2000 Nissan Maxima SE 4D from North America - Comments

I bought my '00 Maxima new. To date I have about 123,000 miles and just replaced the CV joints. I have no problem with normal wear and tear issues such as CV joints, tune-ups etc. As I have seen posted I to have started to have low gas mileage to about 17 city 20 highway. As a result I was headed for a tune up and the day before I went I had the service engine light soon come on. Took it to the Nissan Dealer this weekend and heard the same things I am hearing on previous post "Can't tell which coil is bad, we suggest you replace all anyway since you are getting a tune up. After hearing this I have found the parts on line and will attempt to do it myself. My mother started getting Maxima in 1990 and never had a problem (she had three) before she decided to go with an Acura recently. I think I may go to a Honda built vehicle to if I start to put huge amounts of money in this car & gas mileage does not improve to 22 or 23 mpg.

Wish me luck on my tune up.

I bought my 2000 Maxima brand new and have experienced the infamous P1320 code a few times over the years. The first couple of times I had a non-Nissan shop replace one at the cost of about $175.00 each time. Now the same problem popped up. I checked on eBay and found a site in Florida that shipped me all six coils for $240.00 priority mail/pp included. I found that I can do the whole repair in about an hour and 15 minutes, including changing the spark plugs. That's much lower than the quotes I've been seeing on this site.

There's just a couple of things to keep in mind: 1) the front three are simple and are located under the plastic cover maked "Cam" which is held on with four hex screws, 2) the back ones are much difficult as they are in between the exhaust manifold and tough to work with for someone with large fingers. Make sure you have deep sockets and extensions to reach the plugs if you are changing them, too (use platinum and don't adjust the gap), 3) Be careful with the back ones when you remove the screws holding the coils in place as it is easy to drop them into difficult-to-get-to places.

Finally, the codes can be reset at Auto Zone for free.

My total cost to replace all 6 coil packs and platinum plugs (Bosch number 4) was about $285.00 wiht all taxes and shipping. Beats the heck out of the dealer ripoff prices!

This Is so crazy that everyone having this problem... I own A 2000 SE FuLLy LOADED I bought it used in 2003 And it had about 29000 miles on it... The next day that I went to start my car the engine light came on and the car was shaking... lol I was so mad!! so I took the car to where I bought it at pomtamkin in manhattan don't ever go there! and they told me that my throttle was dirty and that I need 2 go to nissan and get a brand me cat converter! they was like don't worry its nothing nissan covers it!!!BULL! Anyways so I took it to nissan and then 2 find out that I needed all 6 ignition coils.. this is so crazy.. he told me he would charge me like about $931 dollars... that's extra and mind you all I have now is like 48000 miles for this to be happening to my car with such low mileage compared to all you other maxima owners... on top of that I also need BelTS,Front Struts, Front Links,...I'm about to get rid of it I love it its fast its my max, but damn this is crazy!!ANYONE WANNA BUY MY MAX!!! LOL FULLY LOADED BLACK, LEATHER, SUNROOF,BOSE RADIO WITH ONLY ABOUT 48,000 miles... lets try and make nissan get this fix.

I bought my '00 GLE in March of '00. It only just has past 55,000 miles and yet I have replaced coils and have had to adjust the O2 sensor. My engine is now starting to sputter and I am thinking they are going to hammer me for another expensive repair. For a 7 year old car with no miles, it is a great station and weekend car. It looks great (even after a couple of major accidents) that were fixed, but I am not going to continue to sink thousands into this ride when I can lease a newer/cheaper car. Nissan has some of the best looking cars and trucks out there, but I am hesitant to go back.

I too have had to replace an ignition coil for my 2000 Nissan Maxima SE. First, let me say that I am not a licensed mechanic, however, I do feel like I am handy around a vehicle. The way I determined which coil was bad, without having to replace all six of them, was to remove each coil one by one while the car was idling. Once I removed the first coil, I would noticed a significant loss in idling power. If that was the case, I new that was a good coil and I put it back on. I kept proceeding until I pulled off the bad coil and there was no power loss in the idling engine. This told me that the engine was running just as good with or without that particular coil, thus telling me which one was the bad one.

I currently have a check engine light on that telling me that my O2 sensors are bad. I have been having a significant loss in power, it is shifting hard between 1st and 2nd gear, and feels like it stalls out at around 3000 rpms in 3rd gear then catches itself. Would this be an O2 sensor problem???

Addition to my June 11th comment.

I was just told today that the O2 sensors in both banks are shot and need to be replaced. Since I primarily use this car on weekends and to go to the station, the $200 they are roughly estimating to finish the job is worth it although I keep looking for a car that interests me enough to punt the Maxima. It's too bad because I still really like Nissan cars, but unless I leased it, I wouldn't buy from them again.

I have had one coil replaced in my 2000 Maxima SE and continue to be plagued by an intermittent coil problem that won't identify itself. Of course, I pay for the diagnostic fee every time. Also I have had 3 oxygen sensors and the air mass sensor replaced. I am fortunate to have made it to 127,000 miles. The car is a joy to drive when it runs properly, but I am starting to question my "cheaper to repair than replace" theory. My highway fuel economy has suddenly dropped from 27-28 to 20. I will not purchase another Nissan. I have signed the petition, but think it would be a miracle if it did any good.

I own a 2001 Nissan Altima GLE with 95K miles. The car has been diagnosed for an Engine Mi firing problem already. I have change the spark plugs and coils which will cost me a freaking $1200 for it. Ask me if I would buy a Nissan again??? NO NO NO.

I wonder if will even do a recall on these coils. The Engine Check light is ON even before it could run 100K miles. It is high time they do something about this problem.

Kannan, Memphis.

I am having this coil issue as well.

I am going to try to 2nd source the parts and have a garage install the coils - they are quoting me $181 each for the coils. I am seeing a lot of postings for substantially less for the parts.

I am going to sign the petition, which you can easily find on line and over 3 thousand people have signed.

Http://www.petitiononline.com/NIS_IGN/petition.html.

I have a 2000 Maxima bought new and now have 188,000 miles. Just a couple of problems throughout the years, but I am wandering whether to keep it or go shopping in light of my latest problem. When I am on the highway going 70-80 it will jerk out of overdrive. It did this a year ago when it was hot out and it is doing it again intermittently especially when it is warm/hot out. When it happens of course rpm go to 4000 and if I take foot off the gas it goes down to less than 1000 rpms.

Took it to the dealer... no computer read out they recommended I take to transmission shop. They have not diagnosed it yet, but based on the description said they would recommend rebuilding the transmission for $2500.

Has anybody else had this problem and what was the problem?

(by the way I have replaced the speed sensor, had a tune up/coil change at 104,000 replaced the ignition, replaced the idle sensor, replaced the radiator, and had the carbon blown out of wherever it accumulates, but only after the car had high mileage though.)

I too have a 2001 Nissan Maxima and the dealer replaced 6 ignition coils recently. I called Nissan and they said they could not not do anything about this issue and I need to work with dealership.

The dealership charged me 1200 dollars for changing the spark plug and ignition coils. I hear from people that Toyota and Honda vehicles are trouble free compared to Nissan. Every one should be contacting Nissan and make an appeal.

This is very unnerving. Same story as most of the above; 2000 Nissan Maxima SE with 70K miles. SES, TCL, SLIP lights are intermittent. Loss of power and mileage.

Went to a dealer and it's $972 to change all six coils. Just need to find out where I can get the coil packs for cheap. I signed the petition, but I feel like I am pouring water on a duck.

Just got a used 2000 Maxima, the "Slip" light is coming on!

What is this?

Thanks.

My mechanics told me that all of the ignition coils needs to be replaced on my 2000 Maxima, with a cost of about over $800. I was told that this problems has been very common with Nissan Maxima. Later, I did some search on the internet about the problem I have experienced with my car. I realized that many Maxima owners have suffered from the same type of problem: IGNITION COIL AND MISFIRING problem. There should be a recall on this matter.

Okay Folks.

First of all lets get something out of the way. I've owned over 18 cars (foriegn and domestic models), and my 2000 Maxima SE which was bought 5 years ago with only 33K has been one of the most trouble-free cars I've ever purchased.

At approximately 37K miles I ended with the dreaded Ignition Coil problem just like many of you, and yes the dealer wanted to charge over $700 dollars to swap all of them. They actually told me they would not be able to tell me exactly which one was defective (made no sense to me either).

Took the car over to a local Emissions Testing center and the owner hooked up my vehicle after setting his Emissions computer in Maintenance mode, it then printed a dealer service code which I was able to decode on the Internet as cylinder 3.

I ordered a new coil online for about $65 dollars, took in to another dealer whom promptly installed it for another $60 (prices similary work apparently sometimes vary between dealers) and its be running fine every since with 110K miles on it at this moment.

As mentioned earlier in one comment, research on this subject indicates this is simply a manufacturing defect of faulty coils (which Nissan should have owned up to). Other the other hand, there are other car companies in the market not owning much more serious if not dangerous defects.

Also as mentioned earlier, replacing the coils on this vehicle is something most people that possess some degree of basic tools handiness could do themselves.

Full color instructions are available at several sites on the Internet.

And if you're still not comfortable with this procedure on your own, there are plenty of Import Car Motor Sport companies who are competent (if not more) at performing virtually any dealer based maintenance.

Save some money and order the parts from somebody OTHER than the local Nissan Parts department.