FLO_BOY

grabbed your attention, eh?

does anyone know what we need to go to try and get a recall happening?
how many instances are necessary before this reaches the critical mass?

finally, with coil packs on National Backorder, doesn't it become
apparent to Nissan that there is a serious problem here?

thanks all.
FLO_BOY

95emeraldgxe

try in contact with nissan of america maybe?

99CTMAXSE

I have replaced one already, and now I think I have another bad coil. My '99 has only 48K miles. Called Nissan USA and they told me to call local dealer to find out what is wrong with the car. I know what is wrong, the car has defective coils installed! Talked to dealer, was told coils fall under the 3 year/36k mile warranty. They then said they will retest coils for $70.00 and replace any bad ones for $80.00 each!
I will help in any way possible. This is my 3rd new Nissan purchased and "customer non-service" could care less.

Pete (one ****ed off nissan owner)

maxnewbie

What are the symptoms of a bad coil?

99CTMAXSE

Your service engine soon light will come on. It will have code p1320 with a OBD-II scan tool or DTC 0201 if you pull the code yourself. If you are lucky the computer will store another code telling you what cylinder had a mis-fire. That is the bad coil.
Your car my idle rough and not run as smooth or powerful at times.
People who have had bad coils, how many have you replaced?
Thanks,
Peter

Jamsan

iTrader: (2)

CEL light, massive vibration at idle, feels like your running on 4 cylinders....well those were my symptoms anyways.....

i've had one coil go so far, around 60k miles, but thats it....

*knock on wood*

Kevin Wong

After my friend's 00 Beetle gave her coil pack trouble, I decided to prepare myself. I founda set of 6 ignition coils on eBay for only $150. I bought them and have them in my garage just waiting for one to go bad. VW has great service though, they replaced the coil pack and loaned her a Golf in the meantime.

KWheelzSB

iTrader: (1)

I had a bad coil which was causing hesitation under WOT.

The problem revealed itself when I diagnosed the front bank of coils using my digital multimeter. Two of the coils tested fine, but the center cylinder's coil tested with resistance that was off the charts. The coil was bad - no CEL was ever triggered in association with the bad coil.

1MAX2NV

iTrader: (5)

Didn't Nissan use two different suppliers for coil packs? Maybe one of them is more prone to problems. My 1999 idles funny once in awhile. It's like a slight misfire.

1MAX2NV

iTrader: (5)

Recall is not likely unless is safety related. ie. Fuel leaks, brake failures or random accerlations.

KWheelzSB

iTrader: (1)

Mitsubishi - Part #2244831U15 (front bank coil - rear is different)
Hanshin - Part #2244831U05 (front bank coil - rear is different)

My '95 was OEM equipped w/ the Mitsubishi coils.

When I asked the parts guy which part was "better" in his opinion, he said the Hanshin, so maybe that was the one that replaced the original Mitsubishi unit.

Anyone who knows for sure, please feel free to clarify.

ignentchoker

How do you test your coils with a multimeter? I really am having idle problems and think a bad coil may be the culprit, but a check engine light has not yet come on. How would I be able to test if one is faulty?

bosmax99

My 99 SE has almost 60k miles on it, and recently began to "hiccup" so I took it into Nissan. The diagnostic test was inconclusive, but they said it was most likely the ignition coils.

So besides being a common problem, and a constant annoyance, how serious of a problem is this? Has this led to any other problems for anyone? I always think it's going to stall, even though it never has.

KWheelzSB

iTrader: (1)

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....ignition+coils

Search is your friend.

zmxh20

Thanks for the reply. Appears to be a pattern emerging on this issue. As someone suggested earlier, perhaps it's time to bring this to the attention of Nissan. [/B][/QUOTE]

Pls see last few days back about engine "HICCUP" discussion.

I spoke with Nissan Customer Affair dept today. They seem to be not aware of this problem. They asked me to go the Nissan dealer and find out the problems and paid by my own expense and report to them. The lady I spoke said that due to my warranty are exprire, they can not help us. Only she would forward to their Engineering dept my finding and let me know what to fix. But, I think it is major flaw from their design and defects and they should take responsibility.

Pls contact 800-647-7261 X 3830 at North America Nissan USA customer affair and explain your problems. I think all Max lovers should express our concerns on this engine "hiccup" and vibrate engine (IDLE). Nissan North America USA direct line is 310-771-3111 and ask for customer affair dept or higher cheese at Nissan. Keep our finger cross. Thks.

Euge82

I have 1999 GXE with 49,000 miles. At 45,000 miles the car started missing while at idle. The dealer looked at the car last month and could not find any problem. Last week the "Sevice Engine Soon" light came on (not flashing). The code was P1320. I called Ganley Nissan (Cleveland, OH) they had no information on any assistance being provided by Nissan. He said they have done a few coil pack replacements and have seen the missing problem quite a bit. He said they would not be able to tell which coil was bad. To replace all six....Price $375 labor and $125 per coil = $1125.

KWheelzSB

iTrader: (1)

1) The CEL doesn't "blink" when it is triggered "on" by the ECU. It "blinks" only when you manually perform the code-pulling procedure on the OBDII ECU to identify diagnostic trouble codes (DTC's). If you're unfamiliar with this, do a search for "check engine light."

2) ". . .they would not be able to tell which coil was bad."

This is BULLSH!t!!!!! You most certainly CAN test the coil-packs individually, using a digital multimeter. (about $20) YOU DO NOT NEED TO REPLACE ALL 6! -Only replace the malfunctioning one(s).

3) Btw, those prices you were quoted are outrageous. (Did you **** the Nissan guy off or something? I'm left wondering if the quote includes the tub of Vaseline he'll need to screw you this badly) Try www.courtesyparts.com for better pricing.

3) Coil-packs are easier to replace than spark plugs (on the front cylinder bank, anyway). Don't pay to have this done.

4) Hayne's manual & multimeter: buy them. They pay for themselves.

DTC:
P1320* = Ignition signal primary circuit fault.
0201** = Ignition signal primary circuit fault.

*Scan tool trouble code
**OBDII - Check Engine Light Flash Code

NotNew!!NewSN!!

this def sounds like the problem on my car. Lately just doesn't feel as fast, and i'm having a slight hesitation when im going WOT as well as a sense of loss of torque. I thought it was my ACT clutch slipping.... gonna check this out.

KWheelzSB

iTrader: (1)

Remember, there are several things this could be:

bad coil(s)
clogged fuel filter
fouled plugs
bad knock sensor
bad fuel injector(s)
dirty throttle body
bad engine coolant temperature sensor (ECTS)

-to name a few key ones - Resist the temptation of assuming it's 1 thing, b4 a thorough diagnosis.


I did that once & ran all around a problem with 2 separate fixes before determining the correct fix. Ugh. (I was SURE it was THIS, when in fact it was THAT).

FLO_BOY

true, but it does flash if the car is misfiring.
check your owner's manual, it's there.

FLO_BOY

Euge82

The manual says if the light is flashing the vehicle should be stopped as soon as possible. And if driven, only at low speeds.

NotNew!!NewSN!!

well figured out why my butt dyno has been sensing problems, decided to see if any codes were stored on the ECU, of course there were, three!!

knock sensor
front bank 02 sensor
closed loop control...? anyone know what this is?

Jamsan

iTrader: (2)

basically, means your car is running like ****....most likely caused by the o2 sensor....replace that sensor, and then reset the ECU, drive around for ~100 miles or so, then check the ECU again....hopefully, it'll be 0505

my CEL was blinking for my coil pack problem...it was totally misfiring tho....maybe for yous, its not getting the full voltage it needs, and its only some tiem before it fully blows (thats just non-sense talk by me, but maybe its possible )

before doing anything with the coils, try the inexpensive mods first...fuel filter, tb cleaning, plugs....get some NGK coppers if you dont wanna shell out too much doh....all 3 should run ya no more than 30 bucks or so...

and $125 PER coil....thats just non sense....im assuming that does include the lube they were using to **** you in the ***

KWheelzSB

iTrader: (1)

- start by replacing the O2 sensor first. It is the most likely source of the problem. Reset ECU & check for codes after 100-200 mi of driving.

"Closed loop control" is a default program of ECU control parameters entered by Nissan engineers which doesn't take into account any feedback data coming from the variety of sensors attached to your engine systems, but which should keep the engine running in the meantime.

This control program is turned on like a switch when the ECU is getting so much "bad data" (usually from multiple sensor malfunctions/failures*), that it cannot adequately adjust fuel, spark, timing, etc., to make the engine driveable. In short: if the ECU tried to adjust driveability based on the data provided by the sensors, the engine might not run at all).

*Sometimes, a bad O2 sensor can trigger multiple sensor codes, as may be your case. These may be false codes, which is why you should start by first replacing the O2 sensor.


Btw, O2 sensors may be covered by warranty through Nissan on a TSB. Call a Nissan dealer & have your VIN # handy - they'll tell you if it's a freebie or not.

charleym3

There's more to my story. I got the CEL all right. In addition the TCS Off light came on and the SLIP light. Happened all at once. Felt like the engine was running on 4 cylinders. The engine recovered but the SLIP and TCS Off light didn't reset until I parked the car and shutdown the engine for about 2 minutes.
My Nissan mechanic pulled code 01320 Primary iginition signal fault. At $100/cylinder I can't afford to take the shotgun approach to repairing it.
BTW it's a 99 with 64K miles. Yeah I get around.

FLO_BOY

my problem ended up being the ignition coil wiring.

one wire that fed to three coil packs was VERY poorly spliced,
and caused months and months of heartache (and bad gas mileage)
for me.

fixed the wire, fixed the problem.

FLO_BOY

Wills98MaxSE

what model years does this recall involve?

FLO_BOY

actually, there is no actual recall...
I think I started this post to see what we could do to get a recall goin...

cheers!
FLO_BOY

Gramdacious

iTrader: (1)

I used to work at a Nissan dealership and that quote almost made me keel over. Nevermind the shocking $125/coil; $375 for labor? Holy sh*t. Do you know how to replace the coils yourself? If you do, you know it takes less than 5 minutes to replace them. That is truely outrageous. I hope you multimeter test the coils or pull codes by self-diagnosing(when I did this it even told me which cylinder is misfiring so I replaced only one coil). I would talk to the service manager at that dealership and let him know you aren't some dumb young blond girl that he thinks he can take advantage of. Don't pay anymore than $65/coil. go to a salvage yard if you have to, but do the labor yourself, its unscrewing two screws once you have the valve cover off, then plug and play. Good luck.

99GLEE

Looks like i have to replace my coils...nissan told me i got problems with them and my tcs light stays on and it feels like it hiccups..so is there a website that will show us some pics of how to do this? i can do some engine work..i think if atleast i can change the plugs then i can change the ignition coils...

also they told me i need a new airbag module..what the hell!

99GLEE

also i found a place for some ignition coils..though it says left and right not sure which one to get???

http://www.trademotion.com/partlocat...D=1&siteid=722

+Electrical
++Ignition

its about 60 per coil i beleive..pretty good price i say vs nissan dealership..

KWheelzSB

iTrader: (1)

You don't have to replace ALL your coils! Only replace the defective one(s)!

This is troubling. It seems that many people who have gone to the 'stealership have the same feedback - all are being told that "ALL the coils" need to be replaced. This is simply not true. Coils are expensive! - Nissan service departments book a lot of revenue at YOUR EXPENSE when they suggest you replace all 6 coils, whether defective or not. My guess: the blood-sucking ba$tards are aware of this.

Buy a Hayne's manual for a step-by-step guide to diagnosis & replacement. It's easy. Use a digital multimeter to test: You're checking the resistance of each coil and of the wiring harnesses.

JeffesonM

iTrader: (5)

99... one coil replace around 35k

Micklex

I went into the dealership yesterday for the same sort of problems, I was told by the mechanic that the problem has existed for several years, I believe he mentioned '96 or so on. The supplier was providing substandard coils, and it took them several years to figure out what the problem was. Of course I'm at about 42k on my maxima, so it is not covered under warranty. The current price is 78.00 per coil, and he mentioned that replacing just one won't do it, because then another will fail, etc. Cascade effect. Sucks doesn't it? My friend found the original service bulletin, but that's not much help, it just gives details on the fault itself, what to replace. Nothing on how they handle the warranty or anything. It does keep referring them to their inhouse warranty book, but no specifics. If I find out more, I'll let you guy's know.

FLO_BOY

This is B.S.!!! (we need a B.S. smilie!!!)

...just ask the .org how many folks replaced just ONE coil pack with no problems...

FLO_BOY

JeffesonM

iTrader: (5)

DeRaNgEd

Nissan won't recall **** unless it is life threatening. As in fire, axle snaping, airbag, brakes...etc.

If the coil fail Nissan will laugh at you and say buy another coil for $80, it's not going to kill you.


So unless you tell them that your coil caught on fire then they are recalling ****.



JMO

Cruez

Well hell, I just noticed this post and I think it may be the cure to my problem...

I very possibly have a bad coil also.... started misfiring and cel was flashing. Its done it a couple of times in the past few days...
I guess the coil may be failing...

95seMax

iTrader: (11)

it seems most of the occurances of a defective coil is for 99 maximas, is this only a problem for that year ,or should i start saving up, i have a 95 with 118k, had it for a year and seems to be fine

charleym3

I swapped just the single coil and all is well. The car has gone about 1500 miles since the change. It's got 69K on it now and other than brakes at 42K I've had no problems.