The car is a 2000 Maxima GLE with a little over 80,000 miles. The "Check Engine Light" had supposedly been on since I got it, and was on so long that the original bulb on the cluster had burnt out. I did not realize it was on until I changed out all the cluster bulbs to LEDs late last year. The car also had an issue that it would stall while in park and struggle when idling.

I took the car to a local repair shop, they gave me the codes (which I don't have with me, but they pointed towards "multiple piston misfire" and something with the ignition coils) and informed me that this was beyond their ability to fix, and I would have to take it to a dealership. I took it to a local Nissan dealership who said they could repair it in about 3 days. After 3 days, I recieved a call saying they would need it for the whole weekend because they needed to order ignition coils. However, I recieved a call that weekend stating that they could not fix it.

I went to pick it up, and the mechanic said he would be there. He was not. In fact, the dealership had lost the keys and had to spend 20 minutes looking for them. When they did find it, I went out back to get the car and take it back home. When I started it, it sounded really different an the "Check Engine Soon" light was blinking. I put it in R, and the whole car began to shake violently. I proceeded down the highway going only about 40 mph tops. The engine was revving like crazy but not going very fast at all.

When I got home, I examined the car. When the ignition was on, it would emit excessive emissions and would smell terrible. I turned it off, checked the engine bay, and to my amazement: two of the six ignition coils were DISCONNECTED. I promptly reconnected them, and it briefly seemed to work fine. However, the cars performance seemed to gradually deteriorate during that week. But, the stalling issue (why I brought it to the dealership) seemed to be fixed.

I recontacted the dealership and the mechanic who worked on my car. After I scolded him for the condition they left my car in, he told me that they "upped the idle" (Which I don't know what that means) but that the engine or the electrical system had problems. They told me it could be caused by aftermarket wiring (meaning, the aftermarket fog lamps and headlights which are both aftermarket). He further advised me to take it to another local mechanic. I did so, and that mechanic was also unable to determine the problem.

Two days ago, I contacted Nissan North America, and a represenative took my story and issue as a dispute and directed it to a regional office. I am waiting to hear back from them on Monday.

My question is, has anyone either had this problem before, or contacted Nissan for faulty work by a dealership?

 

If your CEL is blinking that means you have a Cylinder Misfire and if the dealer said they were going to order ignition coils that means that they think you have a bad coil or coils. $100 says it is indeed a coil or coils bad. When you replace them..use only OEM (Nissan) coilpacks...do not use parts store coil packs, they will throw the same code you have right now (should be P1320).

And your dealer sounds like an idiot, never use the dealer..unless you want your wallet to get raped with no lube

 

Always consult with the FSM and make sure you can narrow down the list of possible failed parts.

 

What will end up happening with Nissan North America is they will start a file and essentially get your side of the story. They will contact the dealership and get their side of the story. In the end all dealerships are privately owned and Nissan can't make them do anything. They can hit them with a customer complaint but all that does is go against that dealerships ability to win service awards. If its a good dealership they will attempt to do something to keep your business.

I'm on my third Nissan and with each of them I've had drastically different experiences with dealerships. My first was a 91 Max and that car never gave me a single problem of any kind. The second was 03 350 and the dealership I worked with for that car is on par with one of the greatest I've ever worked with. Amazing customer service and I wish I still lived near them because the current car caused me to go to war with the dealership/NNA. So many problems with the dealership I won't go into but the bottom line is that they're incompetent. Rage all I want Nissan couldn't do anything to help me and the dealership was so unprofessional/unwilling to make things right. Sorry for the story but I hope you are working with one of the good dealerships cause they do exist.

 

I fail to see faulty work. You picked it up before they were finished. Some coils were still unplugged from their diagnostic work. Unless they claimed to fix something, you cant expect it to be any better than when it went in, espicially if you picked it up before they were even done putting it back together.

 

Soon as you noticed the car was behaving the way you say it was, you should have walked back into the dealership and left the car with them. Why take the car off the lot if you know it's not running properly?