Coil Pack Question

[defrag]

My car started misfiring the entire time it was on, no change in misfire. I was getting the ever so helpful "random misfire" code.

In order to pin point the problem i started pulling plug wires off of the coil to see if i could hear an audbile change in the misfire.

I pulled the first 2 wires off the front coil, nothing happened at all.

Pulled the 1st wire off of the 2nd coil and it shocked the crap outta me! The engine audibly sounded a lot worse too.

In conclusion I believe my front coil pack has gone bad (i just replaced them all about 2 months ago)

Sounds about right to you guys? Now to try to dig up the reciept for that sucker

[fenderman]

Well, it SOUNDS like that is your problem but before you go demanding that it is your coil pack you can do some simple tests. First of all, test the resistance on the coil pack. The primary terminals (bottom of the coil pack) for your 3.8 should have a resistance of .3 to .6 ohms. The secondaries (terminals that plug wires hook onto) should have a resistance of 5,000 to 6,500 ohms (5 to 6.5 KOhms).

Secondly, check to make sure that the coil pack is getting a trigger signal from the terminals that it plugs into. If you connect a test light between the two terminals and have someone else crank the engine, the test light should blink.

If both checks pass it could be bad plug wires.

But if you lack test equipment the simple thing to do would be to interchange coil packs and see if the problem moves with the coil pack or if it stays in the same spot. If the engine acts exactly the same then you know it isn't the coil pack. If the problem moves with the coil pack then I'd be willing to bet that the coil pack indeed has gone bad.

[ma4life]

Yep ... same exact thing happened to me, with the exception of getting fried [img]smile.gif[/img]

[terminaldegree]

This is how I tested to find which coil was bad. Except I shut the car off before I pulled off the wires, and listened for which wire didn't make the car WORSE. A bit less self-destructive. Replaced with a generic 1-yr warranteed coil for $20, no probs.

[defrag]

Yup that was it, replaced the coil and now shes back to normal. hooray!