Ignition Coil - It's fixed

dan-d · Post by **dan-d** » Thu May 19, 2005 2:28 pm

Well my coil came in today, replaced the suspected bad one and all is well. She purr's like a kitten. Thanks everyone

Hi, I'm new to the Woo world and just aquired a 99 Lanos. My problem is it has a CEL. It idles rough intermittently and also accellerates rough. This problem is intermitent. At times it runs very smooth and fires on all 4. It accellerates very smooth up to about 1/4 throttle, any more than that and it begins to stumble pretty bad. I scanned for codes and get a #4 cylinder missfire (no other codes). I replaced the plugs and wires but still have this problem. It doesn't appear to be mechanical since the compression test shows all four cylinders with good and equal compression. Any ideas? Could the coil be intermittent in one cylinder?

MMamdouh · Post by **MMamdouh** » Thu May 19, 2005 2:38 pm

could be the coil, spark plugs or spark plug wires.

check the spark plugs if they are dirty or miss gapped, better to replace them.

check the wires by popping the hood at night with the engine on and look for sparks flying from the wires.

check the coil... with the engine running carfully take off the spark plug wire from the coils side but keep it very close to the coil pack so the sparks doesn't jump into your body or on the engine block. you should be able to see the sparks flying from the coil's socket to the wire's terminal so try to find any inconsistant sparks or if they doesn't exist at all.

also check your vacuum lines which could leak too much air and mess your air\fuel mixture.

check fuel filter if it is dirty or blocked get a new one.

MMamdouh

money · Post by **money** » Thu May 19, 2005 3:58 pm

The above and maybe some FI cleaner? Maybe it's a dirty injector.

MMamdouh · Post by **MMamdouh** » Thu May 19, 2005 4:10 pm

the problems that seem to "come and go" or "not at all times" is related to electrics.

injectors problems can cause that but it won't go away at any times, i have leaky injectors and my car acts the same since 10/2004... nothing has changed and the car never felt any different since the problem occured.

MMamdouh

money · Post by **money** » Thu May 19, 2005 4:15 pm

Yea that makes more sense, didn't think about that - although I thought he said it was only past 1/4 throttle? Didn't realize it was completely intermittent.

MMamdouh · Post by **MMamdouh** » Thu May 19, 2005 4:19 pm

when i had spark plug wires problems, it didn't show up till i was on 1/2 throttle or accelerating hard from a complete halt... seems that the extra engine load maked the problem more noticable.

MMamdouh

BosnianLanos · Post by **BosnianLanos** » Thu May 19, 2005 4:19 pm

Not a really safe test, but it helped me pinpoint my problem. When the car is having issues in idle, sniff the exhaust, if you smell unburned gasoline, it is a misfire issue. Check plugs, wires, and then your ignition coil. It is a similar problem that mine had, but mine was rough all the time, firing on only three cylinders. I checked the exhaust and smelled fuel, changed the coil and no problems since.

dan-d · Post by **dan-d** » Thu May 19, 2005 4:22 pm

Just to clarify.

The problem is intermittent. At idle it will sometimes run smooth as silk and other times it idles rough.

Accelleration while driving is good up to about 1/4 throttle, anything more than that it stumbles or falls flat.

Replaced the plugs
Replaced the wires
Compression 174 - 176 in all four cylinders
Replaced the fuel filter
Added injector cleaner

Seems like it mainly affects cylinder #4, that's the only cylinder that throws a misfire code.

MMamdouh · Post by **MMamdouh** » Thu May 19, 2005 4:24 pm

yeah i use that all the time... i actually tuned up my carb. on my old VW beetle using this method but you have to have a nose for exhaust so you can know whats lean and whats rich.

i got petrol engines covered and i am working on sniffing diesel exhaust skills now

MMamdouh

BosnianLanos · Post by **BosnianLanos** » Thu May 19, 2005 4:26 pm

1. Check the resistance on all of your injectors, to make sure that they are also the same.

2. Do a coil check. Loosen all of the plug boots at the coil and with the car running, pull up on every boot individually. If sparks fly out of the coil, move to the next one, if you find one with no spark, you will have found your problem. WEAR THICK GLOVES WHEN TESTING

daewooluvr · Post by **daewooluvr** » Thu May 19, 2005 4:37 pm

could also be the beginnings of the problematic Cam & Crank positioning sensors.

Audacity Racing · Post by **Audacity Racing** » Thu May 19, 2005 4:38 pm

yeah, did you have the recall issue addressed about the cam position sensor? that could mess up the ignition royally...

MMamdouh · Post by **MMamdouh** » Thu May 19, 2005 4:41 pm

OHHH i didn't see that he got CEL... go get it scanned at once and save all the speculation.

MMamdouh

daewooluvr · Post by **daewooluvr** » Thu May 19, 2005 5:07 pm

mmamdouh wrote:OHHH i didn't see that he got CEL... go get it scanned at once and save all the speculation.

MMamdouh

dan-d wrote:I scanned for codes and get a #4 cylinder missfire (no other codes)

dan-d · Post by **dan-d** » Thu May 19, 2005 5:10 pm

mmamdouh wrote:OHHH i didn't see that he got CEL... go get it scanned at once and save all the speculation.

MMamdouh

I have my own scan tool, the only code I get is P0304 = #4 Cylinder misfire.

But like I said. I've already replaced the plugs and plug wires and the problem is intermittent. I'm going to swap out a coupla injectors next to see if the problem swaps to another cylinder.