Nissan Repair: 2004 Nissan Maxima SE, nissan maxima se, 2004 nissan maxima

Question
Calvin,

Let me begin by thanking you for your time and expertise in advance.  I have a problem with my 2004 Nissan Maxima SE.  The car shakes rather violently once I get to about 35 mph.  This shaking gets worse as you approach 70 mph.  I have replaced tires, wheels, had the wheels balanced several times, etc.  Some research online suggested that this model has poor struts and that is the root of the problem.  This seems to be a very mysterious problem to diagnose.  Another thing I noticed is that the shaking seems to go away when I immediately release the gas pedal.  Then it begins again when its under a load (going uphill, accelerating).  Don't know what that has to do with it.

Can you shed some light on this please?  I feel unsafe with my children in the car.  The shaking is bad and it's very unsettling to drive this way.  My mechanic is stumped and feels bad on the amount of money I have spent on tires and wheels with no fixing of the problem.

Wishing you good health and happiness,
Sean

Answer
Hi Sean -

Aloha and thanks for the well wishes.

Can you tell me - when your car shakes, do you feel it just on the steering wheel, or the entire vehicle?

The fact that the vibration goes away once you take your foot off the accelerator tells me that it is probably not the tires, balance or struts.

When was your last tune up? Sounds to me like your car is missing under load, so I would first check the distributor cap and rotor for carbon tracking or corroded towers and connections. Then pull all the wires out of the distributor cap and check connections. Change spark plugs and wires and see if performance improves.

PLease let me know how you fare on this -

Mahalo
calvin