Help Me with Nissan Maxima Cylinder problem!

[r0cketd0g]

Hi there ~

I'm looking at buying a used 2000 Nissan Maxima here in Bar Harbor, through private sale. My question is this :

The young man I spoke with regarding the car says that the mechanic told him there's a "problem with one of the cylinders", although he didn't say specifically what.

He also said I could stop by his parents' house, where the car is kept, and take it for a quick test drive ... not something I expected him to offer if a cylinder isn't' functioning.

My question is - what exactly would I be looking at as far as repairs go if, say, one of the cylinders is completely non-functional? Also, suppose it's something small like a slight mis-fire on one of the coils ... what is the magnitude of repairs I'm looking at?

Advice / thoughts?

[SteveTheTech]

There are many things that can cause this model Max to run rough or have a dead cylinder. The common cause could be a coil/plug, it could be running extremely lean from an intake leak, there could be a broken signal wire in the bulkhead or corrosion in the ECM.

These cars can get tricky and quite expensive to diagnose, and if too many hands get into it problems tend to compound quickly. Then you tow it to the dealer Good Luck and try to get it checked out before inking a deal, unless it's really cheap and perfect otherwise.