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This is a warning to all of you who are thinking of replacing, needing to replace, or have recently replaced your ignition coils on your 3800 Series II.
DO NOT USE NEIHOFF COILS P/N DR185ACS or the ECHLIN equivalent P/N. These coils are manufactured in Tawain and are prone to premature failure.
About 6 weeks ago my 1999 Pontiac Firebird, 3800 series II (120,000 miles on odometer) threw a MIL P0300 (Random Misfire) while cruising at 70 MPH on the highway. Since I already had one of the original equipment coils replaced over a year ago, I decided to replace the 2 remaining original equipment coils, because obviously if anouther one of the original equipment coils was shot now, I was sure the other would fail sooner or later (looks like a trend). So I went out and bought 2 new Neihoff coils from my local parts store. Installation of the new coils fixed the misfire problem.
Last week (5 weeks after new coils installation), after work, I walked out to the parking lot, started the car up and much to my astonishment the MIL illuminated and she was misfiring like you wouldn’t believe! Limped the car home, hooked up the scan tool and found P0300, random misfire…again. It just couldn’t be the coils because they're all new, so I ran through the recommended trouble shooting and checked everything out that I could, fuel injectors, vacuum leaks, egr, MAF, PCV system, fuel pressure, plugs ….. I also replaced the ignition wires with new. I even removed the coils and checked the primary resistance of each as per the manual and they all passed. Thinking that it had to either be the ICM or an intermittent 3X crank sensor, I reluctantly brought the car to a garage that I trust (and there are very few that I do!). It turned out to be one of the new coils that had failed, even though it meters out properly, it fails under load.
So, after paying $250.00 to get my car out of the garage, I promptly took the coil back to the parts store and got my money back for it. “OK,” I thought, “this is probably just a random thing. Every once in a while even a new part can be flawed”. So I thought nothing more of it.
2 days ago (6 weeks after new coils installation), get into the car to go to work, guess what? Yup, MIL and engine missing like crazy! I knew right away what it was. I had one of the old coils that was still good, and when I replaced the 2nd new coil with the old one the car ran perfect.
So yesterday I took the 2nd new (and screwed) coil back to the parts place and we had a “discussion”. Not only did I get a refund for the 2nd coil, but they also will pay for the repair from when I sent the car in to get fixed when the 1st coil failed.
Bottom line is 2 coil that were bought together from the same store, and were manufactured in the same batch or lot (they were probably side by side on the assembly line), both failed within a week of each other……”Houston, we have a problem!”
My recommendation to those of you who might have these Neihoff or Echlin coils recently installed in your car……be aware that they could fail at any moment, and if you have or experience a random misfire, suspect that(those) coil(s) first. And if your standing at the parts counter and the guy puts one of these brand coils down in front of you…..ask for another brand name (like Borg and Warner) or walk away. Save yourself a whole lot of heart ache.
DO NOT USE NEIHOFF COILS P/N DR185ACS or the ECHLIN equivalent P/N. These coils are manufactured in Tawain and are prone to premature failure.
About 6 weeks ago my 1999 Pontiac Firebird, 3800 series II (120,000 miles on odometer) threw a MIL P0300 (Random Misfire) while cruising at 70 MPH on the highway. Since I already had one of the original equipment coils replaced over a year ago, I decided to replace the 2 remaining original equipment coils, because obviously if anouther one of the original equipment coils was shot now, I was sure the other would fail sooner or later (looks like a trend). So I went out and bought 2 new Neihoff coils from my local parts store. Installation of the new coils fixed the misfire problem.
Last week (5 weeks after new coils installation), after work, I walked out to the parking lot, started the car up and much to my astonishment the MIL illuminated and she was misfiring like you wouldn’t believe! Limped the car home, hooked up the scan tool and found P0300, random misfire…again. It just couldn’t be the coils because they're all new, so I ran through the recommended trouble shooting and checked everything out that I could, fuel injectors, vacuum leaks, egr, MAF, PCV system, fuel pressure, plugs ….. I also replaced the ignition wires with new. I even removed the coils and checked the primary resistance of each as per the manual and they all passed. Thinking that it had to either be the ICM or an intermittent 3X crank sensor, I reluctantly brought the car to a garage that I trust (and there are very few that I do!). It turned out to be one of the new coils that had failed, even though it meters out properly, it fails under load.
So, after paying $250.00 to get my car out of the garage, I promptly took the coil back to the parts store and got my money back for it. “OK,” I thought, “this is probably just a random thing. Every once in a while even a new part can be flawed”. So I thought nothing more of it.
2 days ago (6 weeks after new coils installation), get into the car to go to work, guess what? Yup, MIL and engine missing like crazy! I knew right away what it was. I had one of the old coils that was still good, and when I replaced the 2nd new coil with the old one the car ran perfect.
So yesterday I took the 2nd new (and screwed) coil back to the parts place and we had a “discussion”. Not only did I get a refund for the 2nd coil, but they also will pay for the repair from when I sent the car in to get fixed when the 1st coil failed.
Bottom line is 2 coil that were bought together from the same store, and were manufactured in the same batch or lot (they were probably side by side on the assembly line), both failed within a week of each other……”Houston, we have a problem!”
My recommendation to those of you who might have these Neihoff or Echlin coils recently installed in your car……be aware that they could fail at any moment, and if you have or experience a random misfire, suspect that(those) coil(s) first. And if your standing at the parts counter and the guy puts one of these brand coils down in front of you…..ask for another brand name (like Borg and Warner) or walk away. Save yourself a whole lot of heart ache.
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