I have 2000 Maxime SE with 74K miles that I just brough in when the check engine light came on. The dealer is telling me that a coil is bad, but that the diagnostic code is not indicating which one it is. It would cost $850 to change all six. Currently, the car is running great, no engine problems whatsoever.

It seems crazy to spend $850 when the car is running great. What typically happens when a coil(s) does go bad? My wife often drives this car with two kids so I don't want her stranded somewhere. Do they typically slowly deteriorate or do can they fail quickly?

Secondly, how hard are the coils to change? I'm by no means a mechanic, but I've managed to stumble my way through changing things like an alternator before. Any special tools needed? Any non-mechanics attempted this at home? How long might it take?

Thanks.

 

they are BSing you they want you to spend the 70 dollars to come back and find out which one is bad.. take it somewhere else and see what they say.. shop around

 

the parts just like around $60 for each...replace 6 cost u $300.. u can do it by urself..easy!!

 

Ok, they are $70 at Autozone. Is there a manual or procedure somewhere that tells how to change the things?

 

front ones aren't to bad. just gotta take the cover off the engine, unplug coil, take out the screw holding it in, then pull it out...then put the new one back in, plug it in and tighten the screw back down.

the rear ones are a bit more difficult to get to

 

i just ordered all 6 coils for $325 shipped overnight. total install time was under 2 hours, with a break and install of all 6 new sparkplugs.