Pikey

I have a 99 maxima with ~150,000 miles on it. For the past ~6 months i've been having misfiring problems, most notable at low rpms and when idling at lights which has recently gotten worse. While driving down to san francisco from seattle I had a flash of the CEL, and the code showed a cylinder 5 misfire. Since most misfire issues are coil related, I decided to just replace all of them at once.

I ordered a set of 6 coils (NOT OEM) from an online auto retailer, and replaced them today. Immediately afterwards I start up the car and everything is fine, no CEL, and no misfire on idling. Several hours later I start the car to drive to a wedding and the CEL comes on and stays on for the whole ~50 mile drive. THere are no issues when driving and there are no misfires whatsoever. I ran the code and it shows an 0201 error which is an ignition circuit error. Before driving the car back home from the wedding this evening, I check the codes and again it shows a 0201, except this time when driving home the CEL come on only intermittently without any discernible pattern relating to acceleration/speed/bumps/etc. Again, during the drive there are no misfire and it seems to run fine.

I've checked all the connections and everything seems hooked up ok. I'm wondering if since the coils aren't nissan OEM that its causing the ECU to freak out. THe car is driving great and its the first time i've been without any misfires for about a year so I'm excited about that, but I have no idea what's causing the CEL to come on. I'd like to get it fixed soon because I need to pass california emissions and I'm pretty sure they won't pass it if the CEL is on even if the emissions are fine.

Any thoughts?

marcyprojects

you def want OEM coils if you can get some. Been down this road before. It doesnt seem to be very consisten but some 4th gens do just fine with aftermarket coils and some reject them. There are a bunch of different brands out there and each puts out a slightly different voltage when connected to the motor. None of them match what is produced by the stock coils whcih is what your ECU is looking for, hence the CEL. Id try to return the ones you bought and get OE's, I'd bet anything your CEL will never come on afterward. I went through almost 3 sets trying to find the right ones for my car. Just dropped $700 on coils from the dealer and not only did the CEL clear but I got a significant increase in power also. I have a set of used OE plugs from my buddys car availible if you want them. I can sell/ship cheap if you are interested, I know how much of a pain these things can be.lmk

asand1

iTrader: (1)

Get OE. Aftermarket have the wrong rstance value in the primary winding an will trigger the code you have.

Pikey

Well shoot. Looks like I'll be returning mine then. Does anybody know a good place nine that sells the oem coils for a reasonable price (ie not $90 a pop)?

marcyprojects

Dealer is the only one that has them. I'd check with them asap cuz if the dealers in your area are like the ones here, they probably won't stock enough to make a full set and they'll have to order them. I found that out in my experience as well. You could also buy some from a memeber here on the forum, hint hint....

asand1

iTrader: (1)

If you still have you originals, Ohm them out and replace the bad ones only. Wrecking yards are good too, find a set from something other than a 99 because they are notorious for faulty coils.

CMax03

iTrader: (3)

You can't feel a misfire unless it's really bad......I'd suggest you invest into OEM NIssan coils ONLY!!!! The junkyard route works but returns you to this same point sooner ot later.....I also would be looking at maybe instaling new intake manifold gaskets (LIM and UIM) cause misfires can be cause by an intake air leak as well! Swap the guilty/defective coil to another cylinder first and see if the code moves to the new cylinder!!! If it doesn't then I'll be looking at my intake or injector next......using a conventional timing light can also help find an intermittent coil, just place the pick around the harness to the coil andthe signal will flash the light!