Q: Car has a random misfire/jerking/hesitation only between 1200 and 1500 rpms, when it does misfire it does it 1 - 4 times

asked by on October 14, 2016

Hello, I have a 2011 Nissan Altima 2.5 with 63400 miles. In the last 2 weeks it started to do a random mis/jerk/hesitation only one to four, not always, and this only happens between around 1200 to 1500 rpm. It seems to run fine at idle and at over 1500 rpm. I hooked up the computer to it and it reads “PASS” no error codes found. At first I thought it might be the transmission, I took it to the dealer, also got no error codes but said they tested the transmission further and told me it was not the transmission, that it was a coil going bad and they could not tell which one, suggested I keep driving the car until it got worse so they can find which coil was bad. I don’t know if to believe the dealer mechanic totally. Being that this problem is random and after learning a little more online, I think it might be vacuum related, not sure. Could you advise me on what could do this? Thank you, Mario

My car has 63400 miles.
My car has an automatic transmission.

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The dealer could well be correct on this - coils do go bad gradually sometimes, and "random misfire" is the common symptom. If the valve cover is leaking oil into the spark plug recess in the cylinder head, this can cause misfiring as well - the oil degrades the rubber boot over the plug, and provides an alternate current patch for the high voltage surge that creates a spark. I would recommend having your engine inspected for misfiring by a qualified technician, such as one from YourMechanic, to confirm there is a problem, get an accurate assessment of damage and cost estimate for repairs.

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