I currently have a problem with some of the Ign. coils. The problem is that when I test them with the Ohmmeter, they all seem fine. Pulling the codes, I got code 0605 (Cyl #4), so I moved the coil to cylinder #2 to see if I get code 0607 (Cyl #2 and therefore it would tell me for sure that the coil is bad. The problem is that now I got code 0603 (cyl #6), which tells me that I might have two bad coils. I moved the coil from #6 to #4 and now I got code 0605 again, which tells me that the coil that was previously at #6 is possibly bad. This coils are about $70 over the net so I rather replace only the ones that are bad. Can anyone tell me of a sure way of testing them? Thank you for any help you can give me.

Nelson
'99 SE 57,000 Mi

 

Well, whats your theory on which cylinder is which? its simply not
4 5 6
1 2 3

also, waht you can do, is start up the car, and while its idling, pull one pack at a time, and listen for a change in idle, anything noticeable....if it changes, that pack is fine, if not, that pack is bad.

 

#1,#3,#5, are the ones by the firewall
#2,#4,#6, are the ones by the front of the car.

The problem with the test while the car runs, is that the misfire doesn't happen 100% of the time.

 

Maybe its not the coil pack then....I know when I had a misfire in a cylinder, it was noticeable ALL the time, and it surely was noticeable....heavy vibration, felt like i was driving a civic....non v-tec .....Could be your spark plugs, fuel injectors, or maybe something else...

 

Could be, but I forgot to mention that I also always get code 0201 (Ignition signal primary circuit fault) along with the other codes. That's why I think is related to the coils.

 

Ya, I got the same exact set (ignition circuit and then a given cylinder)..but again, it was very noticeable in my case...Best bet would be to try the pull test, and maybe you'll get lucky and it'll misfire at that point?

 

I tried while running, but no luck. I guess I should wait until they get worse.

 

car would sometimes miss, even shut off (VERY frustrating, sometimes scary)...totally thought coils and even replaced one (I was gonna try
good ol' fashion process of elimination)...

turned out to be a bad wire connecting the ground to the coils...
check for the ground wires near the fuel line -- see how tight those
are...

when I FINALLY figured out my problem, it was due to checking
EACH wire in the main spine!!! Hope you have better luck!

FLO_BOY

 

Interesting.....but usually it is a bad coil pack.


I went through this a month ago. Bought one front and one rear coil pack. Kept replacing one by one until the light went away. It ended up being Cylinder #3, but I never got a corresponding cylinder number code to DTC 0201.

On the 99 models especially, there is a good chance most if not all will go bad due to a defect in manufacturing. Trying to tell that to Nissan after the 36k warranty is up and they will simply laugh at you.

 

Mine are Hanshin. Should I get Mitsubishi instead? What brand were yours? I'll check the grounds just in case. Thanks again

 

I checked for bad grounds but no luck. I did get code 0701 once though, so it could've been a ground.

 

OEM = Hanshin

My replacements purchased at Napa = Hanshin = same ones Nissan dealer sells

The pictures of the Mitsus didn't look right to me.

 

I tried the ohm meter test and all the readings were good. I switched the suspect coil with the #6 coil and problem followed coil. I always got the 0201 and 0304 faults. My problem had lingered for a couple of months and $1000 dollars later. I was frustrated with the dealership and decided to troubleshoot myself. My wife was a little apprehensive at first, but she is all smiles now.

 

Did you replace just one or all?

 

ive been having the same problems with my coil packs too. I just finished replacing the last two packs, so now #1 #3 #5 are brand new coil packs. The fronts are still stock, but probably will be replaced with my next paycheck, along with the plugs too.

and yes i noticed a nice gain in power that was never there by changing them out.

Ant

 

I just replaced the bad one. I will replace the others very soon.

 

I had the same problems on my dad's 99 GLE....It had two bad ignition coils (CYL #2 & CYL #4) and they didn't fail outright

They worked on and off for awhile...so sometimes I would get codes and sometimes the car ran fine....I went through all of the testing procedures for the coils & all of the wiring & ECU...big waste of time because it all checked out okay....so I bought an Equus 3110 OBDII diagnostic tool and pulled the codes and then changed the respective coils

The car has been running great ever since!!!!

 

This scanner would actually pull codes that you would not be able to pull otherwise? How much is the scanner?

 

I bought the scanner for $135 from Summit Racing. There are some 5th Gen guys that got it a little bit cheaper (search forum).

It pulls all of the codes just like turning the diagnostic screw. BUT, I like the scanner because you don't have to mess with the ECU screw (especially on a '99 - its plastic & very delicate) and you can reset the ECU with the push of a button...you don't have to wait overnight. And as an added bonus it works on all cars since all newer cars (1996+ i think) have to be ODBII compliant.

 

Cool. I just went and got it. Nice tool. The only thing though is I thought it would also give you O2 sensor reading, etc I guess that would be an scanner, which are a lot more money. It does do a test to see if the car would pass the smog check. Thank you for your help. Hopefully I'll be able to figure out which coil is the one giving problems.

Nelson

 

Sorry if I messed ya' up by calling it a scanner....probably should of said 'code reader'...it will definitely tell you which coil is bad...each cylinder has its own code

good luck

 

No problem. I returned it though. Kragen was cool about it and gave me the money back. I still didn't get a code on a particular cylinder so it didn't help for my problem. I just thought it was too much money for something I can do with a screwdriver for free. Not as practical but... I'll just keep on driving it like this until I get the code from one cylinder repeated a couple of times. Thanks again for your help.

 

 

what code did you get? I'll check the service manual for ya...

The ECU gives codes for a misfire in each cylinder....thats the clue that the coil is bad

For example: P0301 (Cylinder 1 misfire), P0302 (cyl #2), P0303 (cyl #3) etc...

 

I get 0701 and 0201. Only a couple of times long ago I got cyl#4 and once cyl#2 Thanks again.

 

I'm looking at section EC (Engine Control System) of the 1999 Service Manual and it says the following:

0701 (which is also P0300) is Multiple Cylinder Misfire (page EC-295)

0201 (which is also P1320) is Ignition Signal Primary (page EC-415)

When my coils were acting up, I got these codes too. But I didn't get the cylinder misfires codes at first. The only time I got the cylinder misfire codes is when I checked the ECU immediately after getting the SES light. Since you mentioned coils #2 & #4, maybe you should replace those two and maybe your problem will go away like mine did.

I hope you (and anyone else that reads this) solves their problem. I wasted alot of time diagnosing the coil problems and it was really annoying. I hope this helps. GOOD LUCK.

 

Thank you for your help. I'll buy 2 coils today and see what happens. I'll post here once I install them.