Today I installed a set of plugs and coil packs on my 2008 Versa 6MT hatch. This is an easy job with almost no gotchas which requires only 8, 10, and 14mm sockets, 3" and 6" extensions, a socket wrench, a torque wrench, and a pair of pliers. I didn't even bother to disconnect the battery.
All modern gasoline engines use coil on plug ignition, and the ubiquity has brought the prices down to where I was able to get a full set of four coil packs and spark plugs for just a little over fifty-five bucks. The plugs have 14mm flats and I don't have a magnetic socket for that, so I used a pickle grabber to insert the spark plugs. All of the threads were good and clean, so I was able to rotate all of them at least a full turn, and a couple of them for several turns this way before switching to the 14mm deep socket.
The process is fairly obvious, as the only thing you can't see clearly while taking it all apart piece by piece is the left side1 rear bolt on the intake manifold. You have to remove the throttle body to get to that. However, you can disconnect only the evaporative system components (connector and hose) from the throttle body and keep the coolant lines attached, then rotate it out of the way. You will have to remove the rubber intake pipe first, and it will help to also take off the other plastic intake pipe below it. You should also note that the radiator overflow reservoir has a release tab on the right hand side2 and you can just move it over to the right once you've lifted out the entire hard plastic intake system including the resonator (the big plastic box far to the left side of the vehicle.)
Side note: I never noticed how big the intake resonator box was before this job, and it helps explain how relatively quiet the Versa is at high speeds given the spartan nature of its construction. Under the engine cover and intake manifold, the MR18DE is adorably tiny, and it makes the box look even bigger by comparison since it uses up basically all of the otherwise unused space in the engine compartment.
Torque spark plugs to 14 lb-ft, the 5 lower intake manifold (flange) bolts to 20 ft-lb, and the rear/upper intake manifold (mounting) bolts to 14lb-ft. The throttle body, engine cover mounting hole bracket, and engine cover to intake manifold screws had ratings in inch-pounds, so I just used the stubby ratchet and didn't overdo it. (I do own a 1/4 drive inch-pound beam torque wrench, but I was feeling lazy.)
As long as you connect everything correctly, this should be a fair breeze of a job. All of the hoses on the top of the engine and under the engine cover are getting hard and there's a small mess around the PCV hose, so I suppose the PCV and that hose are going to be my next order of business. If you don't connect that hose, the car will start, but it will die. No need to ask how I know, as it's easy enough to guess.
Walking back and forth for pretty much every tool, and using the manual only for torque specs just for funsies, this job took about 2 hours. As above, no exotic tools are required, although most older tool sets (like the ones from back in my day, hardy-har-har) won't have a 14mm spark plug socket. With a big enough magnet and enough patience, you might be able to sufficiently magnetize a socket temporarily. The head is aluminum and the valve cover is plastic, so there isn't much competition. Let me know how that goes.
All in all I give Nissan a C- for making it necessary to remove the intake manifold in order to change the coil packs, but a solid B for ease of doing the job. They could have made it a lot easier and quicker to do with a two piece intake manifold, which would have made the intake manifold easier to manufacture but I assume still cost more, and I wish they had gone that route but understand why they didn't. You can actually get to the #1 pack without any of this, which is the cylinder which was reporting a misfire, but I wanted to evaluate all of the spark plugs at the same time and some of them looked like they could use a replacement anyway. I numbered everything and put them all in the nice padded box I got the set of parts in, so I can look them over on my own time.
Also I think we can all guess how reliable these features typically are, but today I noticed that the car thinks it has long-term gotten an average of 31 mpg. EPA estimates are relatively interesting:
Highway | City | Combined | |
CVT | 33 | 27 | 29 |
4-speed Automatic | 32 | 24 | 27 |
6-speed Manual | 31 | 26 | 28 |
Obviously it has to be gotten out of the way that the CVT is hopelessly unreliable and should be avoided at all costs, and the automatic is an antique but is at least fairly decently built, but the manual is quite good if you like shifting. The shifter is not excellent but it's all right, though as it ages there's a tendency for the bushings to get sloppy, and the dealer only offers complete cables.