burning coils. Looking for quality shop in San Diego

T

Tierra del Sol

Member
Car
2004 FX35. 2005 FX35. 2009 FX50s.
Hello All,
Forgive me for being away for so long. I've been lurking and gleening great info!

I could use some help. I am now cursed by the dreaded coil burning. It started over a year ago with one going bad, but has gotten progressively worse to the point I am sure it is not the coils themselves, but something else. I have read 200 threads on this and know there are 200 different answers. I am getting to my wits end and now I am looking to see if there is a really solid reputable Nissan / Infiniti VQ35 shop in San Diego that will have experience in all of this and get this solved. My wife is sick of the issues and I can understand her concern with driving the car as the last time it went I was on the freeway going 75 and the car just shut off.
Any help or recommendations is most appreciated. I can not seem to find the location of the ground that goes to the transmission and I think that might be one of the last I have to check. If anyone has a good photo or diagram of where that is, that would be great.

Many thanks
TDS
 
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I don't recall anyone on here had that problem. I have not heard of coil pack burnt up. Literally, burnt? It is always the same one with the problem.
 
Hmmm. Searching burned ignition coils brings up lots of issues.
It is not the same coil / cylinder every time.
Blistered may be a better description but failed is the true answer.
 
Got it. Have to take a look at the spark plug (s) on the failed coilpack? Just to see if there any sign on the plug.
 
Update- got the coils issue all sorted.
Replaced a lot of parts and solved some other minor issues.

All that's left (I think) are some new cats. Just need to find CARB legal cats to bolt on.
 
Following up:

all battery cables, ground points etc were done. All coils were done, all plugs, all valve covers and gaskets (to correct oil in spark plug tubes) all intake etc etc. all sensors too - crank, cam, cam, cam timing solenoid (2) and everything was cleaned and inspected. Valves looked fantastic - clean as can be. far better than I ever expected for 115K miles. All in all engine was in great shape.

It came down to sending out the ECM for testing. There were two damaged parts in the ECM. Ignition and coil modules. They were repaired and tested. I put the top half of the engine back together and reinstalled the ECM and voila. Car is running better than ever. Now that the top 1/3rd is all redone, I'd like to bolt on a supercharger :)
 
DatMan said:
Did you do the work yourself?
Click to expand...
With the exception of the ECM repair, yes. All of it. Multiple times, unfortunately. I must have taken apart, tested, replaced, put back together, driven, found it still not right, taken it apart, replace something else, put it back together... and so on. Various depths in to the top of the engine, but all in, I'd guess 7-8 times. This was a furiously frustrating issue.

The good news - everything I did, every gasket I replaced, every part I changed was likely somewhat worn anyway. All I have to do to make it worth it is drive this car another 200,000 miles :)
 
Awesome! For the valve cover gaskets, I assume you had to replace the whole thing? The gaskets wear, but INFINITI doesn't sell just the gaskets, so most people have had to just buy the whole valve cover (and two of them... one for each side) which makes the repair a bit expensive... I replaced my sparkplugs at around 60K to make sure I didn't have any valve leak, but now at 145K, I'm sure I have at least a little... Not looking forward to buying the full valve covers for what should be a relatively small job...

Also, seeing what's gone on for other people, I would like to improve my grounding as well... Probably do the custom ground kit several people have done, and when I tackle the above TSB, I'd like to try to upgrade any grounds that I can...
 
Yes, two new valve covers. I may tinker with the old set to see what, if anything, can be done.

As for the grounding kit, I built mine myself. Modeled it after the kits that are for sale. Took about an hour to cut, crimp, shrink and instal. I don't want showy stuff, so I did all mine in black, tucked it under anything I could to make it less visible and generally tried to make it blend in. No real faith that it is going to do much, but I suppose it makes me feel better.
 
That's exactly how I like to do my mods... Under the radar and only those that really know what to look for will see it... Other than rims and the drop that are really visible... I still want to do something with the headlights as they look a bit dated now IMHO... But yeah, I really enjoy doing the mods that no one else really sees... And I'm sure the grounding kit will work out... Just needs one instance where you're not grounded properly and POOF! Better to have additional grounds for backup reasons, especially if you've blown coils in the past...
 
TD, congrats on surviving the coil issue. I'm in the middle of that now with having replaced 11 coils in the past 2500 miles. I've done the grounding kit and updated battery and alternator. My next step is the ECM. Where did you get your ECM rebuilt ?
 
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