Car running on 2 cylinders!!! Power transister?? HELP

[bmxrider154]

About a month ago, I would be driving down the road and my car would lose power majorly and then kick back in. It would do it every once in a while, and then it just lost power for good. It was only running on 2 cylinders. took coil and everything out and cleaned and inspected and put back in to a perfect running car. Worked perfect for 2 months and now is doing the same exact thing, 2 cylinders. Started up fine this morning but did not drive, seems like it loses spark when the car warms up. Could it be my spark plug wells infested in moisture or oil?? Replaced coil already, same exact plugs are dead. Please help me out, really frustrating. Thanks

 

[Prez]

Try a new set of wires if you have already replaced the coil. Thats where I would go next.

 

[DSMunknown]

something similar happened to me. my car was at about 95k miles and my spark plugs had NEVER been changed , so my car started running on 3 cylinders . your plugs might be old, so check them. if not them, then its probably somewhere else in your wiring.

 

[bmxrider154]

I doubt it is the wires b/c if i removed the wire from the coil there is no spark, and then sometimes i will get one. Wierd. Would it spark from the coil when i pull the wire off while its running if the wires or plugs are bad? driving me crazy

 

[DSM_One]

Test the power transistor unit. It was faulty on mine, when this happened to me. Replaced it with a second hand one and it run perfectly after that.

 

[huafist]

Test the power transistor unit. It was faulty on mine, when this happened to me. Replaced it with a second hand one and it run perfectly after that.

I agree. PTM.

 

[Tx97GSX]

Test the power transistor unit. It was faulty on mine, when this happened to me. Replaced it with a second hand one and it run perfectly after that.

Same thing happened to me when I was putting a 6bolt into my car. Replaced the Power Transistor pack and it started up without a problem.

 

[bmxrider154]

Need help!!! Could anyone help me that has had this problem? Thanks

 

[troysevo16]

check to see if the maf is unpluged this can cause holy hell, other then that your guess is as good as mine, get an obd2 and hook it up to the car and it will tell you the problem rather then everyone here just guessing away!

 

[u6t9]

1G = no OBD II

 

[troysevo16]

opps my bad thought we were talking about a 2g, quess I read though it to quick, wont an obd1 work on a 1g????

 

[AL92]

I think might have similar problem.My car starts up ok though and most times the idle is smooth but occasionally it does seem to go a it weird.The car has stalled twice lately and once was a weird type of stall when it sort of shut down and then came back didn't actually have to restart it.I have problems at higher rpm with a stuttering or something and have tried new ngk 6 and 7 plugs and iridiums.I think the problem gets worse as richen up my maft but pretty sure not fuel cut and only slightly richer seems to cause this and my o2 are not reading that high..saw like .91 in third.

I have new not oem coilpack,new plugs and new ngk wires.The car runs fine though off boost the problem seems to only happen full throttle.Does this still sound like it could be the power transistor .I thought if they go your car won't start .Can they sort of go and then you just dont' have your proper power and your car does this weird stuttering at high rpm.I get no codes at all.

 

[bmxrider154]

its not the power transistor, put in a brand new one. I am waiting on a cam angle sensor in the mail, that is my next step. im also putting a new tps in while im at it because the diagnosis threw that code and nothing else. This shows you how much you can rely on that.

 

[Project Draven]

honestly i am leaning towards power transister and then again it could be ur wiring possibly but check that transister 4 any type of wear when i pulled mine off my laser with the same 2 cylinder problem there was a slight blackness to the one terminal so observe it closely Good luck!

 

[bmxrider154]

I just replaced my CAS and my car is still doing the same thing, losing spark while driving. I have replaced the whole ignition system(coil, power transistor, CAS, plugs, wires) what else can i do, please help.

 

[AL92]

Mine seems better since install of new power transitor.I so far now replaced coilpack,power transistor,wires and plugs.Also I replaced and this is important alternator and battery.A bad alternator will definitely cause power problems with the spark and fuel etc.Ditto on the battery.

Not much else in the igntion system left other than that or possibly bad wire connections to power transistor or something or some people say leaking ecus go strange and misfire etc also.I have an eprom ecu coming for my car with new caps.

I am considering maybe adding a msd dis 2 as it has the capability I think to roll off timing under boost..a good thing for a turbo car.

 

[bmxrider154]

I replaced the capacitors in my ecu, that did nothing for me. It is wierd because half of the coil fires fine but the other two will cut out frequently. This is blowing my mind, i dont know what else to check from here. My ecu is not throwing any more codes after i put that tps in. Please help me out..........Thanks.
Just out of curiousity, will the coil spark the wire if the plug is fouled, prolly a dumb question but curious. thanks

 

[steve]

OK, so far you have thrown a lot of money at the problem with no return on the investment.

Since the problem seems to be repeatable it's time to start diagnosing the failure instead of swapping parts.
While it's failing, It's up to you if you want to start at the ECU and work forward to the coil or from the coil back, checking the signals to the coil, then the PTM, then the ECU or the other way around. Your looking to see where the system breaks down and then move back a step in the process and make sure it's working there. Once you locate the point where it stops working you can test that part or the wiring between the two points.

If you need better tools to diagnose the problem buy them, they are a good investment.
If you don't have a factory service manual get the manual cd, another good investment.

Steve

 

[bmxrider154]

it is going to be hard to do that b/c usually it will only do it for a few seconds then kick back in and when i want it to do it it wont.

 

[AL92]

Still sounds power transistor related.Maybe you have a bad connection to the power transistor? Unless your new one was a dud? Or think heard the ecu can shut off power to the injectors with board problems.Even with new caps maybe board has damage to it?

 

[DarkstarTsi]

I had a similar problem about a year ago that really was a headache. It gradually became worse. At first the problem would be that the car would shut down and wouldn't start again, some sort of electrical problem I thought but after a while it would dissapear just to reappear a few weeks later. Over time it worsened up to the point that my car would run on 2 CYLINDERS just like yours, along came a CE light that when diagnosed showed a faulty coil or power transistor. Obviously those were not the problem. The failure only occured when my car was loading boost, no boosting, no problem. After checking many things I discovered that 2 injectors were not working during tha failure because no energy was firing them up. It ended up being an ECU failure, i had previously changed my leaking capacitors but had missed that this had damaged the board next to one of the capacitors, the tracks on the board (where it was damaged) lead to 4 small green square parts that fire up the injectors(or something like that). The board was not completely damaged so only when boost(meaning more current flowed through the damaged tracks on the board) would the problem appear. Check out the board on your ECU!!!! It may be the end to your headaches.
Good Luck

 

[bmxrider154]

Finally solved the problem. So if anyone is having these symptoms, check your ecu really well. One of the little orange capacitors underneath that metal bracket was fried. Couldnt really see it. Bought a ecu for 35 bucks at junk yard replaced capacitors and runs perfect. Thanks for all the help.