Same here I've been working on this thing for 4 weeks now

@@lookoutmountaingarockhunte1300 Fantastic!

I'm a woman I'm going to try and do this also how long did it take you and was it hard for you to take the screws out

@@andregunther4200 Hi. It doesn't take very long at all. I was also worried about screws not being difficult. Firstly, I didn't have a problem with the big centre screw, removed that easily with a flathead screwdriver. If yours is tight and you don't have an impact driver, you can either buy one, I think you can get cheap ones, or just try putting your screwdriver in and giving that a few knocks with a hammer (be sure to hold the screwdriver still, if it moves too much, it doesn't usually work), I've done that with scrap metal. Note that I have plenty of spare screwdrivers if I break one. As for the other screws, mine are the socket head screws, yours probably will be too, so you have the option of unscrewing with a screwdriver or using a socket wrench. I had never even used a socket wrench before lol but have now 😅 A few screws had started to lose their thread but the socket fits over it and works a charm. I used the extender bit in my set. From there on, I used the socket for all the screws, much easier. If you don't have a set, you can also buy them quite cheap or see if you can borrow one. I had Steve's video playing while doing it, at each step would pause the video, carefully do that part, then play again and so on. He made the whole process easy

@@andregunther4200 sorry, at the beginning of my reply, I meant 'screws being difficult' to remove

Thanks and glad the video helped some 👍. Yep, these are pretty reliable motors it seems except for little issues like this where the coil goes bad (or gets corroded from moisture like you mentioned yours did). Seems most repair places won’t take the time to diagnose things correctly any more and just want to throw parts at things. Thanks again and all the best ! Steve

Thanks and good to know that the 2.4 is very similar the this V6 👍. Glad the video helped some and all the best ! Steve

Thanks for the kind words and glad the video helped some on what goes on inside the distributor 👍. I do end up showing most every detail in the videos (sometimes too much probably, lol), but a lot of the videos out there skip important steps that can be really frustrating at times. Nothing worse than stating on a repair, only to find out there wasn’t enough info to confidently finish it. Yes, sounds like you got a very good deal to just have it replaced versus having to replace the several parts you mentioned were bad on yours for sure. My Frontier has recently developed a slight mis at idle so it might be time to replace the complete distributor if the points (like yours did) or the bushing has finally worn out. I still have the complete distributor I bought “just in case” that was in the video so there may be a new video coming soon for the full swap, lol. Thanks again and all the best from Nashville, Tennessee USA !

@@StevesDIYs update, mechanic said distributor is fine, auto electrician now has it but busy atm so I'll be stuck at home for another week. Oh well 😂

Thanks man ! Yep, seems that the coil in the distributor or the complete distributor goes bad on these. I’m still running fine on the coil replacement, but I’d say one day I’ll need to replace out the complete distributor with the spare I bought that was in the video (it’s still waiting on the shelf in the garage when the day comes, lol).

​@@StevesDIYs hey Steve really enjoyed ur video I have a 2002 nissan xterra with the same problem ,it runs great first thing in the morning but 10-15 into driving it it starts to stall and might not start up again for a hour or so ,anyway I was looking into this problem and was about to buy the whole distributor and take care of it myself but thanx to ur video I'm gonna save myself a couple bucks .....hopefully lol. Thanx Steve!

@@robertbair99 thanks man ! Hopefully it will just be the coil as well for yours as it’s much easier to change since there no dealing with being sure the timing is right when the complete distributor is changed out. Thanks again and all the best ! Steve

@@robertbair99 Hi Robert. Did replacing the coil work for you?

LOL ! Thanks man ! Yep, it’s funny how words get stuck in your head and then you’ll repeat them over and over without even knowing it, lol. In some of the videos on the channel, it was noticed that I say “All Right” bunches of times as I’m intro’ing into the next step on a DIY. One guy said that his friends did a drinking game while watching a series of videos and took a drink each time I said “All Right”. He said they were blasted by the time they finished the video series 🤣🤣🤣. I’ll bet if a drink was taken each time I said “Little” in this one, they would probably never make it to see the coil put back in, lol. Thanks again for the comment…I pinned it to the top of the comment list as it made my day ! All the best ! Steve

Thanks man and thanks for the tip 👍. Yep, I’m bad for wanting to get everything out of my way when I work on something and sometimes take more steps than needed, lol. Thanks again and all the best ! Steve

@@StevesDIYs No worries. I just wanted to save you some time and possible concern with having to deal with plug wires and the order to go back in. You helped me with this video because I learned something about the internals just from watching your video. Thank you, Sir!

@@Ty_ThatGuy thanks man ! Glad the video helped some 👍

Thanks for this. I was going to ask is it necessary to remove the plug wires, you answered my question 👍

Thanks man ! Glad the video was helpful 👍. All the best ! Steve

@@StevesDIYs VERY! THANKS.

Thanks man ! Yep, being hidden inside the distributor seems kind of odd, but I guess it protects it as well and reduces the coil wiring some. I don’t recall ever having a motor with the coil inside there so it took me a minute as well to determine where it was too. Thanks again and all the best ! Steve

Hello. Thanks 👍. If it’s only misfiring on one specific cylinder, I would say it’s not the coil though as it does the spark for all of the cylinders (mine had a random misfire that bounced around the cylinders). If the injector doesn’t do the trick, it might be an intake gasket leak or something (I’ve had this on other motors). On my Escalade I had a stalling issue that I rigged up a cheap little test method to check spark, fuel pressure, and injector pulse to be sure the computer was controlling everything. Might be something to try as well if you can’t track it down as it helps to be sure there is spark and injection pulses. I’ll grab the link to the other video and reply with it in case you wanted to have a look.

Here’s the link to the other video...wasn’t the same problem as a misfire, but checking for spark and injection pulse would be the same. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/aLh1d7h736jSl5s.html .Hopefully you’ll get it tracked down 👍. All the best ! Steve

@@StevesDIYs super helpful Steve-thanks!

Thanks man 👍. Yep, it’s probably worth looking at since it’s not too hard to get to for replacing. I’ve also heard that the bearing that’s on the shaft of the distributor assembly goes bad over time (that’s why I also bought a complete distributor at the time as well as the coil just in case). If it just has a little miss at idle, but then a much bigger miss a higher rpms, it might be that the shaft is moving too much and messing up the encoder’s ability to pick up the rotational position (the little disk with slots in it inside the distributor). The complete distributor I bought is still sitting on the shelf in the garage as mine is still chugging along fine from the coil swap, but I’d say one day I’ll be changing the whole thing out when the bearings finally give out. Hope you get yours sorted out and all the best ! Steve

Hello, yep, still going strong ever since making the video 👍. I should have done a clip of the startup to show the difference it made.

Thanks man 👍. Yep, these are great little trucks for sure. I like that name lil buddy, lol…it fits these trucks really well 😀. All the best ! Steve

Hey man ! It’s possible as the one coil fires all of the spark plugs. Usually they start acting up and causing misfires or they work when the engine bay is cooler, but then stops firing when the coil gets hot. If the no spark condition came on suddenly, it might be something with the ignition or anti theft as well possibly.

Thanks 👍. All the best ! Steve

Hello...thanks for the comment👍. For mine, I actually didn’t pull the OE distributor to see how well it is made so not sure of the quality of the OE bushings, etc... I will say, that for my ‘84 Nissan 720 pickup, it’s still running on the original distributor and has well over 200,000 miles on it (the Odometer stopped working at 219k about 8 years ago, lol). You may be right that the safest thing to do would be to replace the entire distributor module with a new quality one, but just not sure if it is always necessary as mine had no excess movement in the shaft. If replacing the coil hadn’t fixed the problem the next stop would have been to replace the whole distributor, but it was worth a try for the price of the coil to me and ended up fixing the problem 👍. All the best ! Steve

I found a brand name one on rock auto for $125

Rock auto one just took a dump after about 2 years of use. Might try to find that Hitachi one or worst case have to go back to Rock auto

Hello, sounds like yours might need the complete distributor replaced if that’s what’s causing the rpms to bounce vs. just the coil. Sometimes the shaft or bushings in the distributor wear and it lets the sensor plate touch the sensor. I can’t remember where I got the complete distributor I ended up not using when I just replaced the coil in the video, but I believe it was an aftermarket one from Rock Auto or Parts Geek.

Hey again, with all for the rear light issues, it sounds like it might be the electrical connection that is under the bed near the back bumper (on mine since it’s a pickup type vehicle). It might also be a ground wire that is in the same wire loom that heads to the back as well as they get corroded from the water that gets thrown up under the vehicle. Hopefully you’ll get it sorted out as electrical problems are sometimes hard to track down. When multiple lights are involved, I usually start by wiggling the wires and connectors and also looking to see if a ground wire is broken somewhere. Let me know how it goes if you can find an issue with the wiring…if not, I’ll think a bit more on what it might be.

@@StevesDIYs thank you. A friend had a look and found 1 brake bulb was blown (recommended I change both), blinkers & hazards are all working, the tail lights are the remaining problem. I have wires under the driver's seat which I've read could be related, & given I routinely shove tools under there, I'm going to remove the seat and check those wires to get a visual and see if I've damaged the cables. Thanks for your reply. I'll update when I know more

👍. It’s actually not to bad of a job to do…just be sure you have an impact screwdriver to get the center screw out if it was as tight as mine…I’d say it will strip out pretty easily with just a screwdriver as I think it had thread locker on it from the factory if I remember correctly. All the best ! Steve

@@StevesDIYs Thank you. I don't have an impact driver but I can buy a set locally for 25 bucks so can get one if I need it. It cost me a few thousand at an auto electrician who claimed they'd sent the ecu away, that was about 5 months ago. They also kept it more months, I think I was scammed. It wasn't running great when I got it back but I didn't trust them to return it, eventually misfired and engine cut out. Trying this as I don't have the money now to get a mechanic to look at it. Worth a try

@@StevesDIYs omg it worked! Thank you so much. Did you read my last reply regarding how much the auto electrician charged me?

@@CovidConQuitTheCensorship that’s good to hear that you were able to fix it 👍. Yep, that’s crazy that they would have charged so much and then it end up not running again for sure !

@@StevesDIYs I'm absolutely elated. Thank you again. Whether they compensate me or not, with your help I took myself out of my comfort zone and learned a new skill, which I'll build on now. Next up, servicing/oil change 😅

Hey man ! If the coil inside the distributor assembly wasn’t changed, it could be, but it could also be things like leaks on the intake gaskets, not getting enough fuel, or (as some folks have said) possibly worn bushings on the distributor’s shaft that goes down into the motor. I had a similar issue on my Escalade and I made a cheap little test setup to see if I was getting spark, fuel pressure, and also injector pulses to narrow down its issue (for it, it turned out to be a bad purge valve, but I don’t think the Nissans have the same system). Checking for consistent spark using an inline spark tester, checking fuel pressure, and checking injector pulses would be the same though and might narrow down which one is not occurring when is misses or stumbles. Here’s a link to that video: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/aLh1d7h736jSl5s.html . To check the injector pulse, I just used one of those cheap $6.00 battery maintainers that has an led on it so each time the injector pulsed it would flash the light. That way I knew I had spark, the injectors were getting a signal to inject, and I had good fuel pressure. As long as the air/fuel mix is right (no intake air leaks) and as long as there’s cylinder compression, that’s all that’s needed to make any engine fire. Hope this helps 👍. All the best ! Steve

Hello, if the coil is totally dead, the spark plugs won’t spark at all and all the motor will do is crank crank crank.

Mike Plantholt , hey...yep did the trick, so far no issues with it since on missing. I did change the plugs as well as they looked pretty bad when I changed the coil.

Thank you for sharing this video I've got to do this to my Nissan

How is the coil working out? I’m afraid of buy aftermarket parts.

Hello, Still going strong with the aftermarket coil after a year now 👍. I haven’t had any problems with it misfiring or throwing codes it’s been my son’s daily since the beginning of the year so it’s had quite a few miles on it since the coil change as well.

Hello. You probably could prior to taking things apart, but with it slowly getting more erratic and really only misfiring after the motor compartment gets hot, I figured it would be hard to check accurately anyway. Since theses motors are pretty simple for the electronics and the misfire was random, I figured the issue was the coil going bad since the one coil goes to all of the cylinders. I’ve had other Nissans do the same with the single coils so I was kind of going off past history some as well. Since it’s pretty easy to do, I figured I’d start there. I did buy a complete distributor (shown in the video) just in case the distributor shaft had play in it from wear and that was the issue, but after opening the distributor it turned out to be ok. It’s still sitting in the box waiting for the day the shaft bearings finally wear out (also a fairly common issue with these it seems). All the best ! Steve

Hey man ! I actually still have the distributor in the box in the garage attic as replacing the coil fixed mine so I have never had to change out the whole distributor. Here’s a link to the picture of the part number on the side of the box I put out on my Steve’s DIYs page for you. All the best ! Steve. facebook.com/109400450606405/posts/349552959924485/?d=n

Q

Hey man ! I didn’t look at the rotation direction when I was working on it and my son drives it now so I can’t go look as he is at work. I believe the firing order on these is 1-2-3-4-5-6 so if you look on the connections of the distributor, there should be little numbers by the spark plug wire connections. The rotation would be in the direction of the increasing numbers. Hope this helps and all the best ! Steve

Hello, yep, you are correct that the plug wires don’t need to be removed to pop the top on the distributor…I just like to have everything out of my way when working on stuff (as long as it’s easy to remove lol).

Hey man ! I’m not 100% sure, but if I had to try to get the screw out that was stripped, I’d probably carefully drill the head off so I could remove the plastic tube that it’s holding on, then try to grab the remaining part that’s sticking up with some vise grips to back it out once I took the plastic tube off. That’s the only thing I can think of since the screw is down into the plastic tube. Hope this helps and all the best, Steve

Hello, yes for these, the single coil fires all of the plugs (similar to the old school mechanical distributor except that it is electronically selecting which plug to fire). If you have a lot of mileage on the motor, it may be a good idea to check to see if the shaft that comes up into the distributor has any play before just changing the coil as they will wear out after higher mileage. Usually it makes a random misfire for s worn shaft though...if no spark at all, I would have a look at the coil for sure as well as the ICM that’s inside the dizzy as well. All the best ! Steve

Hopefully not, lol ! It’s still running on this coil though so it must have been ok

Hey man ! I took a look at your video…definitely something is wrong. The po300 is a random misfire code, but sometimes it will throw that code even if it’s only one cylinder having issues. From what I’ve encountered (vehicles in general), that much smoke would either be a blown head gasket, valve guide seals totally gone, broken oil ring on the piston, or possibly even a stuck injector. If the smoke smells kind of sweet and you are loosing coolant I’d say the gasket blew from a coolant passage to the cylinder, if it smells like burning oil and you are loosing oil it could be the gasket blown from an oil passage to the cylinder, stuck or broken oil rings, or the really bad valve seals. If it smells like unburnt gas, I’d say it’s a stuck injector. A compression test on each of the cylinders can give an idea of if the oil rings or valve seals are bad. A leak down test on the coolant system can help determine if the head gasket is blown and letting coolant into the cylinders. Pulling the fuel rails and checking for a leaking injector would be the way to check for that. Hope this helps some and all the best ! Steve

@@StevesDIYs thanks appreciate it

@@MyRcGoSlow , no problem…hope you get it sorted out 👍.

Hello, once it warmed up it would start missing on random cylinders...especially at idle. It slowly got worst and worse to the point that it finally threw the random misfire code and I ended up limping home on just a couple cylinders firing. Hope this helps 👍. Steve

Hey ! I don’t think it should be loose...if it is the rotor on top just above the thin pickup disk, I think it is supposed to be tight as it is what rotates to tell the coil to fire the different plugs.

@@StevesDIYs yeah i watched ur vid but at the end I didn’t see u like check lol yeah I changed the coil pack now I was able to time it but it would still jump but now it started smoking from the engine bay so I think I’m getting closer lol

@@MyRcGoSlow 👍. Hopefully you will get it figured out soon…sounds like you are making progress 👍. All the best ! Steve

Hey man ! If you are just changing the coil that’s inside of the distributor (not removing the entire distributor from the motor) you would not need to set it to a specific rotation point since you are not disengaging to shaft or rotating the distributor. Just be sure you don’t accidentally flip the encoder disk over when you take it off. All the best ! Steve

Shaun Deppe , hey man. Mine started out just misfiring after the engine got hot (not at idle, but under load and while cruising), but then eventually started misfiring even at idle when cold as the coil got weaker and weaker. It eventually got so bad it threw random cyl misfire codes and shut off a couple of injectors (limped home that day, lol). Without any codes it’s a bit hard to tell, but if it will misfire with just the rpms up (not driving it, but only bringing the revs up, you could check it the old fashioned way like I do with an inline spark indicator and grab one of those cheap harbor freight battery tenders and cut the clamps off and solder two needles on it to check if the injectors are firing consistently. On my channel there is a video where I had to check my Escalade this way if you want to look at it to see how I checked for spark and injector signal. The Escalade’s issue turned out to be a bad purge valve (totally not related to a misfire, but the test setup is the same). Or maybe you could use one of your old plug wires in conjunction with the inline spark checker and get it on top of the hood (along with the homemade injector checker), and watch the lights blink as you go down the road. If it is the spark cutting out and you’ve replaced plugs, wires, and cap, my next guess would be something in the dizzy (cam sensor or coil), or maybe the bearing is going out in the dizzy and the shaft is wobbling. The video that shows the injector pulse check and inline spark indicator is called “2008 Escalade (GM 6.2L) stalling at idle Fix”. Maybe this will help....sorry for the long winded reply.

@@StevesDIYs Steve, thanks for the fast reply & all the info. I think you gave me a good map to check a few different possibilities. I am not detecting (sound / feel) any misfire when I bring the revs up while in park. It's only noticeable while on the road. Since the coil is pretty cheap on Amazon i've already ordered and going to see if that solves it. Also this weekend I plan on checking the ohm reading on each injector. I wouldn't think an injector would have trouble only at a certain rpm range, but then again i'm not a mechanic. Ill check out your other videos. I appreciate your insight and will let you know if I figure it out.

@@shaundeppe4878 did you figure it out?

Hello, I was getting a random misfire periodically after the engine was up to temp that slowly got worse. It finally got to the point that several cylinders wouldn’t fire (not isolated to just one cylinder) so I figured the coil must have been getting weak. Hope this helps 👍, Steve

Hello, Yes, I was getting random misfires as well which is why I changed the coil out. It finally started missing on multiple cylinders at the same time after getting warmed up.

@@StevesDIYs Mine also has misfire when hot, P0300 code, random misfire. I just ordered the coil to see if that would fix the problem.Thank you.

@@StevesDIYs Hi i have same problem with my 2005 Nissan. Frontier 2.5 For me its Reading code p0302 . Do you think is ignition coil problem .Thanks

@@sljivasevdah6464 , hello, the ignition system for the 2.5 Liter is a bit different than the V6. I have an Altima with the 2.5 in it though and it uses individual coils that are on top (underneath the plastic vanity cover). If yours is like that, and the code is only showing p0302 (cylinder #2 misfire), I would suspect the #2 cylinder’s individual coil has gone bad or the spark plug is bad. My Altima started misfiring on a cylinder and it was just the one coil. If you google “2005 nissan altima 2.5 p0302” a fellow KZfaqr named DA TRUTH did a short video on the coils for the 2.5 Liter. Hope this helps 👍. All the best ! Steve

Hello, not 100% sure for the Pathfinder as they were made for many years, but if it has the same motor and distributor as my Frontier in the video, the ignition control module is inside if the distributor as well. It’s the black plastic part that has the groove in it that the encoder disk rotates in (the thin metal disk in the middle I removed in the video). Hope this helps 👍. Steve.

@@StevesDIYs not sure,had a missfire so had to change was burn in one

@@StevesDIYs all I know is that ur engine is the same as yours, all the eay

ICM = ignition coil. ??? I'm wrong ??

G G , hello, at the 8:26 minute mark in the video, I touched the top of it with my finger. It’s the black sensor that sits above the thin disk I took off. I had to loosen the screws holding the cam position sensor in place to remove the disk in the video. Hope this helps 👍

@@StevesDIYs it really does help a lot, thank you!! I hope I'll be able to find just that part then

G G , if it’s like the coil, I found it online, but the local parts stores could not even order it (they wanted to sell the whole dizzy only). It definitely would be tons easier just to replace the sensor if you can find it vs. having to pull the whole distributor.

Thomas Arellano , hello, the part number varies from where you buy it from since it is aftermarket, but from am-auto parts it is AM-2416546935

Hey ! Sounds like you already took care of the most common reasons for no spark so it must be something less common. I haven’t had the issue on mine, but I think another less common issue is with the ECU going bad and causing this. On Nissans, an easy way to do a quick check the ECU is to plug a scanner into the OBDii port when it’s cold and make sure it will communicate with the ECU, then after it warms up and has the issue, plug the scanner in again and see if it will still communicate with the ECU. If not, it might be the ECU is faulting after it warms up. Just a question...when it warms up and then dies and won’t restart, when you crank it for a minute does it start smelling like in burnt fuel from the exhaust? If not, then you are probably loosing both the fuel signal and the spark which points towards a sensor, anti theft, or ECU issue. If you smell gas after cranking, then it narrows it down a bit to just the ignition system. Sorry I couldn’t help much, but maybe this helps a little. Steve

@@StevesDIYs yes i check the fuel after it started doing it and am getting good fuel but no spark at all

@@StevesDIYs last night i was driving it and before it use to start once it was cold but last night it didn't even do that at all it just turns over but i don't got no spark i took a spark plug cable out with another spark plug connected and that's where I seen that i don't got spark

@@calivillalobos6114 , it does sound like something with the coil or a sensor. I’ve gotten bad replacement parts before from the parts store and had to take them back to swap them (just recently had to take an EGR valve back that was defective for my Escalade that didn’t work out if the box). Since the ignition module and the coil are built into the distributor, it’s difficult to tell if the replacement might be bad unless it’s swapped again unfortunately. Same goes for the crankshaft sensor that it’s really hard to tell if the replacement is bad. If you got them locally, maybe taking them back and swapping is an option, but not sure. Sorry I couldn’t be much help, but maybe you’ll get it sorted out and running again 👍.

@@StevesDIYs thank you so much i changed the whole distributor new and i got it running last night thank you for the help

Hello, yes it fixed to misfire immediately (I guess I should have put a clip of it starting as confirmation). It’s been about two years since doing the video and the little truck is still doing fine 👍. It’s been a super reliable truck (my youngest son drives it full time now) so it doesn’t get any video air time, but I just replaced the front brakes on it so there will finally be another video for the truck on the channel soon, lol. It’s still running on the coil that was replaced and I still have the backup distributor I showed in the video on the shelf in the garage 👍. All the best ! Steve

😅

Thanks 👍. All the best ! Steve