My car(1992 Maxima SE) has been running like crap(dies at all rpm's, bucks, kicks, surges, idles bad, etc..).

We have had the car to 3 different mechanics and they say it's fine because it shows no trouble codes and they "Can't find anything else".....well I think it's safe to say they are wrong because the car is running like crap.

Anyhow I'm working on the car tonight and I think I'm seeing blue sparks jumping everywhere off of the coil packs for the three cylinders closest to the firewall. Two of them mainly, but occasionally the third one does it too. So I turn off my garage lights and sure enough there is blue fire and sparks jumping everywhere off of those back 3 coil packs. The front three are fine.

That shouldn't be happening should it? Is it just that those three coilpacks are bad, or is it more likely the PTU causing the problems? Also is there any way to test the coil packs or the PTU so that I don't end up buying parts I don't need?

Hopefully solving this problem will get the car lined out.

Thanks for any input

Thanks

 

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....ght=coil+packs

Here's another thread where cars were having the same problems in how they ran.

Maybe that'll help too.

 

Dude defintily replace those rear three coils. It wouldnt be such a bad idea to run injector cleaner asap. But you can check DC resistance on the injectors (should be between 11 and 14 ohm). You can also check DC resistance on the coils, but this will only show if there is a dead short (coils are high voltage and you cannot see if they are failing with a DMM).

Courtesy parts will sell them for around $54 a piece.

???From where exactly is the blue spark jumping, Is it directly from the top of the coil, and to where (I'm just curious)

Alot of people on this board neglect the coil packs, they dont understand that they fail (but not completely) on our cars. I replaced my rear three and I saw a big jump in engine torque. When I get the money I'll replace the front three.

 

Hello, Thanks for the reply and information.

The sparks appear to be jumping to the intake. Kinda cool to watch in the dark....lol. Just not what you want to see from a "need to repair" perspective.


Anyhow, I'm going to get new coil packs tomorrow and see what happens from there. I'll check the resistance on the injectors too......hopefully none of them are bad.....this round of mishaps is about to break the bank...hehe

Thanks for the input