Symptoms of bad coil ?

You're due for plugs. Nissan recommends that you change/check them every

36K. I'd start there since you know you need to. If that doesn't fix it, then check the primary and secondary resistance of each coil. Also do some checks for vaccum leaks and replace the PCV valve while you're at it.

unix-freak wrote: : You're due for plugs. Nissan recommends that you change/check them every : 36K.

Was that just for the '99? I believe for the 2000 Maxima the manual says you don't need new spark plugs for the first 100K miles. I probably won't wait that long on mine (I'm near 40K) but might still wait a few more 10K miles to replace mine...

Andrew

--

----> Portland, Oregon, USA

To Email me remove "MYSHOES" from email address*******************************************************************

My book actually says to check and replace if necessary at 30K, but to replace at 60K.

Personally, I don't really waste my time "checking" plugs. If I'm already there, I replace them.

If you're checking your coils, you're already there....you might want to replace them. At least when you're done, if you still have the problem you'll know it's not coils or plugs.

At $11/plug for the recommended OEM replacements, I don't know anyone else who replaces for convenience to save labor. The plugs are easy to change and expensive, so it doesn't make sense to me to replace before 60k or failing a visual inspection.

The manual suggests 60k replacment as you said, and changing them early is not something I've heard of unless you choose to use non-OEM plugs. If I chose to use $3 autozone "OEM" I would be changing them every 30k.

Dave

Agreed.

At $75/coil, I think I'll check them before replacing them.

Bob

Agree. My plan only applies for normal maintenance, not troubleshooting.

Dave

Hello, My 42,000 miles 99SE has engine light on. Dealer want almost $800 to replace all coils. Trouble code P1320 ( primary ignition faul ). Our master mechanic (not from nissan) do not believe the coils is the problem, but has not able to identify the problem. The car still running fine. We think there is a small bad contact that cause intermittent some where. Any body got other ideas? This problem apply to Maxima 95 and later, which hs the VQ engine and direct ignition.

I had a similar problem on my 99SE. One of the coils would intermittently stop working and then I start feeling the miss fire. When the engine revs high it seems that it goes away but really it doesn't.

My problem was that the coil would stop working for a few minutes (at which it turn the check engine light on). I took it to the dealer but they never were able to figure out which oil it was.

What I did was as soon I felt the engine miss firing, I would stop and start unplugging one cylinder at a time and see if there is a change in the engine miss fire. I was able to identify the bad coil and replaced it.You can only do this while the miss fire is happening, once it goes back to normal you can't really identify the bad coil.

I had 3 different coils go on me different times apart. I replaced them and now all runs fine.

Biggy

If your car is NOT misfiring, definitely do not touch the coils! If you intermittently have trouble starting the car, it is a fairly rare occurance for the ignition switch on the steering column to go bad... requiring a cheap and easy replacement. If you have no discernable symptoms whatsoever, try resetting the ecu and see if it turns up again.

CW