NHTSA Complaint #10011062 — 2000 NISSAN MAXIMA

VEHICLE WOULD EXHIBIT LOSS OF POWER, MISFIRING AND LOUD PINGING NOISES AT HALF THROTTLE OR MORE WHEN PASSING OR ACCELERATING INTO HIGHWAY TRAFFIC AND WHEN PASSING AT ANY SPEED. ALSO, THE ENGINE HAD AN INTERMITTENT ROUGH IDLE PROBLEM. ROUGH ENOUGH TO SHAKE ENTIRE VEHICLE AND EITHER FORCE ME TO PULL OVER OR PREVENT ME FROM DRIVING OFF SAFELY. WHEN I LET THE ENGINE COOL I WOULD CONTINUE THE TRIP HOPING THE PROBLEM WOULD NOT RECUR. BOTH PROBLEMS WERE DETERMINED TO BE IGNITION COIL(S) RELATED. ALL SIX COILS WERE REPLACED BECAUSE NO DIAGNOSTIC TROUBLE CODE "DTC" TO PINPOINT AN INDIVIDUAL COIL HAD REGISTERED AT THE ECU COMPUTER ALONG WITH NO SERVICE ENGINE LIGHT "SES". THE VEHICLE WAS LESS THAN THREE YEARS OLD BUT HAD 37,500 MILES. THESE COILS ARE ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS AND ARE AFFECTED BY AGE AND/OR DESIGN AND NOT BY MILES DRIVEN. I DID NOT QUALIFY FOR WARRANTY REPAIR. *JB