Ok so since my wise *** bought the car at 77k miles I didn't know if the previous owner did a tune up or not at 60k miles.

I go to my local mechanic, he pulls a spark plug (back far left) out replaces it, he also removes the filter dusts it and puts it back in. Tells me they look good and need no replacing.

When the car is turned on the "check engine soon" light turn on and the car starts shaking and the engine makes a louder noise than it would have at the same RPM's.

He pulled the plug out and put it back in, it made no diff.

Since my mechanic couldn't do anything, I'll have to go to the dealer tommorw, who will charge my $75 for diagnosis + parts & labor for whatever

Any suggestions on what caused the problem and what I could possibly do to fix it would be appricated.

P.S other things that were also done but I don't think made a differene, installed just the fog lamps (I had already done the turn signal), rotated the tires and fiexed a puncture.

 

Are you sure he did not touch anything else? Like maybe remove a plug or sensor for any reason?

SuDZ

 

I was watching him do it, he just unscrewed the 2 screws pulled out a long black pipe, pulled the spark plug out and screwed it back in.

But why would the car shake !??!?

 

I'm not sure if this is of any help, but if the ignition coil (spark plug boot) somehow wasn't reconnected properly, it would cause the engine to shake and run rough because it would be running on 5 cylinders.

 

Why not pull the code yourself? It takes 1 minute and a flat head screwdriver. I'm sure we can figure out the problem and save you $75.


Dave

 

Check the connections going to that "pipe" or the peice on top of it.

SuDZ

 

He didnt bang the plug tip on anything causing the gap to close did he???

 

I'm sure its something stupid.

My money's on that he didn't plug the coil pack back in. Hence the crappy idle.

 

The coil is the long black plastic object right? Does it just need to be pushed in or do you also need to twist it or something?

Coz after the first noise and shaking, he unscrewed pulled the coil(?) out again and put it back in, but it made no diff.

naah, the tip of the spark plug was not touched so it wasn't squashed together.

 

Yes, that's the coil pack. On top of that there's a wiring harness that needs to be clipped in. If there's no wire connected to the coil pack, then it won't do anything, and you'll only be using 5 cylinders.

 

Ok I checked and made sure that the coil is connected to the wire with the plug.

I also checked the ECU code and this is what I have:

02 01 - Ignition Signal Circuit
03 04 - Knock Sensor
06 06 - Cylinder 3 Misfire

Now could someone please exaplain what all this may mean, and how I can go about having it fixed.

Is cylinder 3, the far back left cylinder?

X 0 0
0 0 0

this is with me facing the car from the outside looking in the hood.

Thanks!!

 

Cylinder 3 plug is ither not plugged in or the plug is not screwed in right...

 

But exactly which cylinder, is "cylinder 3"? A diagram with X's and O's would be appreicated.

 

O X O
O O O

5 3 1
6 4 2

 

backwards


1 3 5
2 4 6

 

ok, so I have 3 ECU errors:

02 01 - Ignition Signal Circuit
03 04 - Knock Sensor
06 06 - Cylinder 3 Misfire

So I go to cylinder 3 (thanks Ramius83)

I unplugged the cable, popped the screws removed the coil.
Then I put the coil back in as securely as I can, screwed the screws back on, and plugged the cable back in.

It made no difference, the engine light still comes on and the car still shakes.

I don't have a tool to pop the spark plug, do I need to do that to and makes sure it looks good and put it back in securely, to fix the problem?

 

My vote too.

 

Hmm..

So your mechanic pulled out the #1 coil and spark plug?
X O O
O O O Make sure the wire connector is firmly back on the coil's connector. Also, there is a sensor connector to the left of that coil that may have been disconnected.

He also pulled the air filter to inspect it?
There are two sensor connectors right next to the stock air box that may have been pulled loose accidentally. If these weren't plugged back in you'd get lots of knocking. Anything over 2k rpms would make the car sputter like crazy.

Weird thing is the #3 cylinder reading.. very odd.

 

There should be a small spring on the coil's end (the part of coil that is actually touches the spark plug, at the end of the tube) may be it got lost somehow or doesn't reach the spark plug to make proper connection.

 

Come on guys...

Reset the ECU then take the coil pack from the #3 cylinder and swap it into the #1 spot.

Start your car.

If your check engine light comes on and the car shakes, good!
Now read the codes again.

If the code changed from #3 misfire to #1 misfire he's got a bad coil pack.

If he still gets #3 misfire, change the plug in #3 and check the connections to that coil pack.

If that doesn't clear it up, head to Nissan and forgetaboutit.

 

Allright THANK YOU very much for all the help.

I succumbed and headed to precision tune early in the morning as I needed a functioning car soon, the pins in the coil 3 where the cable connects were bent and so weren't getting plugged into the cable.

I obviously didn't see that at night with my flashlight.

I've been set back by $100 (60 ecu check + 45 labor) which I could have used towards new tires

But hey I learnt a lesson, no more risking the max with that dumb a$$ mechanic.

 

But if he only touched coil#1, how did coil#3's connector pins get bent?

 

I think that mechanic should have to pay for it, I mean it was fine before he messed with it right?

SuDZ