I was doing my rear valve cover gasket and when I removed my ignition coils they were hard to remove. They finally came out but there was a spring exposed on the end. Is this normal? Did something happen, I'm waiting on a throttle body gasket to come in to complete the job, but I'm wondering why those were hard to pull out and if having the spring exposed at the end is expected. From the pictures of other ignition coils I've seen online they didn't have that kinda round bulb at the end. Plus the down tube seemed to be thicker than the ones I'm seeing online, but I could be wrong. Are they a different type/style? I guess I could remove one again easily enough and take a picture.

 

You’ve separated the coil boots ... the long tubes attached to the coil. There’s a spring inside the boot tube and there’s a rubber boot at the very bottom of that tube that attaches to and seals to the spark plug.

Based on what you’ve described, it appears that your spark plug boot is stuck to your spark plug and your boot tube has separated from it exposing the spring.

Use needle nosed nose pliers to grab and pull the spring out.

Spray a little bit of WD40, or the like, into the spark plug orifice and let it sit for a bit.

Use long handled/long nosed needle nosed pliers to feel down into the spark plug orifice for the rubber plug boot. Grab it, twist it, wiggle it and get it off the plug and out of the orifice.

Be careful not the break the spark plug.

Once the boot is off, remove the spark plug as normal.

When reinstalling your coils, apply some dielectric grease to the spark plug terminals.

 

ok so... what if i just insert them back in, would they be ok? would everything operate as normal? or are they now no good? or do I have to actually put the boot back on?

 

I'd pull out the part that got stuck on the spark plug and inspect. Reassemble off the car and see how well it stays together when you gently pull on it. Use dielectric grease as stated to avoid future issues.

 

The coil has seperated from the coil boot with the spring. Get a Long nose needle pliers and pull and or twist it out with some patience that boot should be out but use some liquid lube to help it come out at ease.

 

They are done for. Yeah, you can try to repair them, if you want major headaches. Get it cleaned up like everyone else said and replace them with OE replacements

 

either the needle nose pliers or a double sided gasket puller is what i used on mine, but please do not stick them back in, i think thats what did my headgasket in when i ran it in total time of 2 days. If you want to pull the rear right coil pull the 2 12mm bolts holding the purge solenoid and lift it off using the rubber hoses to keep it on, and pull that sucker without removing the manifold

 

4th gen Maxima's were the easiest to replace spark plugs and ignition coils on. Super easy like 10 mins. Now a days everything is tucked under the manifold.

 

You can order the boots only from Rock Auto if you need them...GL...Dielectric grease is your savior use it religiously!