nissan wants you to buy not only one coil but to replace all 6 if you suspect a bad coil!
it's a drivability problem i had that i found is typical to these 95-99 3.0's. nissan wanted over $100 each so i ohmed out the coils as the book says. they all checked good but this wasnt under a load. i got to think, hey you change spark wires at about 80,000 miles and i have 200,000 on these (coil on plug coils/boots). whats to say the boots insulating the spark to the plug isnt leaking?
long story short i "electrical taped" the boots that are (of course) non servicable. so i got out a roll of electrical tape and wrapped the boots. the car ran smooth as silk and felt as thogh it had a major h.p. increase. i know with heat the tape will probably fail. i found 3/4 heat shrink tube to make permenate repair but it was too small. i'm looking for 1" at present

nissan coil + tape/1" heat shrink tube = $600 fix

 

Check Fry's, I was at my local one getting some shrink tubing and they had 1 inch stuff.

 

i've never seen "frys" in ca., are your refering to the appliance/sterio store?

 

Yes. They sell computers, appliances, stereoes and TV and all kinds of stuff. They started out as a grocery store chain down in LA. Maybe they don't have a store in Modesto. They have one in Fremont, San Jose and other bay area locations.

There is frys.com but the electronics are sold through outpost.com.

 

Its frys electronics, I have been to one in Fountain Valley, Ca

 

.......................

 

If it stays fixed, good job!

 

can you take some pics of what you did

 

Im not saying this will happen, but it's most likely a temporary sollution you just found, the coils generally go bad after that long..

I have a 1999 Maxima SE-L, and 1 of my rear coils, is bad ATM even though it READS perfectly Fine... Good Luck with your Fix Im praying for it to work.

I feel your pain about the $600..

 

What about telfon? I'm trying to think about something that won't melt and goo up the inners. The problem with what I'm suggesting is that it could unwrap/break up and then one would have telfon pieces all in the tube (a bad thing).

This is a wonderful solution, and one that is so simple it's taken this long to be found.

 

If I were going to try that, I'd use 1" self-fusing silicone electrical tape. I get mine from www.mcmaster.com although there are other places. It takes heat really well - I've rewrapped the wiring harness on my RX-7 with it in places where regular electrical tape crackles in a few weeks.

Poke around that website - they have a lot of electrical tapes with the temperature and dielectric properties listed. I've found that silicone self-fusing is best for this kind of thing, but maybe you'll find something more ideal. If they don't stock it, you either will never afford it, it doesn't work, or it doesn't exist. Mcmaster-carr is great.

Dave

 

.............

 

Can you draw a pic that shows exactly what part of the coil you wrapped ?

 

I believe he was referring to the lower rubber boot which contacts the spark plug's top.

 

I like that si-tape, but it has an upper limit of 200 C.

What do you suppose the temp get's inside around the boot? I have a IR temp and will 'look' at my car tonight after highway driving, and will stuff a thermocouple in this weekend.

But has anyone done this or know of the temperatures that the boot is exposed to? thanks

 

Every decent plug wire or ignition coil connector has a silicone rubber boot. The silicone tape will have essentially the same heat properties.

Dave

 

Props to you, that's awesome

 

I was at the HD (Home Depot) and noticed there is something called "liquid electrical tape." I thought it might be applicable in your application since you can brush the liquid on the inner and outer portion of the boot, but I'm not sure how well the stuff works.

 

not to be a d*ck....but if hes worried electrical tape would melt...why would something thats supposed to be the same thing except in liquid form not melt after it drys and is put into the engine?

 

Good job ...wheres the frickin recall from nissan...

 

As an engineer, I *love* it when people find solutions like this to an expensive problem. Good show.

pj