Have anyone had problems with service on their Nissan Maxima?

Question

I have a problem with misfiring on my Maxima. Suspect coil problem. Dealer unable to identify which coil. How has this been achieved without replacing each of the six?

Answer 1

If you are not sure if it is a coil problem it could be fuel problem. On my 95 maxima which used the vq30de engine (1995-1999) I had the fuel injectors replaced multiple times. The car only had 140,000 miles on it when it was sold.

Answer 2

Paired with a P01320 code for primary ingnition failure there is no way I can tell the customer which coil is failing. Many times I also replace the six spark plugs and coils most of the 1995 to 2003 Maximas have over 70,000 miles when I see this. A word of warning misfire causes raw fuel to enter the cat converters that causes cat overheating and if the customer continues to ignore rough idle and flashing check engine light they will be buying much more expensive exhaust emissions equiptment. $700 now or over $1,000 cat converters and coils too? Just Spend the cash you have a great car if properly maintained will out last most on the road.

Answer 3

Older Maximas were definitely injector eaters. I had to replace some/all on 3 different occasions on my 1990. If you're misfiring is all the time, then, with the car off, you can test the resistance of the solenoid inside each injector by using a multimeter set to the resistance, or 'ohms' setting, and measuring across the two injector contacts. All the injectors should be within a few percent of one another, and lots of ohms is bad - that means you likely can't get enough current to pass through the solenoid to actuate the injector valve. Depending on the style of the connector, you may have some difficulty getting them separated from the injector - mine were a real PITA. You may need a tool/advice from the Nissan dealer.

If you end up replacing injectors, mine had a little rubber or silicone cup-shaped thing that the injector sat in, then that assembly sat in a recess in the intake runner, 1 per cylinder. I always wondered whether this rubber insulating thing gets old and doesn't do what it's supposed to, since once my Maxima went through it's first set of injectors, it seemed to have an insatiable appetite after that. I finally changed these insulator things the last time I swapped any injectors, and I didn't have any trouble after that, though I eventually sold the car and can't remember how long these new insulators were on duty. Either way, they're cheap, so change those too. Your model year may not even have them, who knows.

As for coils, assuming you have coil-per-plug (which my Maxima did not), again, you should be able to measure the resistance of both the primary and the secondary on each one. High numbers are again bad, and each should be within a few percent of the rest. 'High' is relative, though, so if they're all somewhat high, but all still within a narrow range of resistances, they're likely o.k.

If your problem only happens when your engine is hot, it still may be an electrical problem - which heat will exacerbate, and you can do the same test as above, the difference being that it is going to be uncomfortable testing these things when they're hot. Resistance values will be higher, due to the heat, but they still should be within a few percent of one another. Misfiring when hot is not uncommon for coils - sometimes over a narrow RPM range.