So I just bought a 98 Maxima GLE about a week ago. When I test drove it everything seemed fine so I bought it. After only having it for a day or two the car starts idling very rough and sputtering pretty bad,especially going up hill. I had a 98 Civic and it was doing the same thing and I replaced the plugs and plug wires and that fixed the problem in my Honda. So my first thought was exactly that. I replaced the plugs and I actually had a problem with that. I got 5 of the 6 plugs out with no problems but the 6th one,it was the one on the back row closest to the drivers side,was kind of stuck. I ended up having to hammer the socket down on the plug to get it to grip it so I could loosen it. After getting it out I noticed there was some black plastic on the top of the plug preventing me to be able to get the socket over it. Im not really sure what the plastic was from,maybe from the rubber boot that goes over the plugs? But I finally got all the plugs replaced and that did not help the sputtering or rough idle at all. In fact it seemed like it got worse after changing the plugs,which I dont see how it could of made it worse?

So thats where Im at right now. The car is still sputtering really bad and just does not want to go. The car sounds pretty bad and like I said I just got it and its been running horrible after only having it for a day or two,not to mention Im pretty sure whatever is wrong with it is dramatically effecting the gas mileage. Im about to change the fuel filter and see if that may be causing the problem. If its not the fuel filter then maybe a fuel injector? Im not really sure. So does anyone have any other suggestions? Or has this happen to anyone else and what was the problem/solution? Any advice or help is very appreciated!

I did take it to AutoZone and had them read the check engine light codes and they were:

P0141-
they told me that was b/c of an oxygen sensor,but whoever owned the car before me removed the cat. converter so I was expecting that code to come up

P0325-
That one came up as the "knock sensor" Im not really sure what that even is?

P0303-
This one was number 3 cylinder misfire. Probable cause:fuel system malfunction,ignition system fault,large vacuum leak,engine mechanical condition.

 

After replacing the plugs I took it to Advance Auto and had them read the codes again and the same codes for the knock sensor and oxygen sensor came up but the code that was cylinder number 3 misfire was gone and instead a code saying multiple misfires came up. So seems like changing the plugs did make it worse,which is very odd to me.

Any suggestions or adive on my problem would be very helpful! Thanks.

 

well the misfire can be fixed by changing the coilpacks. Now that it says multiple misfire try unplugging the coilpacks 1 by 1 and see if the condition gets any worse. If it doesn't thats how you know the coilpack is bad. If not move on to the next one. ONLY OEM COILS ARE WORTH A DAMN.

2)fix the oxygen sensor duh?

3)clean the maf or try to borrow one and see if that fixes your lack of power issues. then look up the link for cleaning throttle body, IACV, egr for dummies and do that and you should be fine.

 

OP, what spark plugs did you use?


^^and what he said

 

Thanks for the response! Im not really worried about the oxygen sensor but I just wanted to list all the codes that came up. Im mainly worried about the misfire code b/c that one seems like it would have a lot to do with the way my car is acting. So if the coilpack(s) are bad would that make my car run like it is?

 

I believe they were Bosch Platnium 2 or +2,something like that. They were not the cheapest but not the most expensive either.

 

Avoid Bosch Platinums. NGK or die

FYI Maximas dont have distributors. The lightning, so to speak, is in each ignition coil. They have a tendency to go bad and cause stumbling.

replace ignition coil #3 1st. Cylinders 1,3, and 5 are the rear bank. 1 is passenger side, 3 is middle, 5 is drivers side.

Cylinders 2,4, and 6 are the front bank. 2 is on the end by the radiator overflow. 6 is next to the battery. 4 is the one in-between, of course.

Knock sensor don't worry about. It's a very minor issue which has nothing to do with your car right now.

Replace the primary O2 sensor......well, like the knock sensor I dont think this is causing your major stumbling. Anyhow, to change it, if you follow the front exhaust manifold down the O2 sensor is at the bottom of the Y, so to speak. The Y being the front and rear exhaust pipes joining at the bottom to go to the catalytic converter.

 

Will I need to replace the whole coil like the part with the plug too or just the boot part? B/c the whole coil with the plug is $70+ and just the boot part is around $10. In case that didnt make any sense would I need just this

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/par...10_13149_11110

or this?

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/par...2_442032_5224_

Thank you for the detailed response! I hope if I replace that it will fix my problem. Is there any way to tell if the coil is bad just by looking at it or do i have to replace it to find out if that was my problem?

 

Replace the entire coil. You can get OEM used for like $30 at car-part.com. Some people have also had good experience with autozone coils so its up to you.

All the tests for coils only work when a coil has completely failed. When a coil is kindof failing, it gets very very hard to tell. Luckily your computer told you to check #3.

 

The 2nd link is the entire coil which you should get. Also keep in mind that the front 3 coils are different from the back 3. That 2nd link looks like the front coil but you should confirm.

 

Ok well thanks again for your help. Looks like Ill try replacing the number 3 coil first and just go from there. But the only thing is,the first time I got the codes read it did say number 3 was misfiring and then the second time the codes were read it just said multiple misfires and it didnt really say which cylinders it was. Also when I changed my plugs the plug in cylinder 5 was the plug that was giving me trouble and had the plastic stuck on it and was the worst looking plug out of all of them and plug from number 3 looked ok. So could the codes have came up wrong? Like could number 5 be the problem but for some reason it came up on the codes as number 3? And with my luck Ill probably need to replace all six plugs and all six coils too!

 

You think I would have any luck getting them at a junk yard? Or you think they would be bad already?

 

No way!! Dont do it. U just got the car. Buy everything new that's your best bet.. Just buy the parts and take it to your local mechanic. It shouldn't cost you no more than $100 to get everything install. Junk yard is a 50/50 chance UNLESS your mechanically incline

 

Dude im gonna tell you what to do and do it exactly like tgis

Throw away the bosch plugs you put in. Pick up ngk copper and put those in.

Step 2 go to the junkyard and pull the coils from another maxima. Oem or bust. Dont ask me how i know.

Step 3 dont pay a mechanic to do any of this. It takes all of 30mins to swap plugs and coils. Phmor has many diy repairs on youtube

tep 4 look up the thread i told you about in my first post and do that hit.

Step 5 thank me for having your car up and running for under 70 bucks.

Ignore the spelling mistakes im on my phone

 

thousand

 

Think about it, when a car gets junked, do you think the reason it was junked was because of the coils? Sure, there is a risk, but the risk is very small. My car is running great right now with 3 OEM junkyard coils.

 

I would suggest that you go to autozone, buy a coil, use it to test since you know it is good. Then return it. Go buy one at the junkyard. That way, you have a good base line. Will save you money.

Look for pmohr's video on the knock sensor and replace it.

 

i would suggest against autozone coils, unless you feel like playing with a P1320 code

 

Thanks to everyone for your help! I really appreciate it. Im on my way to the junkyard now. I just hope they have the coils. And I was planning on doing all the work myself. It takes me about 20mins to take coils/plugs out in that car,so there is no way I would pay a mechanic a couple hundred to do such a small job. Again thanks for all the responses and help! This seems like a very good forum and Ill be around for a while,well I guess as long as I have my Max! After I get back from the junkyard and replace the coils I will post back and let everyone know what happened.

 

no problem man, just learn to use the search function. trust me 99.9% of all your questions even the stupid ones can be found there.

and follow my steps exactly.

 

Let me rephrase what I said. If you're mechanically incline DO IT YOURSELF

 

I got all 6 coils from the junkyard yesterday and just went ahead and replaced all 6 in my car. After I replaced them my car ran great. It didnt sputter or hesitate at all. But after driving it all day yesterday at around 11pm when I was on my way home the car did start acting up again. Not nearly as bad as it was before but it did sputter some. I hope I didnt get a bad coil or one thats about to go out or something. Im going to take the car to a garage and have them look at it and tell me the exact problem. Im getting really aggravated with this. Im guessing its a bad or going bad coil again or maybe the plugs are bad already since I got cheap ones.

 

If it is a bad coil is there something that could be making the coils go bad sooner than they should? Or did I just maybe get one that was already bad?

 

Its very possible that you just got a bad coil from the JY. Did your CEL come back on?

 

did you change to NGK's?

 

could still be an issue with the MAF. Mine went out a few years back and the driving was erratic and horrible. Until I figured out what it was, I wanted to drive it into a tree. Replaced the MAF, ran like new, hasn't done it since. You might try pulling one of those from the JY or getting some MAF cleaner and giving that a shot, if you're still having issues, that is. Any change in MIL codes since you swapped coils?

 

Like others suggested try cleaning your MAF. Use electrical parts cleaner from radio shack.

Also, don't throw away all your old coils. Some may be bad some won't. They dont all die at the same time, and, if anything, the rear coils tend go bad before the front coils. This has to do with the fact the the back of the engine doen't get as much air cooling as the front. Over years and years this heat soak takes its toll on parts at the back end of the motor. Valve cover gaskets are the same way, always the rear ones first.

 

The CEL was still on after I swapped coils. It will probably always be on due to the O2 sensor from the cat. being removed.

No,not yet.

Thanks for the suggestion I will have to try cleaning the MAF and see if that helps. Not sure if any of the codes have changed,I did not get it checked again since I swapped coils. I need to do that asap though.

Yea I will try cleaning the MAF and see if that helps. I didnt throw away any of the old coils. I know all of my old ones are not bad so I kept them in case I needed a back up or if I did get a bad or going bad coil from the junkyard.



My car is running 100% better than it was before switching out the coils. So for right now,Im happy with it. Even though it still sputters,it doesnt do it very often and its not that bad when it does so I can live with it,for now. I am still going to try cleaning the MAF like some have suggested and Im also going to replace the fuel filter to see if that helps,which it couldnt hurt replacing it anyways. And I will eventually switch to better spark plugs,like the NGK.

 

duude cmon, ngk are only 15 bucks for all 6. do it. your vq will thank you.

try cleaning the maf, if nothing happens, try to borrow someone else's maf. if yours is bad and not triggering a CEL cleaning it wont do squat.

fuel filter is a bi*tch and a half to get out. The way i did it was to drive the car for no more than 7 minutes to get all the hoses heated up so they pulled out easier. Good luck

 

I would have replaced just that #3 coilpack and gone from there.....When you don't resolve your problem individually, by doing a shotgun effect problem solving techniques it lends to more confusion....When you received that 1 misfire code on he #3 coilpack....I would have swapped #1 with #3 and seen if the problem transferred to #1....Then you would know it's a bad coil....You can place a timing light on the coilpack wiring harnes an veiw the coilpack in operation and if it's missing you'll see it...OK Gl!

 

I agree that you shouldn't replace 6 coils all at once just because it's easier than troubleshooting. It seems that coil 3 failed and you also said that plug number 5 had plastic stuck to it (these coils can break) so you could have checked those 2 first. Also, change to NGK copper plugs in any 4th gen maxima. The next thing to do is clean the egr guide tube (it's not that hard once you know where to look, might scrape a knuckle) and while you're doing that clean out the throttle body and MAF. This should be done whenever you buy a 4th gen because it gets very clogged, mine was getting probably 10% of the air that it should have. Always replace gaskets too.
And yes change your fuel filter every 12,000 miles. Some cars NEVER have this done.

 

12k miles....thats a bit extreme....every 30K for the fuel filter is fine.

Also, a clogged fuel filter wont cause stumbling, but a bad FPR might. TWIZTID, you should change your FPR.

 

1) Throw away those Bosch plugs and replace them with NGK platinum.

2) OEM ignition coils ONLY or you'll be back posting that you got a P1320 code.

3) Replace the o2 sensor. Bad o2 sensors causes rough idle/loss of power, poor fuel economy.

4) Lastly, replace the Knock sensor...OEM. A bad knock sensor = retard timing = lame performance.

Good luck.

 

I missed the Bosch plugs post......Yeah throw that crap in the trash....Bosch don't work in Japanese vehicle never have nor do the work in force inducted cars.....I'm too sure they even work in German cars!!!!!

 

I recently installed some E3 plugs in my 98 Maxima....they do feel a little more responsive than the plugs I removed, but I'll be cleaning my EGR next!