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2000 Maxima rpms go down and up at idle / low mpg

Hi,

Just bought 3 weeks ago a 2000 Maxima GXE with 45500 miles on it - my first car :). After I left it at an airport for a week, i got a SES light and noticed rpm fluctuation at idle. I took the car to the dealer and they "fixed" the light. I dont know what was wrong since the guy wasnt there when i picked it up (the other guy said "probably oxygen sensor"). But the rpm fluctuation remained. The pattern is like this:

Every ~2 mins it drops to a little above 500 and car starts to vibrate, shakes a little a couple of times and then goes up to normal. This is more pronounced when the engine is cold. I changed the stock airfilter to K&N and filled the tank 2 times with injector cleaner. I also took it to a non-dealer mechanic and he found no obvious problems with the car, but regapped the plugs.

It also seems to eat a lot of gas. I estimate I get about 10 mpg. It seems low even for driving in the city in cold weather. Other than that it does not seem to have any other problems.

Do these simptoms ring any bells? Any recommedations, suggestions?

Thanks, Tim

Reply to
timd
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Tell the dealer you are getting 10mpg. That is way low and should indicate a red flag. I've never ever gottten less than 20mpg with my 2000 GXE, including city winter driving.

Reply to
Mike

Tim, I've been having the same problem on my 2000 GLE w/ 77,000 miles. Just took it in today and had the ignition coils replaced. This is a known problem. Here is a clip from carsurvey.com. I spent $650 to fix.

Most Nissan Maxima from year 95-00 have ignition coil problem. This year car uses distributorless and was a first designed by Nissan. Instead of using a single coil with distributor, it uses each individual ignition coil for each individual cynlinder. The coils have a flaw design that caused one or more engine misfire after you have driven ~50K on it. Nissan knew this problem, but did not offer a recall, rather re-designed the replacement coils more reliable. New Maxima is using this new design coil. Replace these coils are not cheap (over $700 parts and labor) for 95-00 Maxima owner, most dealer recommended to replace all six coils even only one cynlinder found misfire. There is Nissan Maxima Group in groups.google.com where you can find sources of how to read ECM code and replace new coils your self. It may save you hundreds of dollars.

Hope this helps. Sorry for the bad news. Tom

Reply to
thomaseddie

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