hi guys i started my 99 maxima today and i noticed that it was vibrating a lot when in drive and my foot was on the brake, and while i drove slowly, i looked at the muffler and i saw it was like shooting air every other second not constantly, like puffs, also water was slowly dripping out.

then the servive engine soon light turned on.

i went to the place i bought it and he hooked it up to the snap on scanner and came out witha code for the [/B] knock sensor and 4th cylinder misfire, he put in dry gas and said to return back tommorow.

what could be wrong? i am scared to drive it?

 

check your coil packs

 

you Knock sensor is in need of changing (not hard to change) and you need a new coil pack for cylinder 4, both these issues can be easily repaired under 30mins (for both) by yourself. Please do it yourself cause any shop will automatically charge you more than you should pay to fix these issues.

You'll need a purchase a new coil pack (hopefully soneone can chime in with a link)
and a new Knock Sensor: check www.jerryromenissan.com check the parts catalog I believe he has one on sale for $89.

No need to be scared to drive it, you can still drive it but best bet it to do the reapirs as soon as possible, idle will be crap, and gas milage will suffer.

 

question- does this have anyting to do with water in the gas tank? since i saw water dripping out the tailpipe?

 

please be joking

no it doesn't, water is a byproduct of hydrocarbon combustion

 

water out of the tail pipe is just condensation, nothing to worry about.

 

hi i am curious, if both of these problems happened at once and why, i never got a service engine light before? are these problems related. what is the knock sensor for?

 

no they aren't related - you've probably had the knock sensor out for a while. it's a ghost code so it won't set off a check engine light

read the FAQ's for more info on the knock sensor

good luck

 

how long ago u buy it? make the guy u bought it from fix it lol!!

 

You probably don't need a new knock sensor, don't replace it just yet. The KS code is usually always considered a ghost code when it appears along with other codes. The 99 model is known for failing coil packs. I just changed all 6 on my 99 to get the thing to run correctly.

Replace the cylinder #4 coil pack, clear the error codes and your car should run correctly. Check the ECU again in about a week or two to see if the knock sensor code is present by itself. You will not get a check engine light alerting you for that code. If the knock sensor code is still there, then replace that sensor as well.

A misfire like that can easily trip the knock sensor because the engine is running so poorly. I highly doubt the kS code returns after you fix the misfire.

 

does anyone know about a post on how to clean the 99 coilpack without replacing it?

 

If you have a CEL that means the primary side of the coil is dead and it needs to be replaced.

There is a thread about cleaning the coils, the stalk pulls off the actual coil and the contact inside can be cleaned with metal polish and a Q tip. Just to let you know, the coils on my 99 didn't like being cleaned. I wound up replacing all of them with a set from a wrecked 96 because I could not get the car to run correctly after the cleaning.

 

^did you forget to spray them with carbcleaner after you where done polishing?

 

I Cleaned My Coils W/no Probs And I Didnt Use Carb Cleaner...what u mean it didnt run correctly?