So my Maxima is a 2003 6 speed, with 80xxx miles on it. Have owned it for over four years now. She eats oil but that is besides the point. For about the past 6 months I have been getting a check engine light and then it would go away. Some times I would think it was bad gas.

I had my friend scan it and came up as multiple cylinder misfire. If I ever want to get on the gas the car would rev up then just fall flat and feel like I am hitting a brick wall around the 4-5k mark. Then once it hits that 5k mark it feels like it is bouncing off the rev limiter. I noticed the intake has gotten louder too.

The other morning while driving to work I noticed my check engine light popped on and flashed 10 times. I am rather confused by this and have some thoughts on what it could be myself. I do not want to just start throwing money at the car and buying new parts that are not needed, while wasting time and the little money I have.

Car has original spark plugs, original cat, original O2 sensors ect... Basically everything on the car is original except for a couple mods. Yes I actually changed out the original brakes around 60k (just the front) and I am still rocking the original rear brakes.

To me the problem is seeming like a misfire issue. I pulled out the front plugs and they looked like white ****... My coil packs have the gray dots on them.

It just bugs me that the damn car can be doing this without having a check engine light on the dash.

Any inputs would be greatly appreciated.

 

So everyone is just going to look at my thread and not respond?

 

I wouldn't think long... I've gotten my car 4 month ago with 112xxx on it.

did spark plugs and wires right away as i didn't know what kind of person the previous owner was. additionally i would recommend a lot of other things to do, but this is the first and cheapest step you can do by yourself.

see if it solves the problem and let us know

 

It's a little confusing. You say your friend ran a diagnostic scan. What code was it exactly? You said the CEL popped on, but then you say there is no CEL lit on the dash. Which one?

 

1. It's a seven year old, things are going to need replacement.

2. You should look up your codes for diagnosis.

3. It sounds like your MAF is bad?

4. Bad coil(s) or sparkplugs?

5. Oil in sparkplug wells causing misfire.


I would start with plugs.


Good luck.

 

Multiple cylinder misfire. As I stated but may have not been clear... Check engine light came on months ago, disappeared, came back again, disappeared ect... and car ran like ****. Then a couple weeks ago driving to work the check engine light flashed 10 times.

 

Yes I know it is old now, and if the MAF sensor was bad I don't think the car would rev past 2500 rpm. I would lean more towards bad spark plugs and the possibility of oil in the spark plug tubes.

How does this sound as a plan... Intake Manifold spacer kit, spark plugs, New valve covers (6th gen) with gaskets and spark plug tube gaskets. All total should run me about 400 dollars.

 

What do you think of my post?

 

There's varying levels of MAF failure. It's just known to be completely shot if it doesn't rev past 2500 (or if the car is thrown into limp mode).

 

How much oil does the car eat?

I used to have a 2000 Civic that burned a quart of oil every 600 miles, and what eventually happened after 2 years driving like this was all the oil burning caused the cat to clog up, and I would get a catalytic converter inefficiency code plus multiple misfire codes.

If you're burning like 1 quart every 1K or less mileage, clogged cats could be a possible cause of the multiple misfires. Otherwise, you're almost up for a spark plug change anyways (manufacturer reco is at 100K), so you might as well try replace those, do the PCV valve since it's in the area, and check to see if the valve cover has cracked or not (it'll most likely be cracked if you remove the coil from cylinder 5 and see the inside drenched in oil. Good luck. It would help if the CEL stayed on so you could get some codes to work with.