Please do not laugh.... after reading this board I want to check the plugs on my '01 SE 5sp, but nothing under the hood looks remotely like a spark plug.... can anyone give me a pointer? (preferably with a picture).

BTW I have been doing light maintenance work on my cars (all 4 bangers before)..... and I have a relatively good sense about the stuff under the hood.

 

Take a look at the top/front of your engine. You will see 3 black plugs. Under these square looking plugs are the spark plugs. You are having problems because there is not a distrubitor or a pack of electonic distrubitors, as they are on each plug.

Sorry for no Pic.

 

You've been doing maintenence and can't find the plugs? 3 in front, 3 in back...OK they are recessed in the head so they are not obvious to see I suppose.

The coils sit directly above the plugs and you'll need a 12" extension to reach them. Don't strip...lefty lucy righty tighty- always reinstall by hand for the first few turns on a COLD engine.

The line below is the front of your car...the dots are the plugs. Just look where the 3 big wires are going in to the front bank- same for rear (firewall bank). You might wanna disco some of the cables for more clearance etc. in the back. If you have a plastic cover in the front (ususally grey says nissan-sites over the head you'll have to remove it to see the coils. Once the coils are removed you'll see a tube- they are deep inside that tube- (due to overhead valves). The coils are very easy to remove...1 bolt I believe. You should diconect the battery first and don't mix up the order on reinstall.

Transverse/fwd engine configuration (it sits sideways)

REAR
...
...
_____
*FRONT* *'s are headlights (;

This is a very simple job- trust me. Check the gap is correct on the new plugs. Hope this helps.

 

Just to nitpick, ours use Overhead Cams... it's not an OHV design (the camshaft isn't in the block).

 

We do have an over head cams- that's why the plugs are in deep in the head- what r u talking about?

You said...
"ours use Overhead Cams"=TRUE
"it's not an OHV design"=??? If it uses over head cams...obviously it was designed that way? Not to nitpick...but did you drink last night?

 

this should help...
http://www.nissanx.net/tanman/

 

I did have a woodchuck apple cider, yes... (that barely made me warm in the face, shouldn't have had anything to do with it )

"OHV" (Overhead Valve) commonly refers to valvetrain designs with a camshaft in the block, pushrods going between the block and the heads which operate the rocker arms. At least that's what I've read...

So the lingo goes "OHV" for pushrod valvetrains, and "SOHC" or "DOHC" for overhead cam designs

Anyway, this is OT, so I'll stop

 

So on a scale of 1-5 how hard is it to do the spark plugs?

 

Depends on how your scale relates. Doing spark plugs is a b*tch if you break something or lose a bolt or whatnot, but if you do it perfectly, it's probably a little longer than the whole job of removing your throttle body restrictor plate (removing intake, reinstalling and all).

 

the fronts will take about 5 minutes. the back, about 25. the first time i did
it, i did it in about 1/2 hour. i think i could do it now in about 20.
if you're familiar with cars, just dig into it. you'll git er done. use tanmans write up.

 

cool I will give it a shot.

 

For most it's easy but getting to the back ones can be a ***** and be VERY careful to hand tighten them back in. If you strip the threads on the head your ^%$*'d. With 5 being tough, I give it a 2.5.

 

Gotcha...I just never heard of OHV in my 20 years of working on cars. I've heard of SOHC...all valves are over head. Usually when they say over head, they are referring to the CAM, not the Valves. No car has valves below the head or in the block, except for bikes that use reeds and rotary motors which are a different animal all together. Suffice to say we are talking symantics. We both have the right idea- the max has over head cams.

 

Yep, indeed. I like this illustration: http://www.ukcar.com/features/tech/E...valvetrain.htm
But I am confused... What the hell is the point of the OHV design? OHC makes so much more sense... OHV looks like something designed by a mad scientist to torture the sane world and keep masochistic mechanics in business

 

you people with the 2001 or older dont know how lucky you are to exchange your plugs. the 2002+ you have to remove your whole intake manifold to even see the back 3.

 

Aw I thought I had to take all that off. WHEW . . . . . . .

 

I did my spark plugs about three weeks ago and the biggest problem I had was getting the 10mm bolts started to hold down the coil. I dropped one and spent about 20 minutes fishing it out.

It took me about a hour for replacing the coils and spark plugs.