Should I replace all my ignition coils?

What you are asking is a judgment call. For the most part, things like ignition coils are either good or bad and do not have a predictable life. OTH, the Nissans of that vintage that we have in the family seem to have a habit of losing coils one-by-one after about 100K. The Nissan certified tech in the family says he prefers the Nissan coils for replacement in the shop but, he has no evidence that the aftermarket coils are inferior if a name brand is used. The big things seems to be that the originals were not up to Nissan par and most of the better brand aftermarket and the OEM Nissan replacements are better than the originals. If I were only losing one a year, I would be tempted to just lay a spare on the shelf for replacement as required; but then, I hate throwing out perfectly good expensive parts. OTH, if it were my wife's car, I would never hear the end of it if it had a third failure of the same thing and I hadn't traded the car if necessary to fix it.

Lugnut

If it's the car you drive around town and you can live with a little unncertainty then just wait for the rest to fail. OTOH if it is a family member's car and that person happens to be female I would replace them all now. The price difference between Pep Boys and the dealer is not all that great. I would use the factory parts.

Twice each month, round trip to the food store, three miles.Once every two months to a discount tobacco store, round trip, ten miles.Once every three months to the veterinary supply store for a big bag of dog food, round trip, thirteen miles.Ths week I need to drive to the American Automobile Insurance Agency office and write a check for $149.00 for the next six months liability insurancy policy for my 1978 Dodge van, round trip, eight miles.Once each year on Christmas to visit friends, that adds up to about thirty miles.

I can buy a new van (I like big vans) or a late model van if I want to.But no more miles than I drive each year, I don't see how a new or late model van would benefit me.I guess I really should get out more. cuhulin

With that kind of mileage, keep your old van. If you need to put a junkyard engine in it, or swap a tranny, give me a yell, and if Im not too tied up, I'll come down and pull a wrench with you.

I would just buy one and put in the spare tire well with whatever tool you need to change it. If another one fails just pull off at a convenient spot and change it..

'Course if you have a non mechanical person regularly driving the car it might be better to just replace them.

Steve B.

I still regularly drive my 60s cars thousands of miles per year and have never once been left stranded on the side of the road. I know when the maintenance needs to be done and take care of it in a timely fashion.. I know what parts are going to fail on me (like the $5 ballast resistor) and change them once a year regardless. Cars might have rusted quicker in the good ol' days but with modern lubricants most 60's engines would run as many miles as most current ones and the rest of the drive trains would easily outlast the new ones.

Fuel injection is a great thing and without the emissions controls on the cars now we would probably all be dead from the pollution so the electronics have some great selling points but the integration and prices on some of that stuff is just crazy. Like the voltage regulator in the computer that goes and you have to replace a several hundred dollar computer instead of a ten dollar voltage regulator. For the life of me I can't figure out what the great advantage was to justify this change or the many others like it.

Steve B.

I had exactly the same symptoms on a Saturn once -- Turned out I had replaced spark plug wires with the wrong ones.

BTW, single coil for my old Dodge '82 Slant Six was less than $20 about three years ago.

And it ain't just the American public; coils are now that way all the way around the world...

Pete