is it possible for a coil pack to go bad on one side

[nego]

I have a 97 GSX eclipse and i started it up let it warm up before work all was well. came back out and the car was running on 3. did a compression check all is good. checked the wires all is good. checked for spark and number 1 has zero spark. is it possible for a coil pack to only run one cylinder. I thought if a coil pack was bad both cylinders would be bad.

 

[jayson427]

its probably the sprak plug wire not the coil if its only one cylinder. just had the same thing happen last week bought new wires and it was good. if you swap around coil wires to another cylinder and then see where you lose spark then you can find out if its the wire for sure.

 

[nego]

i checked coil pack that runs cylinder 1 and 4 on the high voltage side it reads 12.5 ohms wich is good. on the conector side male it reads 9.5 ohms on pins 3 and 2 and 2 and 3 of the ingnition coil harness connector. WTF is it a bad coil? Is it realy only able to put spark to one cylinder. New wires all checked good BTW. OLD wires were bad.

 

[redheadbov]

That is pretty weird, I would make sure all connections to the pack are solid and not corroded,etc
are you checking for spark with an inline tester?
Switch the spark plugs around, sometimes oil gets down in the spark plug cavity and can boil from the heat.

An internal short in a coil pack will cause a complete failure of the coil pack

 

[nego]

I know the wires and spark plugs are good. i checked them last night by swaping them. I think my ecu took a poo. i pulled it just now going to open it up... my ecu is a MD326328 will md312464 Work in my car? 97 Eclipse gsx. the one i found is from a 95 gsx.

Took apart the ECU looks perfect caps and all not even dirty. Man im angry.. Nothing makes sense.

 

[redheadbov]

I am not that knowledgeable about dsms to match up ecms just yet,
but I work on cars for a living and can tell you not to start looking at that just yet.
Start with the simple stuff first, check connections, what will directly cause a missfire,
If possible read the codes, is it a random missfire? or constant?

Yesterday my car lost complete power while turning into the dealership I work at, I started to freak out thinking of all the possiblities that could cause it.
Spent half the morning looking a diagram of the power and ground distribution of my 97 tsi.
Towed my car in during lunch and all it was, was loose ground cables to my battery.
9 out of 10 times it is going to be something stupidly simple

 

[nego]

i have been able to fix evrthing on this car till now. there is no voltage coming out of the coilpack to cylinder 1. none all the other fire just fine. ive check evrthing Or i think i have and it all points to the coil pack or ECU there is nothing else inbeteen them that could cuase the number one cylinder to not get spark. unless sombody knowes otherwiese, im all eyes and ears.

 

[redheadbov]

I will try to help all i can, but all you have on your mods is 16g turbo,
Is that all? please list everything you have changed from stock.

If you can pull an ecm and tell its good you obviously have enough mechanical knowledge to get it done!

 

[nego]

mods are slight. walbro 255-fule pump , 16g turbo god speed large frontmount short route, turbo timer apexii, egt gauge, boost guage. and thats it man stock for all intensive purposes.

 

[redheadbov]

Allright nothing that would affect the coil pack or timing,
I see three options,
1. you switch around your existing coil packs and see if the missfire switches, if so great! get a new coil pack
2. go to autozone or where ever and buy a new coil pack, install it and see if anything changes, if it doesnt fix it, take it back like you never installed it
3. call a junkyard or friends and get a known good coil pack and repeat option two,

everything points to the coil pack so lets get that variable out of the question right now

 

[nego]

called auto zone only one in the area 90$

For fun purposes can i leave the coil packs above the motor and test them that way or do they need to be bolted and grounded to somthing to operate properly.

 

[redheadbov]

Yea i looked up prices too not that cheap,
Im not too certian on the setup on your coil pack since I have a complete 1g motor swap in mine,
as long as you have the power, ground and singnal wire I wouldnt see why it wouldnt work,
just make sure the mount is not the ground and you should be good to test it that way

 

[nego]

I orderd it it will be in tonight. in the meen time i will swap the packs and see what happens. with the ECU i can ohms chek the damn coil pack i found that odd no readings.

 

[redheadbov]

Switch over the coil packs and see what happens

 

[FeaR-GSX]

you have to swap spark plug wires if you use the 95 ecu, not sure what swaps where but i know you need to do it, if you plan on trying it.
heres the diagram of it.
swapplugwires [ECMTuning - wiki]

 

[nego]

coil packs are out.... had to break open the fule rail.. Sucks i have to find one of those spacers that fell. from the fule rail forgot about those. ... ok to swap them what do i do swap the conectors?

 

[FeaR-GSX]

your stock ecu requires no change in the plug wires.

If you intend to test with the 95 ECU then you need to follow the diagram for swapping the plug wires at the coil pack that is linked in my post above.

 

[nego]

Swapped and rewired so now number 2 does not fire. Sounds like its the coil pack.

Wait wait wait.. still makes no sense. help me fallow

from the coil packs it fires 4-1-2-3
to the cyilinder its 4-3-2-1

so if i swaped 4-1 to the 2-3 position (coil Pack)
wouldnt cylinder 3 be the one not firing not cylinder 2 what the F*******

Ill fire up the car anc make sure 2 is not firing if it isnt im so lost.

Dang it.. i had two of the wires swapped. it is cylinder 3 now wich makes sense it is a bad coil pack no doubt now... once i put the new one in tonight or tomarrow morning ill close this thread i hope someone else can lern from what i just went throug.

Confirmed... Its fixed. It was a bad coil ignition. So if any one is looking or asking,,,, YES a coil can go bad on one cilinder!!! It may be rare, but it can happen. Another one mitsubishie eclipse gsx looses to me and i win... This thread is good to close.

If you were wondering, YES a coil can go bad on once cylinder. I changed the coil pack out and now the car runs great.. Exept its in limp mode. it will be fine after i drive it for a day or two. How do i close this thread as resolved... Also thank you all for the help not bad to have a broken car and fixed in less than 48 hours.