Okay. Straight forward. I'm new here, a self-taught amateur mechanic, and just got an 02 or 03 Maxima yesterday (10/12/20) for cheap. Got told it just needed valve cover gaskets and tires. Well soon after arriving at the place the car was parked, me and my friend set to work replacing the valve covers. The front middle ignition coil came out broken. The rear driver side coil also came out broken but was burnt to the point that some of it stuck to the spark plug. Managed to run it on 5 cylinders to my friend's house and park it. Does anyone know what would cause an ignition coil to burn up like that? Besides a bad coil.

 

Just a thought that maybe the spark plug had a short? I'm not sure but someone prob has an idea.

 

Don't know. Swapped out the plugs and the burnt up coil just in case though.

 

usually, when a coil is physically damaged it's because someone did something to it. I've had many coils go out and they just stop working and that's it. even coils that were inside of oil-filled spark plug tubes came out without any damage

the worst issue I ever had with a coil is removing an aftermarket one and the seal fit real tight around the spark plug. it was a pain to get out.

as for the valve cover, if you picked up a cheap aftermarket one get some good quality gaskets from the parts store. from my experience, the cheap aftermarket valve covers come with a gasket that gets hard and brittle in like a month and starts to leak....

 

Picked up some decent coils and the rear valve cover from a junkyard earlier today. Saved a lot and all of them seem to be fine. Put the car back together when I got home and ran it around the block for a test drive. No issues, thankfully. And thanks for the advice about aftermarket valve covers, I'll make sure to steer clear of them for the time being.

 

you actually installed used valve covers from a junkyard?

there's a good chance that oil may leak into the spark plug tubes. the plug tube seals on these valve covers can't be changed so it's recommended to not reuse the valve covers.

 

Yeah. I did. It was that or reuse the one that had two broken bolts in it.

 

a year and a half ago I picked up a cheap set of valve covers from ebay and they started to leak in like a month. the seller sent me a new set so when I got them I picked up a set of gaskets from Autozone and installed them with those gaskets. those cheap aftermarket valve covers come with a real cheap gasket that hardens and eventually leaks.

 

Yikes. That sucks.
Well, I got the valve cover from an 04 Maxima. It fits and the gaskets looked good. Except for the calve cover gasket, I swapped that out for a new one I bought several days ago before putting it on.

 

at least it's from an 04, I heard they have better valve covers. did the plug tube seals go on tightly? that would be the main thing I would worry about.

 

Slipped on fairly smoothly.

 

the seals are supposed to seal tightly on the spark plug tubes

 

They did. 'Fairly smoothly' just means with little trouble other than some cuss words and frustration to me.

 

I like it.

 

I'm a certified moron/dumbass. And I'm proud of it.

 

Class A or Class B?

 

Yes.

 

I've only seen that happen on overheated motors.

my 2 cents.