mbuglioli

I have a 2000 Maxima and I get power loss at 3500 RPMs under load. No codes have been found. Is this the infamous coil problem ? If so, where can I find Dave to purchase these ? thx, mbuglioli

JodyBerry

Is it 3500 rpm and above? It took me a whole month to diagnose my problem (similar to yours) and it ended up being a partially bad MAF (even though it didn't throw a code).

Bill

cybermike

Add me to the list for a petition. 2K GXE, 16500 miles (hey, I live close to work), 3 yrs, 6 weeks old. $629 quote from the dealer. Was going to go back today and give them holy hell that they were clearly trying to rip me off, but thought I'd do some research first. Looks like Dave B. is gonna make another sale.

At least the dealer said they'd credit the $89 "diagnostic fee" ($89 for a guy to read the OBD-II code!) if I got the work done there.

3 years without so much as a hiccup. 6 weeks after warranty expires - blammo. Grumble..grumble..grumble...

Mike C.

darrelfsu

2000 GLE, 51000 miles; My car was shaking very hard for the last 5 days. On days 1-3, it shook periodically, on day 4, it shook for a mile, and day 5, it shook everytime i drove it, up until 5 minutes of leaving work and the shaking stop and the SES light came on FINALLY. I took it to Autozone, they tested it, the problem was cylinder 3 misfiring or bad coils. I replaced all spark plugs, and the car definately pulls better and the shaking it gone (atleast for now i hope); I'm just hoping that the "or coils" result of the test isn't so. They cleared the code and the light is still off. I'm hoping that it was just the spark plugs. If the SES comes back on, I'll know its the coils.

Fezzik

iTrader: (2)

I still think it's your ignition coils. Your car did exactly what mine did. I just messed with the ignition coil a little and it started working. Mine was cylinder number 3 too, and it was just random times. I messed with the coil and had no problems for about a month, the wham. it would come back. It actually took new coils to solve the problem.

MaxJag

Put me on the list. I'd rather get free coils then pay $400-$600 for new ones. 2K SE w/ 56K. Two weeks ago my SES light came on. Autozone pulled the codes and told me the problem was regarding ignition coils. Before my SES light came on I have had stalling problems. After a cold start it would take a couple seconds to crank and sometimes stall. I do have the frankencar. I hope my MAF sensor isn't messed up.
Lets get the ball rolling!

Chops2101

I have a 2000 GLE w/ 48k on the clock. Every so often I have the coil problem. Once it was for a couple of days. It seems like it has a tendency to do it on days that are more humid, like in the mornings and evenings. I'm probably just imagining that though. I went to the dealer and they said they wouldn't cover it even though there is a TSB out on it. I don't get it, how can there be a TSB, yet Nissan won't cover it? Is there a way to get them to do it even if your car is out of warranty?

td3005

A TSB isn't a recall, its a service alert and doesnt require any action by a dealer. Reading this threat is probably a bad idea cause its totally ****ing me off, cause last winter i was having problems when it was cold and rainy and took it in the azzhole dealer told me it was "impossible" for me to have a problem with my coils if there wasnt a code being thrown.... I HATE Maxwell Town north nissan HATE HATE HATE them so i ended up paying 85 bucks so they could tell me I'm stupid, and to the previous psot its prolly isnt your imagination ... GRRRR So all summer i've had no problems then on the first day it was cold and rainy back to being sluggish again

darrelfsu

Feezik, you are correct. I replaced all 6 spark plugs yesterday, had the light reset and the car ran fine. Today, after a cold start, the car starts shaking again but the SES light is not on. So, it has to be coils because Autozone said it was cylinder 3 misfiring or bad coils. I haven't had my car for a month yet and I've become frustrated. I'm calling Nissan USA in a few minutes and see what they have to say about the issue. In the meantime, i will purchase new coils from Autozone and have a personal mechanic install them. This is absolutely rediculous.

Chops2101

Luckily, my buddy's wife is the finance manager at the local nissan dealer, and she is good friends w/ the service manager, so he put it on the computer for free and told me it was in fact the coils, but if it isnt doing it constantly to where it is keepin me from driving the car, he wouldnt worry about it. he was really nice about it though (could be b/c I had a connection there). I really wanna call nissan though and see if they would do anything if I start talking about brand loyalty, future purchases, yada yada.

2kCA

This is my first post.

Coil pack #3 just went on my 2k Max with 46000 km.. 5 weeks after my warrantee ran out.

The good news is that the price for the coil packs seems to have dropped recently to CDN$ 35 each from $150. Total cost to replace all 6 is CDN $330.

JodyBerry

Golly - must be for the new 9 cylinder Maxima (unless my math is WAY off!)

Bill

2kCA

35*6 + 120 labour.. so I'm told.

darrelfsu

It seems that everyone having the coil problem is experience trouble with coil #3.

MoCoMax

I had a bad #2 coil replaced in January under warranty. I threw a code on Thursday that read a cylinder #4 misfire. Cleared the code, figured I'd wait, and I threw another one on the way home from work tonight. I'll read it in the morning, but I'm pretty sure it's the same issue. The car has felt a little 'ragged' lately, so I'm not at all surprised that another coil is shot.

Of course, now I've got 40k on the car, so no more warranty. Looks like I'll be calling Dave tomorrow

slowlane

iTrader: (1)

What's Dave B's going rate for new coils? Do the fronts differ from those in the rear?

If someone can get a GD on these, it would help out a lot of people IMO.

Since I'm going in for a 60K tune up, I can buy the coils and have the dealer install them at no additional cost. (Habberstead Nissan changes the plugs at 60K)

MoCoMax

I believe Dave gets about $40 per coil. There are two models, I believe - one for the fronts, another for the rears (but I could be wrong). I'd be shocked if your dealer installed those at no charge, however - they typically want the profit from the parts sale. Good luck with that, though.

MaScott

I think you ought to replace a bad coil with a good one of the same model and make. It is no better, just new.
Coils go out for various reasons, but it seems to me, the most frequent one is due to a short or diode breakdown, which is originally caused by very high temperature environment these coils are working in every day.

I tend to think this is the reason I am having a problem with one of my ignition coils. The Haynes book says you can check the coil as follows:
- connect RED of your ohmmeter to terminal 1 (of course, take the coil out first), and BLACK to terminal 2: should be infinite resistance
- reverse the leads: should see some continuity (I measured around 1400 Ohms on mine)
- connect terminal 1 and the spark plug terminal - should see infinite resistance

However, even this check did not help me. I took off and checked all three front coils - identical resistances measured.
However, I do know one of them is bad. It works intermittently, which I think is because of the temperature effect.

I did a quick check while the engine was running: one-by-one unplugged each coil and tried to hear a change in engine sound. Then I moved front coils around and repeated the test again. The bad coil this way had a chance to sit on the cylinders 2, 4 and 6, and every time the one "dead" cylinder followed that coil. There is no doubt in my mind that coil is bad.

I am curious, however, as to why is it recommended to replace all 6 ?
As far as I comprehand, all what the coils do is receive a trigger signal via the pin IB and provide the spark voltage by discharging a capacitor that gets charged by battery/alternator voltage through terminals + and G. Why is it important to replace good working coils as soon as one went bad?

Cheers,
MaScott

MaScott

Mine was coil #4 (I think I am lucky it's on the front of the engine)

MoCoMax

Coil problems can be intermittent. The first one that went bad would throw codes like crazy one day, then work just fine for a week before it would throw another code. I did notice that the problem never occurred when the engine was cold.

I'm not sure who recommends replacing all 6. The TSB from Nissan only mentions replacing the bad one(s), and the dealer would not replace all of mine under warranty, even though Nissan knows they are problematic. Typically, the recommendation you'll get from your dealer depends on who's paying the bill. If it's them, they only replace the bad one; if it's you, they'll hard sell you on replacing all 6. It's a really profitable job for them.

MaScott

Mike, diagnostics at the dealers does cost $80 - I polled dealers in my area, got the same price quotes. However, they do more than just read OBDII codes. Their system allows them to tell you which coil is gone bad, that is, to pinpoint the problem, so you only replace the part that needs to be replaced...
Another thing is that you probably can learn more about your problem on your own, before you go to dealers and pay your money.

MoCoMax

The OBD-II reader DOES tell you which cylinder is mis-firing, which is where the bad coil resides. $80 is a rip-off - I bought the reader for $140, and it's paid for itself several times over already.

MaScott

Most of the time,yes, it occurs when engine is hot.

[/QUOTE]I'm not sure who recommends replacing all 6. The TSB from Nissan only mentions replacing the bad one(s), and the dealer would not replace all of mine under warranty, even though Nissan knows they are problematic. Typically, the recommendation you'll get from your dealer depends on who's paying the bill. If it's them, they only replace the bad one; if it's you, they'll hard sell you on replacing all 6. It's a really profitable job for them.[/QUOTE]

Great! Thanks for your support, John!

I am gonna get a new coil (Autozone can special order it for $50, I believe) this week. Hope, it clears my misfire problem.

MaScott

I agree (again ) about the rip-off. I just wanted to say, they (dealers) are consistent about it.
As far as locating misfiring cylinder, I read codes once at Firestone, my friends work there, and that particular reader only gave me P0300 (Multiple cylinder misfire) and P1320 (Ignition signal primary circuit fault).
I still believe it's just that one coil that sit on my cylinder #4.

MoCoMax

If it's only one, it'll tell you which cylinder. I'm getting P1320 and P0304 (which designates the #4 cylinder) now. I got P0302 on the first one several months back. Sounds like you have more than one gone - if I were you, I'd change them all (but I'd do it myself LOL).

MaScott

Well, if it's more than one (which is probably true because at times rough idling is "rougher" than most of the time), than the other one is much sneakier than #4.

My first test was to see if all the injectors are ticking (some people use stethoscopes, I used a screw driver - same effect). That test told me that all the injectors are opening and closing, that is, working.

My next step was to sequentially disconnect injector electrical connectors, you know. It disables the injector, and if I hear no difference in how motor sounds, that cylinder must have been dead.
That's how I discovered #4 - all the others affected the engine sound when I disconnected them.

Next, I had to find out if that's the injector #4 or coil #4. That's when I start swapping the three front coils places. And as I mentioned before, the dead cylinder was steadily following that one coil from #4 cylinder.

I guess I will replace it for now, and see if I get rough idling later. The sneaky one will surely manifest itself on the background of good performance of others. :-)
(BTW, it could have also been an injector that caused the other cylinder to misfire - at the time of running my tests, I had a bottle of injector cleaner mixed with my gasoline in the tank, so the injectors were clean).

TimW

iTrader: (6)

The reason I suggested replacing all 6 is that in my case, they were only failing under load.. They would test fine.. At the rate these are failing, it seems like the way to go. (if you dont have any codes already pointing to a complete failure on one coil).

Dave B gave me the best advice on hearing this.. If you roll your window down when merging on the interstate where there is a barrier, you can hear the pinging quite pronounced. I even used this to show the tech.. They replaced all 6 under warranty (But I had them out already before).

As far as paying someone to do this, I cannot imagine why.. its SO simple.. Its hardly a 30 min job.. at most. And I dont mean for a mechanic.. I mean for someone who can change their oil, you can do your coils..

And dont buy them locally, you'll get shafted, definately call Dave. Once youre at 75K, you can do the plugs too.. You'll need about 1.5 hours to do plugs.. Pretty simple and you have to get your coils out anyway.

MaScott

Many people mention Dave... Who is Dave, where is he, does he have a web site or phone number?

SkoorbMax

I voted no. I have a 2k with 57k miles (bought it at 37k). The only thing I have that could possible be this I suppose is that when the car idles (around 750-800rpm) I very ocassionally get what feels like a missed fire and a barely noticeable wobble. My wife drives the car a lot and has never noticed it. Also, when the car is cold until it's warmed up, I find that under low acceleration in 1st/2nd the car stutters a bit, like it's almost having the gas pumped with my foot very quickly.

I think my plugs are ok, but will change them soon probably anyway. The car seems to consistently pull hard I believe.

MaScott

Also, they recommend using Premium gasoline A-93 octane index. It does not help you with engine power much but improves combustion stability by eliminating micro-explosions (detonation) in the cylinders.

TimW

iTrader: (6)

Dave B's number is in the stickies (also earlier on this thread). He's at a Nissan Dealer in TX. His prices are MUCH lower than anything you'll get locally.. Plus, he will often save you TONs by selling you a part (sub assembly) instead of a very expensive assembly. His service is also the best. Courtesy online parts gets close or sometimes beats DaveB's price, but I still order from Dave. His service is worth every penny (on the rare occasion his price is a few cents/dollars more than some other online parts dealer).

tigerbomb

I've also had the same problem. The dealer replaced one coil back in February under warranty, but now the car is stalling out again only 7 months later. It should still be under warranty, and I'm gonna try to get the dealer to replace all 6 coils.

Anyway, if there is ever a petition or class action suit regarding this issue, please post it here on the board because I would definitely like to participate. Thanks.

MaScott

Thanks, Tim!

MaScott

BTW, replaced the faulty ignition coil. two days car running great, no misfires (at least as severe as could be felt while driving).

skalberti

Do you know what problem the coils cause? My car detonates,cuts out and pings under hard acceleration when the car is warming up and sometimes occasionally. The car doesn't show any codes. I was wondering how I can test them? The drivability of the car is decreasing and I've almost gotten hit trying to get on the interstate while my car was cutting out. Thanks

ppetruccelli

Not to worry the coils are easy to change all the way around

ppetruccelli

All six coils can be changed in under 15minutes. Its a simple job. There is no need to pay somebody to remove six nuts, push in six clips, and pull out six coils. Simple work!

mad2kmax

iTrader: (4)

any how to posts on how to replace coils? having problems w/search.

ppetruccelli

The front (rad side) coils (3) are located under the "nissan 3000" dust cover located on the valve cover of the engine. The rear coils (3 more)are located on the firewall side of the car, and can be found inside one of three holes in the intake manifold. If it helps at all, the coils sit directly above each spark plug. Once you have located the coils (6), you'll notice that they look like little black cubes, and have a nut attached to them which holds them in place on the valve cover. Remove the nut and pull each coil off of the plug by twisting. Once off, unclip the coil from the wiring harness by pushing the green tab down until it locks (the hardest part). Make sure it locks down first, otherwise it will not let the coil come loose. Then, if the coil does't want to come off, try wedging a flat screw driver in the space between the harness and the coil to get it apart (again, make sure the green clip is looked down). I am stressing that you lock down the clip before removing the coil because if break the harness, you could be in for some expensive trouble. Perform this procedure 6 times and you're done. After you complete the first coil you will see how easy it is.

ppetruccelli

When I bought my car the dealer told me that the coils crap out often on these cars and all I had to do to prevent this is to clean my plugs every 30,000km. I do this, and have never had a coil problem in 100,000km


I'm not sure who recommends replacing all 6. The TSB from Nissan only mentions replacing the bad one(s), and the dealer would not replace all of mine under warranty, even though Nissan knows they are problematic. Typically, the recommendation you'll get from your dealer depends on who's paying the bill. If it's them, they only replace the bad one; if it's you, they'll hard sell you on replacing all 6. It's a really profitable job for them.[/QUOTE]

Great! Thanks for your support, John!

I am gonna get a new coil (Autozone can special order it for $50, I believe) this week. Hope, it clears my misfire problem.[/QUOTE]