27th Feb 2004, 17:18
I have an '02 SE and about 2 months ago the check engine, TCS and SLIP lights came, car ran rough for that night, and then all was well after a few minutes of driving. The check engine light stayed on for several days, but then went away, all according to the Owners Manual.
Then in late December it came back. I scheduled an appointment with my local dealer and was informed after they looked at it that they couldn't find anything wrong with the wiring, that the bulletin said to reset the ECU and try it again. $112 dollars to have them "trace" the wires and reset the ECU. And the real pisser is my Warranty ran out just a few days prior.
Two weeks later, it came back. Took it in and they told me the TSB says to replace 2 coils. Did it, cost me $50 b/c of my service contract. Picked the car up a week later, drove it a couple days and guess what? It's BACK!!! The dealer is telling me that it will cost ANOTHER $50 to have the next two coils replaced. What a joke.
After reading this and some other information, I'm going to request a nice little chat with the local Nissan rep for the dealer. We're gonna hash this out and I'm going to use this forum as a reference point. I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one out there seeing this, but I'm very disheartened by the way Nissan is handling this.
P.s. if anyone has a copy of the TSB that addresses this issue or knows where I can get a copy of it for free, I'd be appreciative. Email it to kgarris@innernet.net.
1st May 2004, 17:19
Count me in as another 2000 Maxima owner with coil-pack woes. Seven months earlier I was pulling a "Check Engine" lamp, had the local Nissan dealer do a diagnose scan, wound up shelling out over $600 in coil-pack replacements.
Well, a few days ago the check engine lamp again paid me a visit, it was time again to head back to the Nissan dealer for another diagnose scan. This time the stored trouble code is saying that an oxygen sensor is shot, a replacement is going to set me back over $300.
Nuts. I've always purchased Toyotas and Nissans in the past simply because I loved their bulletproof reliability, these cars seemingly wore on like iron and rarely needed major mechanical attention. But for a 2000 model Nissan with barely over 40,000 miles on the clock? The frequency of these failures along with the high attendant costs is alarming.
If I didn't live Northwest Indiana (Lake County) which requires emissions testing every two years? I'd just keep driving in deference of spending the repair money on stuff that, after reading a few of the previous responses, might well fail again. Either-or, this has soured me on what is otherwise a very nice automobile. But Toyota and Honda also makes very nice vehicles and my 2000 Maxima will look sharp sitting one or the others used car lot.
Barney M. Slifer
sd90mac@netnitco.net.
27th Jul 2004, 15:45
Guess I'll keep the thread going..."Service Engine Soon" light came on in my 2000 Maxima so I hooked up my OBD II scanner, got code P1320; did some research and found coil (s) are the likely problem, which led me here. Makes me wonder how widespread this problem is...can't say what constitutes the necessity for a recall, but this certainly looks like a textbook case to me. But what do I know? Well, I know this much; I'll be changing my own coils rather than be getting rooked by a service department... just look at that cost spread from the other reports; from $550 to $1000 for the same job which requires about $250 in parts and (as also reported) should be a relatively simple procedure. Guess that's one reason these new car dealerships all look so nice and spiffy!
29th Jul 2004, 15:05
I feel I too am a victim of bad coils in my 2k Maxima. When visiting the dealership auto parts, the clerk alerted me that the number of coils for this car they sold last year was exceeded already by July! Six more months, they'll probably double their sales for this item. The dealerships are fully aware of this defect.
Check out this link for petition on the coil problem.
http://www.petitiononline.com/NIS_IGN/petition.html
If anyone can provide information on where to purchase non-dealer coils for this Maxima, I think thousands would greatly appreciate it!
29th Jul 2004, 18:52
I own a 2000 Nissan Maxima SE and at just under 40,000 miles my #1 ignition coil shorted out and had to be replaced. At just under 400 miles later the #4 engine coil shorted out. The problem was so intermittent that I tried to ignore it, but it does get to be annoying. It's such a nice looking car and I like mine to run as good as it looks. Now I'm looking at replacing the remaining 4 coils and that's going to run me about $400.00. This is quite expensive, but I haven't had any other problems with the car and over all I'm pleased with it. The next vehicle I buy I'm going to do a little more research on to check up on things such as this coil problem. Nissan makes good cars and though it is a serious problem that warrants a factory recall, I'd buy another one and probably will.
3rd Aug 2004, 15:45
I also have the same problem on my 2000 MAXIMA SE with 6000 miles. Service Engine Soon light was up 2 days ago, which was the 2nd time. The 1st time this happened was about 2 years ago and got covered by) and the dealership diagnosed as ignition coils failure. They asked for more than $600 to replace them. (Only 2 weeks after they charged me more than $1000 for a major maintaince!)
Also, my right rear brake light keeps burning out for intervals as short as several weeks. (I even got a ticket for that failing brake light once!)
23rd Feb 2004, 11:03
I have the same story. 2000 Maxima SE with 44,000 miles. I started noticing some ‘tinging’ on rare occasion starting about 35,000 miles, but was told to user higher octane to clear that up. This morning I started it and it ran really rough. The dealer said they could not isolate the cylinder so I would have to replace all 6 at $70 per coil. That is an extra $350 to replace the five that are good I will have to pony up because their equipment can’t isolate the problem.
The dealer said I could continue to drive it until it got worse and their computer could probably identify it at that time. I am just concerned about what it will do to my emission system if I am mis-firing and not burning clean. I plan to pay the $81 to the dealer for the diagnostics and get my car back. I will then head to the auto parts store and replace my own. From what I understand, they are just a part of the spark plug wires and should not be brain surgery.