sporadic firing on cyl. 2-3, 1-4 fine

[eclipsegsx1736]

I was at a local shop where there's a 97 GS-T being worked on. We're all stumped on the ignition. It has a coil-on-plug setup, but even using the stock coil pack it does the same thing. The problem is that the number 2 and 3 cylinders fire way too often, 3 or 4 times as often as they should, while the outsides seem to fire normally. This causes the engine to kick back when the spark fires at the wrong time. It must be some wiring screw up somewhere. I let them borrow my ECU but it did the exact same thing. We checked the power transistor (is that what it's called?), all the wiring for the coils, it all seems fine. There are no loose wires, they are all permanently soldiered so I don't think we could have switched them around. The only abnormal thing I noticed is that several of the wires coming off the plugs on the ECU are cut and spliced, and a few don't hook to anything. What would cause such a strange firing order? It's almost as if the cyl. 2 and 3 coils are firing for every cylinder, hence the 4 times as often. Any ideas?

 

[luv2rallye]

Don't know about the coil on plug but the normal coil pack must be bolted securely to the engine to provide the secondary magnetic completion path. Maybe this has something to do with it?