I have a 1990 Nissan Maxima automatic with 187,000 miles.

The 6th spark plug isn't firing so i'm not sure if it is the cylinder or spark plug or what. Any ideas? When I drive it is very loud during accelleration and you can hear it skipping. How much would something like this be to fix?

 

How longs it been since an ignition tune up?

It's probably a bad fuel injector. If you check the DC resistance on it, it should read between 11-14 ohms. It is also possible that its clogged. The engine has a lot of miles on it. If you want to keep the car I would suggest replacing all six injectors, with all new seals. Or replace the bad ones only and get the Beck/Arnley fuel injection tune up kit, which includes all new seals and gaskets for all the injectors (if you are able to do the job yourself).

 

what he said... The quickest way to tell if the injector is bad that I can think of is pulling the injector plug off and see if there is any difference.

 

You said the 6th spark plug isnt firing so I am going to assume you pulled it out and put it on metal to check.

If you did pull it out and are sure its not firing then cheapest and first thing I would do is replace cap, rotor, and wires along with plugs...it is probably due for all of that anyway so if thats not it then your not out any money because it needed it anyway.

but if the plug is actually firing then check the dc resistance on the injectors like Eric said.

 

My car has 186K too and #6 injector just died on my car. Yeah, the best thing to do is pull the plug wire off and see if it makes a difference. Then check for resistance on the injector. My injector was totally open. I opted to do the job myself and ended up buying a injector and upper and lower intake gaskets. Saved a bunch of cash, but it was quite a big job for the first time. Injector itself was $135 from the dealer plus $25 for the two gaskets. I would have replaced all six, but I couldn't get my parts lined up. The hardest part of the whole job is figuring out where the vacuum hoses reconnected.