Hey Guys! I need some direction. My 99 Maxima has been acting up for a while now -- when I accelerate the service engine soon light blinks on and off rapidly, then stays on and the car kind of coughs when I am standing still (in drive or park) -- then sometimes the service engine soon light goes out and all is well--wierd! I had my car inspected recently and it passed but a code was returned. This code is the cylinder 5 misfire -- I assume I need a new coil and possibly a plug as well.

My question: how do I know where the #5 cylinder is located? Are they numbered? Is it #'s 1,3,5 are closest to the front of the car and 2,4,6 at the rear? Thank you for your help! - signed, Maxima damsel in distress

 

-1- -3- -5-
-2- -4- -6-

This is if you are standing in front of the car with the hood open. number five is located on the drivers side furthest back. It sounds like a fuel injector, same exact symptoms i had and it ended up being a fuel injector. its a pain to replace since its under the intake plenum. plus the two philips head screws that hold the injector are Shotty. i had to grab them with a plyers since the philips head stripped away.

1st check spark plug
2nd swap coils and see if a different cylinder misfires
3rd check resistance of fuel injector by tapping into the wiring harness.

Personally once again sounds like a fuel injector

 

check your injector too, not sure which one is #5 though...

Nick.

 

I think you have it right with the front being 1,3,5 then the back being 2,4,6. Someone correct me if I'm wrong,

but I know how to defiantely find it, is when your car is running plug and unplug a coil pack at a time, and the one coil pack that doesnt seems to affect the engine would be the deffective one.

but hopefully someone else can chime in an give definate info so that you wont have to do that.

 

Thank you all very much for your input. You know - my friend seems to think it may be the fuel injector too...

We are going to clear the code, test the coils by switching (as suggested) to see if the problem still happens - then go from there. I will post what we find out. I am so glad this website exists - it's so helpful! :-)