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Okay, some of you may have remembered me asking if I should buy a new car or fix my current one. I chose to do the latter.
HOWEVER, after paying a $88 diags fee from Nissan (Meh, I had to because I wanted the ''official'' answer) they determined that I have to get my spark plugs changed. Horray! Good news right? Nope! They said it'll cost:
wait for it....
$500
Nope, and they said that's not guaranteed to fix the problem. Apparently I have to take half the engine apart, which I'm willing to do if I can save $400 (thank you Nissan for your ingenious design!).
Now, I'm wondering do I have to just replace the spark plugs, or do I have to change the ignition coils too? I got a diags code of P0300.
If you are going to save the money in doing it yourself, invest that money into buying new coils. They will probably run you $100-$150. Putting money/work into older car means you have plans to keep it a bit longer. Fix it once, especially if you are a DIYer.
Changing the plugs on your car does require additional work but that's typical of modern vehicles. Just make sure you invest in a torque wrench when you start doing work on your own car.
How many miles on these plugs? Check your vacuum hoses as well to make sure you don't have a leak. I wouldn't do the coil packs, your code is not specific to one cylinder.
How many miles on these plugs? Check your vacuum hoses as well to make sure you don't have a leak. I wouldn't do the coil packs, your code is not specific to one cylinder.
From what I am told, they are the original plugs (bought it used). 134,000 miles.
If you are going to save the money in doing it yourself, invest that money into buying new coils. They will probably run you $100-$150. Putting money/work into older car means you have plans to keep it a bit longer. Fix it once, especially if you are a DIYer.
Changing the plugs on your car does require additional work but that's typical of modern vehicles. Just make sure you invest in a torque wrench when you start doing work on your own car.
GL.
But I would need to get six new coils right? Their $100 each. Damn.
I didn't realize the intake manifold needs to come off. If your not comfortable with that it may make sense to have the dealer do it. There are a lot of vacuum and coolant lines than need to be removed. If you do DYI take lots of pics and take a tape and mark where every hose goes.
FWD transverse V engines require extra time to get to the back plugs. It isn't just Nissan and this is one of the reasons long life platinum/iridium etc plugs were invented, so you wouldn't have to do this but once every 100k miles or so.
Next time buy a 4cyl or a RWD vehicle with a longitudinal mounted engine if you want it to be easier.
$500 does seem high though, so doing it yourself is okay, you just need to take your time and make sure you have all the tools you need and that the car is cold. You have less chance of misthreading the plugs and introducing a whole new set of problems.
PO300 is random misfire. Probably should change the plug wires too, if it has them. And yes, the coils could be bad also. That vehicle is 13 years old.
But I would need to get six new coils right? Their $100 each. Damn.
It's up to you. The problem is P0300 is not specific to which coil. It's multiples misfires. Can you check the log to see if there are other codes that has the specifics coil (if that is part of the problem).
The problem is changing the plugs is extensive work (especially the back ones). So once you have it out, you can elect to not do the coil. The problem is once you put it back, do you want to spend the time to tackle it again if you find out if some of the coil is bad?
People who are on the budget and have extra times tend to tackle one at a time. The other option is to replace all the plugs and coil so you know that it's not the problem. A nother thing to consider is since you are not the original owner, did someone replace those before and were then OEM?
Yep, my dads BMW e46 Inline 6 is easy to change out plugs. It's literally in your face once you take off the plastic covers. My Lexus you have to remove the intake manifold
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Horray! Good news right? Nope! They said it'll cost: 
