[WillMac]

V6, 4 wd. I see it's a cylinder 3 misfire. Everywhere says it needs a new coil pack. I don't think I have coil packs though. I can't find them on the parts diagram on nissans site. Does my car only have spark plugs? And if so, would that be the fix?

 

[snunicycler]

New plugs and wires fixed my misfire code.

 

[smason54321]

Your xterra has a distributor, not individual coil packs...Well, there is one in the distributor but it fires all cylinders so I doubt you'd be getting the code for a single cylinder if the coil pack in the distributor was bad. Start with the #3 spark plug and plug wire. Maybe just do them all if it's been awhile. Might not hurt to replace the cap and rotor on the distributor too. Cheap and easy preventive maintenance items. Add a new air filter and you'll have basically done a complete tune up.

 

[Ben Pedersen]

Just last night I had a cylendar #1 misfire code and replaced the spark plug wiring harness as well as the distributor cap and rotor. I did it in about an hour and have never done it before. When I took off the #1 spark plug wire I could see that it was all crummy and the metal part from it stuck to the plug when I pulled it off.

I'd start with taking off the #3 spark plug wire (there are corresponding numbers on your distributor cap so you can tell which wire is which) to see if it's shot. If it is, you'll just need to get new wires and replace them. Easy fix! If it looks fine, you can take the cap off of the distributor with two small bolts and look inside. Mine looked a bit iffy so I just replaced it.

All of these are wearable parts and are meant to be replaced after a while. I hope this helps!