1999 Nissan Maxima from North America - Comments

I have a '99 Nissan Maxima with 92k miles and had the "service engine soon" light come on. The car seemed to have less power, and would shake when idling. I took it to the Nissan dealer, and they quoted me $1200 to replace all 6 coils and spark plugs. They told me it's their policy to replace all 6 coils, and when I asked why they said that I will likely have to get all replaced in the near future otherwise. Today I got it back. It ended up being $1400. I feel sick about this.

$384 per 3-pack coils

$118 spark plugs

$312 labor

tax, shipping, and hazmat extra

If only I had researched my car before I bought it in '06...

I've got a 1999 Nissan Maxima with similar problems. After reading all the posts I'm thinking that since the car doesn't have a check engine light, screw it, I'm not doing anything! I'll just keep going until is stops and then deal with it. Why spend $1400 (dealer) or $350 (DIY) now just to end up having to do it again 10,000 miles later.

Thank goodness for this website and everyone's postings. My '99 Maxima has had the "service engine soon" light on for months and randomly goes off and on. I won't drive on the highway, because when I try to accelerate it jolts and won't pick up speed fast enough to merge. It also shakes when idling. The original power is extremely reduced.

Instead of throwing money at random parts, I will now buy one coil ($110) and have my friend replace it. Nissan should definitely recall this. Thousands of people are complaining.

I'm having the same problems with my 1999 Maxima with 130k m. I bought it 8 months ago, thinking it would be a good reliable car, but it turned out to be a high maintenance car. In the last 8 months I had to replaced all 6 ignition coils ($1300) and the oxygen sensor ($400), and other small things. And now the car is at Nissan dealership waiting for a $1200 Navi sensor because the immobilizer computer has seized the engine! I will never purchase another Nissan product!

I have a 1999 Nissan Maxima se-l (limited). I get a SES (service engine soon) light every 90 days. What the intermittent SES light is is that the emissions computing system in the car throws a random code. Strangely enough I work for a Nissan dealer (salesman) and purchased my car from a master Nissan mechanic. So all the seals were redone also, had every service record from purchase in 1998. I am thinking I got really, really lucky. I am sorry to here about all of these issues, go to maxima dot org and look up 4th gen and that should have all the answers you seek. Once again, sorry that there are so many issues.

I own A Nissan Maxima 1999... deja vu... 3 EGR valves, 3 O2 sensors later I still have the surging and hesitation when in drive with the brakes on.

SES light comes on for a while (weeks at a time) and mysteriously goes back off. Also the car purrs like a kitten when the light is off, then all the trouble begins again.

You guessed it! Mechanic now says replace all 6 ignition coils and all plugs. Where is the lemon laws when we need them?

99 Maxima GXE - Replaced 2 Ignition Coils, one at a time upon Cylinder Misfire (both front bank). Then got the P1320 SES light, and replaced the rest of the 5 coils from an eBay store. The coils didn't fix the problem, but about 2 months later, one of the new rear coils failed (hesitation). I put the old rear coil back, and the hesitation went away, but still have the P1320. Now, the car doesn't pass inspection because of the P1320 SES light. My mechanic tried checking the wiring harness, and couldn't find a problem. I am trying to have the ebay store exchange the 5 coils, but they have been giving me the run around. Initial coils were - Karlyn (STI). The 5 coils from eBay say Hanshin on it and have the correct part number, but they were after market coils. I am going to try to get 6 more coils are see if the problem goes away...

Well, as one of many (generally satisfied) 1999 Nissan Maxima owners, my problem is quite similar. I have a 5-spd 142K mi. version of the SE, and some months ago after visiting the dealer for an oil change, my Check Engine Light came on. Well, I am always suspicious of this having occurred so close to the time frame of visiting the dealer, so I went to AutoZone and they reset the two (2) codes. One of which was an O2 sensor the other a knock sensor. The car has always run wonderfully, and did so for another 2 months.

But then in late August, while travelling from VA to OH, in severe summer heat the car started to stammer, hesitate, and cutout - Oh boy!! My thought was the fuel injectors, and of course, the fuel filter. Now I suspect the Ignition Coils from what is said here.

So my first plan of attack is to add Techron to the tank, and then replace the fuel filter. Then I will go one coil at a time and follow the sound advice in this running blog. If it's the coils - I'll replace them myself. No need to give the dealer another "free" boat payment.

BTW, I DID report this problem to the NHTSA on the hesitation and cutout at highway speeds. A dangerous problem, to say the least.

I am the owner who commented on my hesitation problem on August 28th, 2008. What I did was remove the front bank coils individually and see if the car stammered and hesitated. It didn't. I didn't bother to check the rear bank at all.

So I bought two (2) containers of STP's concentrated fuel injector cleaner and put them into a full gas tank. The problem subsided. I suspect summer temperatures and engine heat interfere with the operation and electronics of the ignition coils.

However, I encourage anyone to try first to clean the injectors by running concentrated STP, or replace the fuel filter (but use caution here - the system is pressurized).

My story is much the same only I bought my 1999 Maxima SE used about 4-years ago, maybe 5. It now has 215,000 miles on it and has been really dependable up until the last year, year and half. Check engine light came on, idles rough etc, etc. It does not happen all the time however and sometimes goes for long stretches of weeks and maybe months w/o knocking or idling rough. Then all of a sudden it will do it more often than not. I was told to replace all six ignition coils as well by my mechanic. I recently had all the O2 and knock sensors replaced just so I could get it inspected again; and this is when I asked about the rough idling. Cost is about $150 a pop installed he told me. Just does not seem worth it for such an old car, even if it has been dependable!

Chalk one more up! I have had nothing but Nissans since 1986, the Stanza Station Wagon (awesome!), a Sentra and my personal favorite the Maxima GXE. This was my third one. I hated getting rid of the others but I eventually ran them into the ground the '90 had about 350,000 miles and Stanza and Sentra had over 200,000 (Those cars still ran great when they were sold). So you can see why I loved my Nissans, until now. I have had nothing but problems with this car. When I bought it I had read where there were a few problems with the EGR and coils. I figured even Nissan has to get a lemon out every now and then. I would have never thought that it was the whole line. Then add the insult that not only do they know they have a problem, a huge problem, but then decline do make good on any of it.

After buying Nissan, talking people into buying what I felt was the most dependable car, I won't be doing it anymore.

If anyone has the fix for this let me know. Yes the coils continue to go bad and yes the EGR code is repetitive no matter what. Nissan has lost a faithful customer.