2003 Altima Ignition Coils Going Bad

Maintenance/Repairs
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1

I have had a Nissan altima which about 4 months ago started to have ignition coils go out. The mechanic i took it to repaired a few of them. The codes were something to do with the camshaft sensor and misfiring. The car would become incapacitated and only be able to go no more than 5 miles an hour. He said that he repaired the coils and replaced the camshaft sensor with a “new to me” one but i ran out of money to fix it. It has 140k on the engine and has sat for about 4 months. It is now not turning on anymore and the wires into the battery terminals have started to get corrosion on them.

The mechanic said it may be something to do with a grounding issue? Is it worth it to repair it if so what is some advise as to some of the fixes?

Also some more background information is that it is a standard transmission SE 3.5 l.

2

Corroded battery connections and a dead battery is why it won’t start. Sounds like the mechanic was trying to repair as cheaply as he could for you. That is a waste of time and money. Either fix it properly or get rid of it. Only you can decide if you want to spend the money.

3

With the corrosion it is on the wires leading up to the connections to the battery terminal. Do you think i need to reground the wires at that point and replace the wiring harness ?or just get rid of the corrosion and get a new battery?

4

Also do you think i need to try fixing with a new camshaft sensor and replace all of the ignition coils ?

5

I think that your whole problem is from poor connection at the battery or that the cables are too corroded to carry the power to the ECM.

The best thing you can do, is to remove the battery and put it on a charger for a day. While the battery charges, I would replace both battery cables. Be sure that the battery posts are clean of corrosion as well as the far end of the cables where the positive cable attaches to the starter and the negative cable is attached to the body/frame.
Install the battery and tighten the cables.

Yosemite

2 Likes
6

Yes - the short answer. Agree with @VOLVO_V70 fix it of get rid of it. The car is worth repairing even if you sell it immediately after. If you can afford to have it sit for 4 months, you don’t really need a car.

7

I do have another car that i have been using but my wife is going to go back to work here soon so it will be nicer to have another car. Is why i am going to try to get it back up and running.

8

Coils can be killed by misfiring spark plugs and/or corrosion in the plug boots so you need to consider that angle also.

I hope you haven’t driven it very far in a “go no more than 5 miles an hour” condition as that can open up a few more cans of worms.

9

My son had a Nissan Maxima that had random misfire codes and he replaced all the coils. It turned out to be plugged fuel injectors.