misfiturs4

looks liked i droped a cylinder today. ir temp points to cyl 3 went cold. im still searching for info here but how do i know if its a coil or pos. the pos controls more then one cylinder right? car can still run but runs like it doped a cylinder. runs rough,no power, hesitant,smells like un burned fuel.. ..car info..new plugs, boots, car stock with 125K. any ideas?

UrS4boy

Don't drive the car until it is fixed. IF you must drive it, disconnect the electrical connector on the No. 3 injector. Right now you are washing No. 3 with unburned gasoline which is removing the oil from the cylinder wall (= oil ring/cylinder wall wear) as well as loading up the cats (could damage them fatally).

First thing it to figure out if it is spark plug, spark plug connector, POS or coil. Try this Missing and Hesitation Diagnostic Procedure

If it isn't the spark plug or plug connector then it is either the POS or the coil. This detailed POS and Coil Diagnostic Procedure

All of these are accessed via clicking on the labels in this diagram and following the hyperlinks inside the posts:

http://members.shaw.ca/speedtek/UrS%...ice%20Map.html

misfiturs4

Pulled injectors to confirm its cly 3. It is. Did POS pin swap. Still no cyl 3. swapped plugs, still nothing, swapped boots, still nothing.Must be coil right? quick visual and wires look good. Should I get a coil spark tester or just order a new coil pack? ...and thanks for your links. You are a great help.

UrS4boy

Once you confirmed it was Cylinder 3, there was no need to swap any POS pins if you followed this detailed POS and Coil Diagnostic Procedure because if you swapped the pairs of POS connectors and the miss went away, it was the No. 3 POS channel and you were done (because the paired connector swap just moved No. 3 to the unused no. 6 POS channel and the broke No. 3 was no longer needed). If the miss was still there on 3, it wasn't the POS, but the coil.

Now you have the choice of replacing the OE coil (about $135 for the coil - which has to be spliced in) OR going to a complete (all five) 1.8T-style coilpack conversion kit(about $375 from Apikol or EFI Express) or an LS2 coil conversion kit (about $450) from EFI Express or 034's $625 (?) "HO" coil conversion kit. They all work so it is mostly a matter of budget.

GoHeels

I had this same issue in 2010 and went with the LS2 kit. I decided the origingal ignition system was old, inadaquite and too expensive
to start replacing piece by piece. For ~$425 I now don't expect any ignition problems for years, and it was easy to install myself.

Just my .02

misfiturs4

Yep, I swapped the POS connectors around as shone hoping it was the POS No.3 channel and Id be back on the road. Well I don't have that of luck. I learned a lot about the system and understand it a lot better now, thanks again. Gonna think about which way I wanna go here tonight and order parts tomorrow.

misfiturs4

replaced bad coil, car runs great, thanks for the help.

UrS4boy

Good news. Hope the info I pointed you to helped.

What did you pay for the replacement coil?