternator is doing its job. If it cuts off, your alternator is no good and it needs to be replaced.
:nono: