Car Issues

[Mike Goetzke]

My wife drives a 2016 Nissan Rogue. It has very few miles on it - 4,400. All the sudden she took it out the other day and she said it was shaking. When I took it for a ride it was misfiring badly and I got codes P0301 P0300 P0219a.

Since the P0301 is cylinder 1 misfire I first swapped the coils of 1 & 2 cylinders. Same P0301 and bad misfire. Then I swapped 1 & 2 plugs and the misfire code went to cylinder 2. Thought I solved it with a plug replacement but day later got rough idle and check engine light again but now P0303 P0300. So, I change all the plugs. Still rough idle and check engine light with P0300 code.

Looking closer at the removed plugs they showed some carbon and fuel progressed up the threads - this was on all cylinders.

Messing with my code scanner I found a monitoring function that shows how many detected misfires in each cylinder. Letting the car idle cylinders 1 & 2 show zero but cylinders 3 & 4 have progressively growing number of misfires. Just to do something I swapped the 1 & 3 coils and the 2 & 4 coils but no change.

The car is running much better than when it had the first problem but still rough at idle and misfires sometimes at low loads. Seems better under load.

Any suggestions on what to try next welcome.

Thanks - Mike

[Doug Garson]

I have a 2007 Murano and experienced a similar problem. The Murano and perhaps the Rogue has individual coils for each cylinder. In my case it was the coil that was the problem, so far I have had 4 of the 6 coils replaced. The first coil on the front was easy to access and it solved the problem for about a year until one of the coils on the back failed and the problem returned. Most of the cost of replacing the coils on the back is dismantling components for access so I had them do all 3 on the back. In my case they were unable to determine which coil was malfunctioning, perhaps your newer Rogue has a better computer so you can tell which one(s) are failing.

[Mike Goetzke]

I have a 2007 Murano and experienced a similar problem. The Murano and perhaps the Rogue has individual coils for each cylinder. In my case it was the coil that was the problem, so far I have had 4 of the 6 coils replaced. The first coil on the front was easy to access and it solved the problem for about a year until one of the coils on the back failed and the problem returned. Most of the cost of replacing the coils on the back is dismantling components for access so I had them do all 3 on the back. In my case they were unable to determine which coil was malfunctioning, perhaps your newer Rogue has a better computer so you can tell which one(s) are failing.

Luckily after troubleshooting I could probably change out the 4 coils in 30 minutes or less on this car. Set of 4 decent coils is $200 or $50 for cheaper ones. I have misfire counts for cylinders 3 & 4 and swapped the coils with 1 & 2 and still log misfires in 3 & 4. Do you still feel changing out the coils is the next step?

Thanks

[Paul F Franklin]

I think the other fairly common cause for misfires is dirty/bad injectors, so you may want to check them.

[Doug Garson]

Not a mechanic but if you swapped coils and the same cylinders still misfire I would conclude it is not the coils. Since you changed the plugs and still have the problem that leaves defective spark plug wires or more likely what Paul suggests, a fuel problem from dirty/bad injectors.

[Ed Aumiller]

With that few of miles on it for the last 6 years, you probably have gumming issues with stale gas... put in injector cleaner (couple cans), run it until almost empty, put in fresh gas & more cleaner (a lot), run 1/2 tank of gas, then put in Fuel Stabilizer and fill tank with more fresh gas..

Put fuel stabilizer in every few months to prevent repeat problems..

I have an antique car I have to put stabilizer in on a regular basis.. I use "Sta-Bil"

On a car run that little, would also recommend using ethanol free gas if you have it available... does not go bad as quickly, but still use a stabilizer in it..

[Jerome Stanek]

Have you checked the plug wires to see if they are arcing

[Alex Zeller]

My guess would be bad gas or possibly water in the gas. I would put some dry gas in it and then take the car for a long drive to use up the gas in it. Then fill it up at a station that sells a lot of gas.

[Mike Goetzke]

Wow - thanks for all the great help.

I bought some gas treatment for cleaning the injectors (Lucas). After seeing some of the replies one thing that I forgot to mention was I suspected possible fuel issue at the beginning. So after I changed the one plug I went and topped of the 1/2 full tank. This may have something to do with the car running a bit smoother.

After adding the additive I drove the car for about 25 minutes and did not get a check engine light! It seems smoother at idle than before. This is my wife's car but I better drive it more myself to see if the issues go away.

Mike

[Alex Zeller]

One late night out with some friends I pulled into a station that normally I wouldn't stop at. But being young and down to a 1/4 tank you do what you have to so the party doesn't stop. It was a two bay garage with a set of pumps out front and a very small minimart that was open 24/7. About 15 minutes later the car started running rough and the check engine light came on. It turns out that a number of people suspected that mechanic was dumping old engine oil into the underground gas tanks. It took a little bit of driving and a couple of tanks of gas but eventually the problem resolved itself. Now I'm much more careful about where I fill up.

[Bill Dufour]

I would replace all four plugs with new. I think you changed one or maybe two? Check the plug "wires" they can corrode or lose tension. Check the low voltage connectors are clean, dry and greased
Bill D

[Ken Fitzgerald]

My daughter and her previous husband both got degrees in automotive mechanics. We used to have an '86 Toyota 4-Runner with a 2.2RE 4-cylinder engine. I bought it used with 19,000 miles on it. When we first got it, every 2 to 2 1/2 years, I had to pay a few hundred dollars to have the injectors cleaned. I finally asked her husband what a professional injector cleaning kit would cost so I could do it myself. He said they cost about $300 at the time. This was when Top Tier gases were first being discussed. He recommended I put 2 cans of Techron injector cleaner in the tank, top the tank off and drive it until it was empty. Then he said start using Chevron gas. I did he as advised, driving from Lewiston, ID to Missoula, MT to Couer D'Alene, ID and back to Lewiston. I never cleaned an injector again in that car or my company cars. Top Tier gases are now quite common, so this isn't a Chevron advertisement. The symptoms of the 4-Runner when the injectors needed cleaning was that when I pulled up to a stop sign, it would idle very roughly.

My point is that fuel quality can have an effect.

[Rich Engelhardt]

My Sienna ended up having rodents that chewed the wires to the computer and shorted it out.
$1200 later..

The insurance picked up the tab for all but the $100 deductible.

[Mike Goetzke]

I would replace all four plugs with new. I think you changed one or maybe two? Check the plug "wires" they can corrode or lose tension. Check the low voltage connectors are clean, dry and greased
Bill D
I did change all the plugs. - thanks

[Lee DeRaud]

My Sienna ended up having rodents that chewed the wires to the computer and shorted it out.
$1200 later..

The insurance picked up the tab for all but the $100 deductible.
You got lucky. Friend of mine had similar issue with a 2017 Honda CRV, came to ~$4500. It was the front-to-back main harness: absolute pig to replace, only $600 in parts, but ~20 hours of labor. But yeah, much to his surprise, his insurance covered it.

[Rick Potter]

Could be a bad load of gas, as well as being just old. I would drain the tank if you can, then put new half tank of gas with some techron (Chevron) additive. Then run the car hard for a while, trying to use higher rpm up and down on ramps or whatever you have locally. Give the injectors a good cleaning. If this solves it, use that old gas in your mower or whatever.

My brother bought a very low mileage Jaguar, that had poor power and idle. That solved the problem. It was used very little by a little old lady and probably never had the injectors working hard. It now drives like a different car.

If this solves it, I also suggest not filling the tank very high, so that you will keep the gas fresher. You can always fill it up when you take a long drive.

PS: If this car has coil on plugs, there are no spark plug wires as such. I recently changed one coil pack on my '05 T-Bird.