Jace1283

iTrader: (1)

UPDATE: I bought one coil from napa at school and it was only $51! Sure beats $97.50 at nissan. Both coils have 4 lines of numbers/letters, the first threee lines are identical, the 4th has 4 numbers but theyr different on the replacement. My conclusion, exactly the same, hopefully better. Since i put the coil in i have not had the bad misfire that was getting much more frequent and popping the P0300 code before i replaced the coil. I still have a less than perfectly smooth idle so i'm guessing its the other coils beginning to fail. I'm still crossing my fingers though.

The Symptoms
-Engine shakes heavily.
-Idle has funny vibrations.
-Only happens right when turned on and if it goes away it won't come back until the next time the car is turned on in which it may or may not happen
-Happens sometimes but not much when cold but when it does it seems to go away within seconds or minutes.
-Happens the worst when the car is warm and turned on, engine light flashes and/or comes on solid with a P0300 multiple cylinder misfire code.
-Two times when i jiggled the connectors/tap coils the engine works, but very possibly a coincidence.
-From who i've talked to (techs or former techs) it seems to be the coils.

It's a 2003 Maxima 3.5L 6-Speed with 49K miles
a couple of times weeks or months ago i turned on my car and the engine was shaking but went away quickly and not as quick for the more recent times. On monday i drove to a store and it was fine, when i turned my car on to leave(still warm) it was shaking and wouldn't go away. I started driving and it went away.
Today i come home from school, 14 mi., and stop to get gas (93 as usual) and its doing it again after i fill up and start, so i start driving and it doesn't go away. I think there was a loss of power which makes complete sense but i was babying it because it was shaking. higher the rpm, the more shake and this time the SERVICE ENGINE SOON light comes on!

Anyone know what the problem is?? I have ideas but i'll let the responses come first
thanks!

UPDATE: i'm taking my dads truck to work so i went to pull my car in the garage and it starts and runs fine and the light is gone! it was flashing before. Very weird, not sure what going on but im sure it will happen again...

hayai240sx

Scan tool is your best fwend ...

NmexMAX

iTrader: (22)

AutoZone is a nice place too.

Jace1283

iTrader: (1)

^ hey speds, the engine light went off. Now i remember why i haven't come here in months and months

hayai240sx

Hey, you came to this forum crying, because your SES lights came on ... Get a scan tool or go to Autozone to avoid posting useless threads ...

shoman94

iTrader: (4)

Best thing to do is get a scan tool or use the onboard "count the flash" way to find what code or codes come up...then look up the codes and try to find out what you problem is.

02theMax

iTrader: (2)

Sounds like a misfire to me. I'd pull the codes first to determine the root cause and probably check the spark plug galleys for oil. The valve covers are notorious for leaking which may have caused your misfire, just a thought. GL and post your results.

Jace1283

iTrader: (1)

only one crying is you about these threads that are not useless. What am i suppose to think when i have a problem? "oh, guess i can't go to the maxima forums to talk to people who have the same car as me who could help me and imagine this, maybe even had the same problem. Nooo why would i think that, talk to a community of maximas, so silly of me" But your from WA, so no explanation necessary, come back when you've been here after a year, rookie.

anyway, thanks for the help y'all, but i know i need to scan it but these symptoms are very specific and if it has happened to someone else i'd like to know. Is it really so unlikely that someone could read my post and have had the same problem? no, it isn't. If i turn it on and its running well i'm gonna bring it to school and scan it there, suspecting coils but will scan first, of course.

The light most likely came on because of the catalytic converter. Unburned fuel was probly making its way to it and it was getting extremely hot to the point of almost melting which is why the light may flash, it is off now and car ran fine like i said when i pulled it in my garage.
Will Update

hayai240sx

Yes, I'm a rookie but it seems like I have a little more sense than you do.

I'm just trying to help you out man. Pull codes, eliminate problem then go from there... that's all... don't have to flame, jeez .

NmexMAX

iTrader: (22)

If this indeed is your poroblem, the cat isn't the root cause, obviously.


Also, hayai240sx does have a valid point because your original post did not have any codes, therefore anyone trying to help you was taking blind shots in pitch black conditions.

madisonmxma

I was also told that a flashing MIL usually indicates a cat problem. It is supposed to flash because it is important from a performance and emmision standpoint, so the driver would get it fixed right away.

NmexMAX

iTrader: (22)

Flashing typically means a misfire. A misfire would lead to a cat code,but it is still not the main problem. Since there is unburned fuel getting into the cat area. Hence why I said this.

Jace1283

iTrader: (1)

what i was looking for is if it has happened to anyone, i'm looking for those 1 to however many that may have had the problems, not peeps guessing, unless they have a good guess.

There is no code and the light ISN'T on, it WAS on only when i was driving and it was flashing

anyway today at at scool we hooked it up to the scanner and it didn't retreive any codes.

from there we used the computer to diagnose. He thought my engine wasn't running quite as smooth as it should and with the scanner he began to shut down fuel injectors one by one. When we shut off cylinder #4 injector there was no difference in the idle showing that that cylinder was not firing properly or at all. We played with the connector and it turned on, we zip tied it tight and we figured the connecter was stretched. Its working ok now but i'm holding my breath. I'm still confused because that has been happening for a while, but the shaking only happened 4 times in the past few months. we'll see

NmexMAX

iTrader: (22)

Could be a coil pack or injector. I'd lean more towards the coil pack.

My 'guesses' weren't 'good' I guess

Jace1283

iTrader: (1)

haha, i appreciate it. Are all the coils the same? Can i buy a coil and carry it around with me and switch it to whatever cylinder is the bad one?

NmexMAX

iTrader: (22)

.

canmax602

I had a similar problem, engine would run ok then run with a misfire. was never constant and never blew a code. after 3mths of screwing around with the dealer and personal endeavors and creating a code by starting the car with the maf disconnected the dealer was able to read the errors and low and behold found out my oxygen sensor was causing the problem..replaced the o2 and sure enough..problem hasn't come back.

Jace1283

iTrader: (1)

what car do you have?

I wanted to see if youd give me more details. see if this sounds like your problem you had. when my car is idling it tends to misfire or something, you get little vibrations but engine seems to run ok once going. The other problem i have is the serious shaking once in a while, its been happening more though. It seems to be in a pattern when shaking meaning it may be one cylinder, thats what it feels like. It only shakes when cold sometimes but goes away quickly. When i run my car then turn it off then get back into it maybe an hour later when it is still warm thats when the shaking happens but doesn't go away unless i wait a long time. i think theres a prob with #4 cylinder, when i unplagged it and plugges it in the prob stopped, maybe a coincidence but probly not. It will only shake bad when started, if it goes away it runs fine after that.

does any of this sound exactly like what was happening to you?

thanks,
Jason

anyone know price$$$$$$$$$ of coils and/or O2 sensor?

imran83

iTrader: (3)

I have the same exact problem....Does anyone have a solution, I too have no codes either

Jace1283

iTrader: (1)

Finally gave a code. I think it was P0300, multiple cylinder misfire and i definately feel it. If i drive the engine shakes and is just running terrible. The engine light starts flashing which means "ow my cat." Really sucks, i hope it works in the morning so i can get it to school. Ruled out coils and plugs, it seems to be all the cylinders. I'm thinkin O2 sensor or MAF, now i have to decide if i want to throw parts at it or take it to the dealership, though it is scary

SoonerFan

iTrader: (5)

take it to the dealership

Jace1283

iTrader: (1)

Finally found someone who recognizes the problems at school and he is very sure it is the coils, he says they do that intermittent crap and sometimes fail at the same time or different times causing the multiple cylinder misfire code. Called the dealer and they said $97 something. Six hundred bucks to fix my car at least theyre somewhat easy to put in except for the back ones.

They fail like that because the transistor is in the coil and not in the PCM so the transistor gives out, not really the coil itself.

99BlackMaxMS

iTrader: (85)

You may also want to get the spark plugs repaced while youre at it. My dad had a 1999 Toyota Solara that began running extremely rough during idle and even worse when driven. The CEL would flash all the time and the car really did not seem safe. The faulty plugs led to misfires, however the plugs werent cheap. It cost about $350 per plug w/ labor. With the addtional tune up his total bill was $2500. The mechanic told him that they werent even sure if they had the problem fixed, and he ended up trading in the car a week later with 51K miles. I loved the damn thing. :'(

I think that his biggest problem was that he did not drive the car enough. Prior to getting his plugs replaced, the mechanic had him run on 93 octane gas w/ a fuel additive to clean the fuel. The car was 8 years old and it only had 51K. He drove the car about 4500 miles a year for the first 6 years. Of those six years it only saw sunlight on weekends, when he was not traveling for work (he used rental cars for the 6 years) When his job changed and travel was not required, he started driving his car normal, averaging about 12K miles in the last 2 years of ownership. I think that because the car sat for so long early in its life, it became liable to problems such as this. I loved the car to be honest, I liked it better than my Max. Just thought id throw that in there....could help you a little bit.

housecor

iTrader: (2)

I've had the EXACT same symptoms over the last few weeks and finally diagnosed it as a bad coil pack today. Keep pulling codes and hopefully you'll catch a specific cylinder misfire. I'd typically get a P0300 (random misfire) but a few times I got a cylinder 6 misfire. Today I swapped the cylinder 6 and cylinder 4 coil packs. And yup, I pulled a cylinder 4 misfire for the first time. Problem diagnosed!

FWIW - Mine is equally sporadic but more common when the temps and engine is cold. My new coil is getting installed tomorrow so update coming. And strangely, whenever I cleared the code the car would run great for a week or so before throwing a code again.

However, my dealer is saying they only replace all 6 coils on the '00-'01's since their coils are more problematic. Perhaps you can get away w/ replacing only one if you can find the culprit.

808MAX-SPEC

iTrader: (7)

I just replaced all six coils yesterday and the car runs fine now. My friend helped me diagnosed my problem. When I found out it was the coils, I purchased all six and did it myself.

Best bet is to figure out which coil is bad and replace it yourself. Have any connections? Friend of a friend?

SuperStasiu

iTrader: (3)

: This is the solution to your problem from the describtion you posted i had similar symptoms and then i got really rough idle so finally i just said a fck it replaced all 6 coils plus new plugs and was done with it.

housecor

iTrader: (2)

I'd much prefer to be doing the coil replacement myself today, but I made the mistake of purchasing an extended warranty that requires the dealer to do the work for me to get compensated. It's a simple job but my Max is tied up for 2 days over it. :|

Jace1283

iTrader: (1)

Actually i think i know some one better, the owner of 3 dealerships including the nissan i bought my car from lives 2 houses down

Thanks for confirming and helping me figure it out. Thank you!

housecor

iTrader: (2)

Just an update - After replacing my single bad car the car is running great again. Also, my dealer stuck to their story that replacing all 6 coils is only necessary on the '00-01 Maximas with the coil problems. I'd say they're right judging by how few 5.5 gen owners have posted coil issues around here.

Jace1283

iTrader: (1)

I bought one coil from napa at school and it was only $51!(i may get a discount) Sure beats $97.50 at nissan. Both coils have 4 lines of numbers/letters, the first three lines are identical, the third has 4 characters but its different numbers. My conclusion, pretty much exactly the same, couldn't be worse. Since i put the coil in i have not had the bad misfire that was getting much more frequent and popping the P0300 code before i replaced the coil. Very easy to replace on the front side. I still have a less than perfectly smooth idle so i'm guessing its the other coils beginning to fail. I'm still crossing my fingers though. If one dies on the backside i'll have to take the manifold off. Incase any one else has this problem dont disconnect and connect coils while the car is running, if your computer catches flyback voltage(probly will) you'll let the smoke out and that costs $$$$