Thanks for everyone's help here. I gave Roy your suggestions, and links to a forum or two...he found others on the forums that had the same problem...intermittent power loss.
Turns out he had a bad coil. He found the right one when the car was low on power by removing the power lead for each. When the engine was misbehaving, No 1 cylinder there was no loss of power with the power lead removed. Therefore, it was the culprit! He changed the coil, and problem was solved about a week ago. Took 4 minutes to install; dealer had wanted to change all the coils and plugs for about $1200.
Incredible help here that is truly appreciated!
Regards,
Dave L
We recently helped a friend buy a Maxima (2003)--beautifully kept and maintained car. He's having problems with it. It regularly looses power.
He lives in SW Ontario (St Thomas) and the dealer has found his soft spot. He's spent lots of money on service, and the problem persists.
Do you know any helpful Nissan sites or forums where we can do some research?
They've already replaced the plugs and one coil pack. Next step, according to the dealer, is replacing all the coil packs. Expensive!
Appreciate your help. Nice car, but so far problems with service.
We recently helped a friend buy a Maxima (2003)--beautifully kept and maintained car. He's having problems with it. It regularly looses power.
He lives in SW Ontario (St Thomas) and the dealer has found his soft spot. He's spent lots of money on service, and the problem persists.
Do you know any helpful Nissan sites or forums where we can do some research?
They've already replaced the plugs and one coil pack. Next step, according to the dealer, is replacing all the coil packs. Expensive!
Appreciate your help. Nice car, but so far problems with service.
Thanks!
DaveL
Mississauga
Check the Cats on the car. What is the mileage?? Did he get an engine code? I assume being in St. Thomas he serviced it at South London Nissan? Drop me a line on my cell, I can help. 905-302-3862
Check the Cats on the car. What is the mileage?? Did he get an engine code? I assume being in St. Thomas he serviced it at South London Nissan? Drop me a line on my cell, I can help. 905-302-3862
If he needs to get some codes read, I have a code reader and am 5 minutes south of St.Thomas.
Gotta love the dealer he looks to be a parts replacer instead of spending sometime on a diagnosis.
Mike
If you have a coil pack failure it is almost impossible to diagnose which coil it is except for left or right bank with Nissan's. Even under warranty the rule was replace the entire side of coil packs. The other issue is inevitably if you replace one bank, it won't be long before you have to do the other side. Without knowing if any codes are evident or if the problem is intermittant will be a very difficult diag to make. Dealer usually starts with the cheapest route to solve. I can't tell you how many times a fault cannot be reproduced at the dealership so how is a tech suppossed to fix it? Especially when the key has been cycled enough times no codes in storage. Scanning codes is the first step. Hopefully we have a hard code and can go from there.
Especially when the key has been cycled enough times no codes in storage. Scanning codes is the first step. Hopefully we have a hard code and can go from there.
Shouldn't the codes be stored? I was under the impression that once a code is set in an OBDII car, they are there until cleared. I know my Sonoma will not get rid of a code until it is reset (even if I fix the problem.) But I also know my friends Jeep's the codes can go away after awhile, I just figured they stayed in the memory for diagnosis purposes.
Thanks all. Just came back and read the responses. Roy is a great friend, hard worker.
Last night I found a link saying that there is a recall for the car.
Here's what I found on the Transport Canada site:
To determine if your vehicle was involved in a recall and has not been corrected, you should contact the manufacturer providing the vehicle's make, model, year and serial number.
Make: NISSAN
Model: MAXIMA
Affected Year(s): 2001 2002 2003
Units Affected: 74143
TC Recall #: 2003267
Manufacturer:
Campaign Code: R86
Recall Details
On certain vehicles, the circuit board for the crank position sensor may have an improper solder joint. This could cause the Service Engine Soon warning light to come on, create a no start condition, cause reduced engine power, or cause the engine to stop running without warning during vehicle operation. Correction: Dealers will replace the crankshaft position sensor and both camshaft position sensors.
I called Roy last night; it was pretty late. Don't know if he's had a chance to call Nissan, or the dealer to see if his car was taken in by the previous owner.
My wife found the car for him, and it's one that we would have gladly bought for ourselves. It was that good. The store that sold it to him has sold cars to us, and they're the best.
I'll let Roy know about my post here.
I truly appreciate your responses, and I'll get in touch with Roy.
Thanks all. Just came back and read the responses. Roy is a great friend, hard worker.
Last night I found a link saying that there is a recall for the car.
Here's what I found on the Transport Canada site:
To determine if your vehicle was involved in a recall and has not been corrected, you should contact the manufacturer providing the vehicle's make, model, year and serial number.
Make: NISSAN
Model: MAXIMA
Affected Year(s): 2001 2002 2003
Units Affected: 74143
TC Recall #: 2003267
Manufacturer:
Campaign Code: R86
Recall Details
On certain vehicles, the circuit board for the crank position sensor may have an improper solder joint. This could cause the Service Engine Soon warning light to come on, create a no start condition, cause reduced engine power, or cause the engine to stop running without warning during vehicle operation. Correction: Dealers will replace the crankshaft position sensor and both camshaft position sensors.
I called Roy last night; it was pretty late. Don't know if he's had a chance to call Nissan, or the dealer to see if his car was taken in by the previous owner.
My wife found the car for him, and it's one that we would have gladly bought for ourselves. It was that good. The store that sold it to him has sold cars to us, and they're the best.
I'll let Roy know about my post here.
I truly appreciate your responses, and I'll get in touch with Roy.
Regards,
Dave Lynch
C6 Coupe (Vette content )
If you send me the VIN# I can check to see if any outstanding recalls are on this vehicle or if it has already been completed and where/when. If the car went to the dealer however I'm sure this would have been the first thing they did. I would have posted the recall but it's 37 pages and applies to multpile model lines. LOL.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cdn ZR1 Mike
Especially when the key has been cycled enough times no codes in storage. Scanning codes is the first step. Hopefully we have a hard code and can go from there.
Shouldn't the codes be stored? I was under the impression that once a code is set in an OBDII car, they are there until cleared. I know my Sonoma will not get rid of a code until it is reset (even if I fix the problem.) But I also know my friends Jeep's the codes can go away after awhile, I just figured they stayed in the memory for diagnosis purposes.
Cycling the key can also remove a code sometimes. After a certian # of cycles and sometimes it can be as little as 5 it clears the code.
Last edited by Cdn Z06 Mike; 01-04-2008 at 02:08 AM.
I haven't heard from Roy in about a week. He was pretty frustrated when we last talked. His car looks like new! We saw him and his family about 1 1/2 weeks ago in Kitchener for a GTG.
Roy regularly puts 400,000 klicks on cars. Usually on the orginal clutch! His Maxima is almost new with about 80000 klicks or so IIRC. I'm confident there's a simple reason for the issues he's had. And I really respect good tradesmen and technicians.
I'll get his VIN number when I do get in contact with him. He works hard (at the Sterling truck plant in St Thomas). Works lots of overtime.
If he needs to get some codes read, I have a code reader and am 5 minutes south of St.Thomas.
Gotta love the dealer he looks to be a parts replacer instead of spending sometime on a diagnosis.
Mike
Mike thanksfor your offer of code reading. I've not talked to Roy in about a week. I'll be talking to him soon.
I have no reason to doubt the quality of work at the dealer. I'm not close enough to the problem, and I'm passing on what Roy has toldme. Roy's exprerience has been with Honda's for the most part. He and his wife usually put over 400,000 klicks on a car, and very quickly.
The Maxima has just over 80,000 klicks IIRC, and it looks like new. It'll be a sweet car when this issue gets resolved.
Corvette Store
[OT] Advice--Nissan Maxima problems SOLVED!
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