falseicon

iTrader: (2)

hey all,
well i came home on vacation and mom bribed me into working on her 99SE. Went smooth, pretty much just like a 3rd gen, but with that oh so sweet engine to gaze at. Anyway two quick questions: I put in 4 1/4 quarts of oil (per rec. amount in manual) and ran it for 15 min yet the dip-stick keeps reading almost three inches above max? Is this out of the ordinary? Also, don't know much about coil packs (i think that's what you call 'em), but are they worth swapping out as part of general maint., seemed pricey compared to my wires.
Much thanks,
maybe I'll con her into selling it one day and can slide on over into this forum.

4thgenx42

How many miles on the car? Coil packs arent necessary to be changed unless you a misfire which would then require you to test them to see if one is failing. About the oil, thats strange. Did you take out the old one.? LOL! Nah but i would probably just do it again.

killcrap

iTrader: (3)

if the car has over 100,000 miles. you should replace the coil packs. they usually run $50-$60 each. especially if its a 1999, but all 4th gens and some early 5th gen maximas suffer from coil pack problems usually after 100K miles due to the high amount of heat. as for the oil, drain it back, and refill. if you want to, add some ATF to the crankcase and run the engine foe 10 mins, it should clean out some gunk.

sdoherty_tjm

you shouldn't change stuff just because of the mileage. they could have been changed 10k miles ago when it was serviced. you dont know the case, and you shouldn't just tell him to do it if it could waste him a lot of money. and im pretty sure they would notice if the coilpack had gone wrong

killcrap

iTrader: (3)

so your saying u should change stuff as they break? i'd rather not do that, since Preventive Maintenance is very important in CARS.

sdoherty_tjm

yeah, but you dont know if the preventative maintenance has been done. on your car its fine to do, on someone elses car which you do not know the history of, you shouldnt tell him to do that

killcrap

iTrader: (3)

so your saying he couldnt ask him mom for maintance records. wow what a shame.

Son: Hey Mom, Can I Have A Look At Your Maintance Records?
Mom: HELL NO!

I see now what your trying to say., THAT MAKES TOTAL SENSE!

sdoherty_tjm

no, im saying YOU dont know. what good is your advice about preventative maintenance when it could have been done and your just saying "**** it, it's important do it anyway!"

killcrap

iTrader: (3)

oh any by the way, coil packs are not in the maintance scheldule, so why would they of been changed 10K miles ago. and where did you get a number like 10K miles from, do YOU know personally how many miles his vehical has? Or if the vehical was recently serviced?

sdoherty_tjm

dude, i said what if?. i was using your preventative maintenance idea. what if they beat you to it? and he was really asking about oil. not wether or not he should change the coil packs ***** nilly. he said as general maintenance should he change them as a side note. he should not waste $60 a piece for something that could have been changed already and that doesnt need to yet. i can say that because he would have noticed that the cel would stay on and most people freak out when they get a cylinder misfire.

killcrap

iTrader: (3)

95% of the time coil packs dont throw a code.

sdoherty_tjm

oh my ****ing god, you can go and change everything you want so that it wont break, but it will just cost you money. might as well wait for it to go. and the same goes for the knock sensor and no one runs around changing that so it wont break

Nealoc187

iTrader: (23)

What? Why would you change the coilpacks if there is no problem? That makes no sense. They are not part of the general maintenance and there is no reason to replace unless one fails. True they are a problem item on some cars, but there's absolutely no reason in the world to change them without provocation. If the coilpacks are causing a problem you will KNOW it, the car will buck and stutter and seem like it is running on 1 cylinder. Then and only then should you bother to change them. Spending as you described $300-$360 to replace something which is not a wear and tear item and may never need replacing is asinine.

About the oil, the overall capacity of the engine and how much you get out of the engine when you do a simple oil change are two different things. Don't worry about it. There's probably half a quart still in the engine even if you drain the oil with the car sitting on level ground (trust me I found out when I pulled an engine, oil draining out like crazy), let alone if you have it up on jackstands.

sdoherty_tjm

thank you nealoc for supporting my opinion, you summed it up better than i did. and i agree on the oil part, but three inches does seem like a lot to me. i wonder if he did not let it drain for 20 min.

falseicon

iTrader: (2)

well i think i'll drain some oil and re-fill, see how she reads after that. Just seemed odd. I actually couldn't help but notice that the front and center coil-pack looks like it was browned in a toaster oven (just in coloration, no melted cheese or anything), so I might swap it out just in case it's due to go bad whilst I'm away.

her car is sporting 100,000 even actually, I did the oil, air/fuel filter, plugs, coolant, trans fluid (only 1 drain, probably do 1 more), new battery (it was mostly dead), front/rear brakes and gave the suspension and CV joints a once over. I'm short on time now, but i'm thinking new belts (serpentine and steering?) around the holidays, and maybe a turbo when she's not looking
thanks guys (and gals)


(oh and nealoc, 13.43 @ 102, that's solid. sorry it's gone, but they're always faster the 2nd time round)

sdoherty_tjm

thats the kind of info that should be in your original post so that stuff like this doesnt happen. oh and good luck. you would be lucky to score that from your mom

99Automagic

It's hard to read the oil level correctly on our cars. There's a oil drain canal right where the dip stick goes. So what I do is warm up the engine, let it sit for like 5 mins, let the oil drain down to the crank case, then check with the dip stick.

Wills98MaxSE

reminds me of my brother

Since your mom has a '99, might as well replace the coilpacks (ignition coils) since this is a common problem on '99 Maxes

ImmaSquashYou

iTrader: (7)

if you have too much oil, just floor it a couple tiems to burn the oil off...-= )....nah j/p. it will go away in time. IMO, i'd usually fill it 3in above the meter just for safety issues for myself. I think that too little oil will be far worse than too much oil...my .02