They have never misfired. The misfire started at cyl 1, changed the spark and coil and the misfire movrd to cyl 3

 

Same brand plugs and coil? or new brand when you swapped ? .. hmmm

I know a cracked ceramic has been a issue in the maxima forums before. Did you or someone (prior owner) change the heat rating on the plugs ?

I'd swap coil and plug on 1 to 3 and see if 1 magically starts tossing codes again if the plugs are different heat ratings. could also be a ping\knock issue. possibly from heat, or from the mixture being to lean.

hmmm ...


edit typo.

 

I installed an afternarket coil from autozone and the same brand spark plug (4469) ngk iridium. What confuses me is that now the misfire is on cyl 3 and not 1. Should I replace all the coils and plugs..?

 

And that could be the clue... or a coincidence. if the engine is having some mixture issues (because of the bad fuel burn?) the old plugs could be causing the missfire as a combination of the less than optimal fuel ratio + temp/hot or old plugs + the tendency to ping in the 2nd gen vq35de naturally.

since the expensive plugs are 12$ and the oems\direct replacements are 9$ i'd finish off replacing the whole passenger bank, 3,5... that would be my 2c. its cheaper than the cam-sensor so in a progressive troubleshoot of going inexpensive 1st that would be the 1st step.

*IF* you are adventurous .. and you have noticed or know you have mid-rpm engine ping you might consider going 1 step colder. helped me in my 2006-sedan.. but that's just my personal experience.

 

After that things get spendy. replacing two more CoP's is what a 100$ ? hmmm I do not know how you'd test this but I would test the output on the remaining two Cop's..

barring testing the Cop's I lean back towards the Cam sensor as a culprit.

 

i have seen a few Nissam maxima threads on the MaF being a cause. (incorrect mixure result)... maf's are cheaper than CoP's (but a pain to reset)..

just a random thought..

 

I got news... I just got home, changed coil 5 to cylinder 3 and coil 3 to cylinder 5. Started car. Everythings works perfect. (I did clean the coil a little)

Should i use the car like this?

 

I do not see why not, if it was a contact issue you may have fixed it with the cleaning and or re-seating the CoP. Id say drive it and see if it pops the cel light

 

Yep... shouldn't cause any problems. I suspect the problem will return within a few days, probably on a different cylinder.

Question.... on the days that it misfires, what was the weather like? Was it rainy or excessively humid and damp? Did you use Dielectric grease on the plug boots?

 

mmm yummy conductive grease always a good add.

 

It was "Puerto Rico's weather" hot. 93 degrees during day around 65 at night.
I didn't use conductive grease, but if the problem comes back I will try that.
I just installed the 5/16 motordyne spacer today and the car runs excellent. ( of course better from 3500rpm above!)