i cleaned my coils....there was hardly any corrosion on the contacts and i noticed very little change. I still have the misfiring/backfiring between 3k and 4k at >50% throttle. ****. (knock sensor?)

 

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you're so clever, all these pages for BS that doesn't even work.

 

I thought coil failures are usually due to insulation breakdown resulting in internal shorting.

 

that would be my thought. Think about it, a significant amount of current is being sent though the coil to the plug, and a little bit of corrosion on the contact would amount to VERY little resistance. If this corrosion had as big of an affect as first thought, then logically, any corrosion on the head of the spark plug would cause the same problem. I think, for some, there may have been some placebo effect, because i was pretty skeptical and really didnt notice much of a difference while idling, accelerating, etc.

adam

 

wow i wouldve never thought of opening the coilpack

 

I currently have a problem with the max. When I am stopped at a stop light or coming to a stop my car jerks, or jumps, it is a hard jerk too. I took it to my mechanic and he said replace all 6 coils, about $530 and all new spark plugs NGK platinum another $80. And he would only charge me like $80 for labor. Well I didn't have an extra $600 lying around so I did them one at a time as I could. I tested them for spark and only 2 were really bad 2 others were so-so and the last 2 were pretty good.

I have replaced 4 all except the two that were ok. And the jerking thing is still going.
I then had an oil change with that engine cleaner they put in it.
Then i had the throttle body cleaned and a new fuel filter and wow that put some get up and go back in the Max.
Still it does it. I switched around the coils to see if it mattered and it didn't, it doesn't give any CEL and I don't have any other ideas.

sorry to piggy back its kinda related.?

 

It worked for me, got rid of my missfires

 

okay guys noob ?

What is a coil pack? how much they cost? why do maximas have problems with them? Is a bad coil a bad thing? when should they be replaced? How do you know you have a bad coil?

thanks guys


oo and one more? does anybody have a KS for Sale????

 

Instead of cleaning ignition coils did anyone try to replace insulator?

According to this document insulation cracking is a major reason why coils fail:

http://www.generalcable.com/North_Am...il-on-plug.pdf

 

Same problem with '99 here except when testing all 6 seemed good and my mechanic recommeded to just drive around untill a CEL comes on in order to determine which coil is bad.

Meanwhile, the jerking is getting worse and worse and now even occurs while driving (before it happened only when idling).

Any ideas how to solve this?

 

Allright guys. I also have a coil headache. When taking the coils out of the rear bank, should the long rubber boot with the coil spring have oil on it? It doesnt seem to me that it should. Oil would make the conductivity of the coil less and resist spark. But only the first 2 in the rear bank if working from the passenger side have oil on them. Oil leak perhaps? New plugs? Its like oil is leaking from the engine into the sparkplug/coil cavity on those 2. Only an ounce or 2. Not liek the whole cavity is filled with oil. But oil is inside of the those 2 coils and on the coil spring. Could this be the problem? or is it common?

 

good job man i'll have to try this out

 

Anyone still experimenting on cleaning coilpacks? This is a most interesting thread....

 

i got some splitfire DIS coilpacks. they run strong as heck...

 

The "O" plug seal is bad, might as well replace all of it. And since you'll be replacing that, you might as well replace the valve cover gaskets because the labor to get to all those seals is the same. To get to them, you need to remove the intake manifold collector and everything else in the way.

 

Hows your idle speed, where is it at?

 

Wow, nice find. I never knew there can be a DIY-at-home type of fix for the constant failing of the coil packs. Good job!

 

This coil cleaning procedure did nothing to fix my misfires, so I decided to replace them. I got a great deal on eBay for new coils (US $282.00 for all 6 coils plus $15.00 shipping). I installed the new coils today and the car runs perfectly, no more misfires. In case anyone is looking for a great deal on coils, the seller's eBay ID is billcurtis3. It doesn't look like he has any more left at the moment but I'm sure he'll be back with more.

 

The coil cleaning procedure did not fix my problem either. I'm not looking into purchasing all 6 new coils to end this "coil" nightmare.

 

well im gonna resurect this tread once more...i found this to make a lot of sense and decided to clean them.. i used mothers mag and aluminum polish and qtips along with a dremel tool... what i did was cut he qtip in half and stick on end it the dremel and dip it into the polish and clean the surface of the contact with it... worked out real good it came out looking like a mirror... i did notice that the car runs a litte smoother....

 

I did the same thing, dremel wise... My car's misfire was less often, but it still existed. This was after very detailed cleaning as well =/ So I just bought new ones, car is perfect now.

-Jon

 

When my car is idling it's smooth except every 5 to 10 seconds there's a little blip where it sounds like the engine is reving just a tiny bit (like 100 RPM or less). Could that be an indication of a misfire? I haven't noticed any lack of smoothness while I'm on the gas, just idling.

 

Things in these posts don't make sense. (I'm an electronics engineer with experience at high voltage).
First, the 'cleaning' you're talking about is the HT output side of the coil. 25KV sparks don't worry about a little dirt or tarnish. In fact it used to be that one way of boosting the spark voltage on old cars was to install a 1/10" spark gap in the HT line from the distributor. Of course I am talking about 50s, 60s vehicles. So cleaning *that* part of the circuit makes little or no difference.
Secondly, the comment about "takes about 30% more effort to send this spark through the copper as opposed to the platinum", is nonsense. The spark is milliamps of current at best, the relative difference between copper and platinum is nil, except in circuits carrying hundreds of amps.
What *does* count in the spark plugs is the GAP. The platinums are pre-gapped and long life. This means that the voltage required to make a spark is well-controlled and stays in limits for the life of the plug. Old fashioned plugs wear out quickly and more importantly, the gap rapidly increases over time. This results in a much higher voltage being required to jump the gap. Unless you fancy having the job of re-gapping your plugs quite often...
The one thing that breaks coils down is too high a spark voltage. It causes tracking in the insulation. So, guys, using copper or other cheap plugs is DUMB because it carries a higher risk of frying the secondary (HV side) of your coil packs. Do you really think it is a great idea saving a few bucks on plugs and risking having to shell out hundreds for new coil packs? Hmm?
By all means clean the HV side of the coil pack IF you can safely dismantle and reassemble it.
BTW using metal polish etc is also dumb; it contains ammonia and other substances that release lots of free ions, free ions = conduct electricity, any traces - and I mean *traces* - left, and soon your coil pack will be toast. Only use fully non-conductive solvents for cleaning around HV circuits. Carbon ***., alcohol, etc, nothing too aggressive.

 

What's with this? I entered CARBON T E T (short for Carbon ***rachloride) and it replaced the letters T, E, and T with ***
Is there a new naughty word that I haven't heard yet or is the forum software plain stupid?
I also run my own forum using similar software and I don't recall that kind of thing...

 

T E T is an acronym for a banned former org sponsor/member.

 

well im no newbie but this may explain the rough idle/stumbling ive been experiencing while the engine is at idle. it dosent miss just runs a bit rough ill try it out i got nothing to lose !!!!

 

I would say that would be the iac -- http://forums.maxima.org/showpost.ph...27&postcount=2 or anything related to idle.

 

Thanks. I cleaned it last year so I don't think so but at some point I'll clean it again.

 

cool...so if a coil is bad, swap the bad one with a working coil from the front side of the engine then mess around with the bad coil and see if cleaning it makes it work. I had a misfire code for a coil on the cabin side of the engine, and paid a mechanic to remove the intake manifold and replace the bad coil. I probably have the bad coil around here someplace and I will look at the spring inside. While the mechanic had the intake off, he called me to say resistance was not great on a second coil and he wanted to know if i had wanted to replace that one also. I chose to only replace one coil at that time.

 

I don't think the front and rear coils are interchangeable because of differences in mounting holes and possibly a height difference, too.

 

Number 2 on my engine was misfiring about once every two days. I just cleaned all 6 coils, I`ll see what happens.

 

Where do you guys get your coils from and for how much? I'm not having luck scoring a set of these and getting frustrated by the day.

 

I think it's safe to say that if your coils are misfiring it's because of more than just dirt on the contacts... one day someone with a failed coil pack should open it up and see what died.

 

I agree with 3d_man. There is more to just the dirt and grime on the coils. My coils are clean as they can be and cleaning them more did not fix my misfires.

 

After cleaning put some of that dielectric grease on the contact areas?
Dielectric means it conducts electricity ? Right?

 

I bought a set of coils from a Max with only 35K miles on them. Pulled them apart and cleaned the contacts thoroughly per the original thread. I even cleaned the tips of the contact spring on the wire wheel. And just for peace of mind, I even stretched the spring ever so slightly to make sure it didn't rattle inside the plastic housing when I put the coils back together (you have to make sure the tips make contact with the tip of the plugs or it will have to jump across the lead.)

Anyway, before installing the newer coils I applied dielectric grease on the three plug prongs of each connector, I did the same procedure to my existing coils with 115K miles on them (no misfires or codes, just wanted to install a lower mileage set) and reinstalled them(my original coils). Took the car for a drive and it didn't seem anymore responsive then before. The only thing that might be good with cleaning the contacts and making sure the spring touches both the contact and plug tip is better fuel economy and longer coil life. I tend to agree with prior responses that the internal workings of the coils break down as all electrical parts do and eventually they don't fire like they used to.

Now, if someone out there has actually taken a bad coil apart and has the knowledge to see/test if the internals can be repaired somehow, it would help out a ton of Max owners. I listed my coils for sale on this site in hopes that someone could use them, but if I knew how to make them like new and save them for a future tune up, that would be a great savings to me, since I plan on keeping the car until the wheels fall off.

Hope this helps fellow members out there. All I can say is that making sure ALL of your electrical connections are clean can lead to less headaches in the future.

Ted, Chicago

 

Wow, that's awesome - glad it's something that simple - damn coil packs! :-P

I'll be giving it a try..

 

well im going to try this cause my exhaust smells like GAS plus i have a misfire and i get this code 02 01 i hope this works ill post thursday

 

well coils was ok they were all spot less didnt have to clean i think my injector my be stuck on open ..cause i disconnected it and the smell went down thanks for the info onn the coils

 

im gonna try this