1999 Infinity I30 Engine misses sometimes

[Michael Green]

1999 Infinity I30 misses sometimes without rhyme or reason. The missing acts like there is a spark plug wire is loose. Of course when I took it to the dealer it wouldn't do it. Nothing showed up on the computer when they hooked it up. Can anyone help me?

[Nahkapohjola]

Originally Posted by Michael Green

1999 Infinity I30 misses sometimes without rhyme or reason. The missing acts like there is a spark plug wire is loose. Of course when I took it to the dealer it wouldn't do it. Nothing showed up on the computer when they hooked it up. Can anyone help me?

So sorry boys. Not if u do not read answers.

[bratfry]

I don’t know if anyone has really answered this issue on the Maxima/Infinity. I have searched this forum and read any and all posts concerning the intermittent misfire issue. I have read about oxygen sensors, temperature sensors, mass air flows and on and on. I have not seen one post where someone says this is the solution so I have to assume that each problem has a unique solution.

I have the problem also, misfire at idle in drive, (sometimes) 99 Max SE, 60000 miles. Changed the plugs and the Oxygen sensors. Didn’t solve the problem. Cleaned the throttle body and heaven forbid, cleaned the Mass air flow. The cleaning of the Mass air flow had the greatest effect on the performance of the car but didn’t solve the problem.

Put the ODBII computer on and watched all the displays (no codes displayed). The only display that changes with the misfire is the intake manifold pressure (I am sure that’s a clue not the cause). I now think its in the EGR and hopefully, if the weather is nice, I’m going to take that off and check it out this weekend. These devices live in a nasty world and I have hadproblems with them on other cars.

So if anyone has SOLVED this issue, I certainly would like to hear a solution. I am sure Michael would also.

Footnote. I just asked a fellow working if his 2000 Maxima has ever had this problem and guess what. It just started doing it in the last month. His mechanic says it’s the O2 sensors, here we go again but I think that’s the only solution, part swapping.

Thanks for any info from anyone.

Gary

[Nahkapohjola]

Originally Posted by bratfry

I don’t know if anyone has really answered this issue on the Maxima/Infinity. I have searched this forum and read any and all posts concerning the intermittent misfire issue. I have read about oxygen sensors, temperature sensors, mass air flows and on and on. I have not seen one post where someone says this is the solution so I have to assume that each problem has a unique solution.

1. Answer is STILL standing somewhere t here for Michael... My answer was not even meant for your q.

2. Depends on misfire type. Single cylinder intermittent misfire is straightforward: -Plug - coil - harness - ECU-.

All elements are there. Most probable is Coilpack leak; clean/spray that with insulator laqcuer -or- replace. All other swaps are useless under this definition.

[largestal]

Same intermittent problem happened on my 99 I30. I replaced the coil packs. Runs fantastic now. I went through just about everything you did and it ended up being the coil packs. There were quality issues during the 1999 model year.

Hope this helps.

Big Al

[bratfry]

Well I ordered my six ignition coils and they arrived ( good price at $50 each). By the way I ordered Mitsubishi but got the standard Hinshin type, same type that’s in the car now, I don't know if thats good or bad.

I was determined to figure out what this idle miss and “check engine light” blinking on hard acceleration was all about so my plan is to replace one every few days and see what happens.

Last night it was Cylinder 1(first one to try). On the way to work today, no miss, no check engine lights and it shifts better. Did I find it, I don’t know, but it sure didn’t hurt and worked great on the way home. Did some serious acceleration tests tonight and no check engine blinking lights. I think its solved.

Thanks Largestal for documenting your experience with the coils. You gave me hope.

By the way, somebody else in this forum said you can’t test the coils with ohm meter type test equipment. That person is absolutely correct, at least for intermittent type problems. I compared the bad coil with a new one and they test pretty much the same.

So now I have 5 more good coils. I think I will replace them all but with a couple days between each install to see what happens. I am a curious person.

Then it might be party time, crush a coil, drink a beer…Maybe that’s why beer comes in six packs.

Again, thanks to all who responded to my many posts concerning this idle miss problem.

[Nahkapohjola]

Originally Posted by bratfry

...you can’t test the coils with ohm meter type test equipment. ....

The reason is that the coilpack primary -and- secondary wirings are ok. The problem is in the high voltage leaking to gnd through cracked insulation: may be corrected with a spray of lacquer.

The insulation wears through time, also shorts do appear via dirt.

[bratfry]

Ok, nahkapohjola, i will experiment a little. I will take it apart, clean the coil portion as best i can and spray it with lacquer, actually i may have some tv stuff made to stop high voltage leaks around here. Put it back in and report the results, I'm game for just about anything. I have spend so much time on this problem, I guess i don't want to quit.

[salzador]

I have a 1998 I30 with 61,000 miles that I just bought. It was doing the same type of missing but ONLY when in gear. I just put a set of bosch platinum x4 plugs and noticeed the old platinum plugs had alot of rust on them....most likely from the engine being washed. I took all the coils to autozone and they tested them and said all were fine. Then I reinstalled them with the new plugs and put grease (you know the kind for plug wires) started it up and no more missing. maybe it could help you.

[Nahkapohjola]

Originally Posted by bratfry

... actually i may have some tv stuff made to stop high voltage leaks around here. ...

Its good if u have such high voltage stuff: I sprayed my cap with general engine lacquer, seems to work at the moment.

[bratfry]

I lacquered the coil with special emphasis to try to get the lacquer down along the coils metal frame. I couldn’t find my TV high voltage sealer. I replaced the coil in cylinder 1 and took the test drive. The old problems were back so this coil can’t be fixed using the lacquer method but it sure looks pretty.

In another forum, someone explained how to remove the tube going from the coil to the spark plug and then clean the contact in the coil. A spring actually connects the coil to the spark plug. In his case his connections were dirty and his problems went away, mine stayed.

I also spend some time on a good coil to document the ohm readings for the primary and secondary winds. The service manual shows one switching transistor connected inside the coil on the primary side and a diode going to the spark plug on the secondary side. Because these devices are in series with the coil winding, you must use the proper + or – leads to get a proper reading. All the reading I made on the coil did not act like normal electronic circuits using the service manual schematic so I assuming that the coil has a lot more electronics in the coil then what is shown in the service manual. I will try to get the bad one apart to see if I am correct.

From Salzador <I have a 1998 I30 with 61,000 miles that I just bought. It was doing the same type of missing but ONLY when in gear>
That is exactly how my problem(s) started, first with the miss in gear and then the miss on hard acceleration with the blinking ENGINE LIGHT but no codes were set.
From Salzador <I took all the coils to autozone and they tested them and said all were fine.>
Did you see how they tested the coils? I’m convinced you can’t test coils with an ohm meter.
Well that’s about it. I think there is a bunch of bad coils out there OR the heat of the engine and design makes them bad. So I guess the prudent thing to do is buy a front version and a rear version and use the old swapping method and hope two don’t go bad at the same time.

[Nahkapohjola]

Originally Posted by bratfry

...this coil can’t be fixed using the lacquer method but it sure looks pretty.

.... A spring actually connects the coil to the spark plug. ...

.... so I assuming that the coil has a lot more electronics in the coil then what is shown in the service manual. ...

Nice trash, eh? Then the problem was not casing high voltage insulator leak.

If thats the case (electronics in), then multimeter is no good at all. There has to be the transistor and condenser at least: compariston between good/bad might be impossible; some kinda shorts can be seen.

I think the whole structure is a design flower: take the hottest place in engine and install electronics inside without any cooling. But surely aftersales spareshop boost...

Isnt it possible to mod the coilpack to fit all positions?

[bratfry]

Isn’t it possible to mod the coilpack to fit all positions?

The firewall side coils have a longer sparkplug connection than the front side. It may be possible to switch this connection extension and it might work for testing( they do come off). I don’t think the cover on the front bank would fit. Even the connection wires may be a little short.

Electronics in the coil?

I took the chisel to the bad coil pack and gently removed some the potted material. Well maybe not so gently. Most of the coil is the transformer, layers and layers of wire.

But I did find, near the three wire connection a small rectangle device with a small circuit board on top of it. Now I think the rectangle was a heat sink for the circuit board. You ask, a heat sink in potted material? I’m only guessing.

There is definitely more electronics than just coil winding. So I'm firmly in the camp of believers, that you can’t test these things with an ohm meter. That’s my conclusion and I’m sticking with it. At least until someone proves me wrong.

Enough of this stuff. The car is running great and I still haven’t put in the other five coils. No low load idle misses, no engine lights in passing gear, shift much better, hey I’m a happy camper…..

By the way, my car is a 99 SE Maxima.

[Nahkapohjola]

Originally Posted by bratfry

...I took the chisel to the bad coil pack and gently removed some the potted ...

Hey, Great excavation! Are u a geo... err electrologist?

Hopefully the info will be stuck up on a bratfry maxima99 -site. Then tell us the www.address.

[bratfry]

Update: June 23 2005 Coil Replacements

I replaced all the coils one by one, one per week. The no 1 solved the missing problem and the engine light flicker on acceleration, mileage went up also, got over 26 on a short trip. Still had the low speed acceleration issue but not bad.

A week later No 2 replaced, it didn't do anything I could tell. Another week No 3, nothing different. No 4 replaced next and I hit a jackpot. Low speed acceleration great, shifting great, just like a new car, smooth. Those Geos and vans that were out accelerating me at the stop lights are in trouble now. Another couple weeks and No 5 and No 6 didn't show any improvements that I could tell.

But what a difference No 1 and No 4 did. It is unbelievable.

So, in conclusion, I guess the coils, at least on these Maximas, are maintenance items every x miles. Never would have believed it because in 50+ years of driving, I only had to replace one coil on a 66 Ford. Hope someone can benefit from my experiment and by the way, I think you can see that you don’t want to buy replacement coils from a bone yard.