This applies to 2000-2001 5thgens.
VIAS stands for Variable Intake Air System. It is made up of a power rod going through your intake manifold that holds a series of butterfly valves. A solenoid turns the rod at 5000 rpm to open the valves to allow the engine to breathe better. Nissan VIAS video link.
The VIAS system is 100% of the reason 5th gen maximas have higher horsepower than 4th gen. All the 4th gen guys lust after VIAS intakes and buy them when they can.
However, the VIAS has a design problem – an extremely weak connection in the internal linkage that is destined to fail in 100% of 5th generation Maximas. You lose about 30 horsepower at the top end as a result. I didn’t know what I was missing until I got those ponies back!
The good news is that it is very easy to fix – about 20 minutes of wrenching plus waiting for the JB weld to set. $5 for 30 HP – good deal! I took mine apart and fixed no problem. Here’s how:
This is the VIAS solenoid unit. It is on the drivers’ side of the intake manifold. Even if the solenoid works properly when you hit 5000 RPM, your internal linkage is still either broken or soon will be. The solenoid mechanism is held on with four very soft yet quite stuck screws. One of the screws is blocked by the throttle body.
This is the screw blocked by the throttle body. Some people are able to rotate the throttle linkage to get at it, but I simply loosened throttle body. It is NOT necessary to remove throttle body completely, nor remove any of the hoses attached to it.
Hidden screw again. Be sure to use #3 Phillips or big slotted screwdriver on these screws. They are very soft and heads strip easily. You can also use impact type screwdriver or proper bit in drill. If stripped, can still be removed with vise grips.
Cup should be attached here: but it is broken off due to crappy design. Some owners find their cup is still attached, but loose. The cup should NOT be able to rotate independently of shaft. See how dirty mine is? Clean the whole area shown with brake cleaner as well as inside and outside of cup.
Now it’s so clean it shines. Put a little JB Weld or JB Kwik on bottom of cup where it mates with solenoid shaft, then a good coating on inside bottom of cup. Try to keep sides cleaner than I did! Pay attention to cup “handle” orientation. You decide. Make sure everything rotates freely when you push lever on solenoid.
Pressing the spring in while JB is tacky prevents a clearance issue with end of rod. Otherwise your pool of JB Weld may make cup too shallow for spring and rod. Doing this, you don’t need to cut spring. Also, if you want to play with removing power rod later, you don’t need to disassemble solenoid end. Let JB get good and hard before re-assembly. With Kwik, I’d wait at least 2 hours; regular JB should be left overnight at least.
Reassemble and feel the power!
Mr. Blue Sky Note: If you want to take your Power Rod out and Put a Blockoff Plate on(either bought through the big org, or made yourself, then you may have to remove the UIM. You could try doing it with just the VIAS holder off, but I am not sure if it is possible
Power Rod Removal (broken VIAS situation)Courtesy of BlackBIRDVQ on maxima.org
Power valve can be removed without pulling the intake manifold off. I’ve done it on my Maxima after my cup has completly came apart beyond any JB Weld fix.
You will wanna remove the VIAS box, remove the cup and spring. Then move over to the passenger side of the engine and you will notice a SILVER end cap that will be on the side of the plastic intake manifold- its held on by 2 screws. Gently pry the vacuum lines etc out of the way and remove this silver cap off the intake manifold. After that you MIGHT have to move the power steering reservoir out of the way- as I think it might hit the power valve when U try to remove it out of the intake. After you get it out, put the VIAS box back up, make sure nothing is left inside it or it will get sucked into the motor, put the silver end cap back on also.
Be advised that the LOW end and midrange power will suck, it will feel very sluggish till bout 5K RPM. At that point the engine becomes a monster and pulls like MAD till fuel cut. Based on conversations with SR20DEN and others who tried the power rod removal, they came up with conclusive results- power doesnt drop off till you hit the fuel cut. There are some substantial top end gains to be had with the removal of the power rod, but at the expensse of the low to mid range power.
Try it out, if you dont like it you can always put the rod back in and have the lousy top end back. In the mean time I will try to talk to some Nissan reps/engineers bout a possible avalibility of repleacement VIAS box, so that in case it breaks we can repleace it with a good one and not have to remove the whole intake to fix it. A redesign should really be done, but I am not sure if that would be possible.
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