Question about Plug Wires

[Talonman86096]

Ok so heres is the question which may or not be a dumb question but I cant find an answer. Would a loose almost disonnected wire at the coilpack throw a CEL? I just recently changed my wires becuase I was having a stuttering problem at WOT and it fixed that problem. But yesterday I took a drive after letting the car warm up, and not far down the road the CEL came on and it started to seem like it was sluggish and booging down missing at lower rpm's but once I got it above 3000ish seemed not as bad, so I was thinking possibly a bad O2 sensor. I have link but I bought the car with it (2.5) and tried to pull a code but keep getting a command time out error and cant figure out what to do. So anyway today I went out and was just checking connections around the o2 and such and found that the one Plug wire was almost completely disconnected from the coil pack. I plugged it back in all the way and took it for a spin and it didnt seem to be exhibiting the same problem as the other day but the CEL remained on. I dont know if that could be all it was or if it still is something else that is only going to be intermittent. Any advice or ideas would be much appreciated. Oh and the previous owner told me that he has link set to ignore misfires I believe which made me think I wouldnt throw a cel for a misfire which I assume if the plug wires were loose it would be considered a misfire.

 

[immortalmcf]

take it to autozone so they can read the codes and take it from there

 

[bonusboy]

Ok so heres is the question which may or not be a dumb question but I cant find an answer. Would a loose almost disonnected wire at the coilpack throw a CEL?

yes most likely

 

[rydereclipse]

It would indeed throw a code....and the CEL will persist until you clear it out I believe.

 

[Talonman86096]

Thanks for the replies. Later in the day I went for another drive and the problem came back so I'm assuming that it wasnt that and I'm back to suspecting a bad o2 sensor. Hopefully that is all it is. It feels like it is just chugging along and doesnt want to move till i get up over 3500rpms id say, and up untill the point my boost guage seems to be somewhat erractic which Im hoping isnt pointing to a turbo issue. I just creep up to 3500rpms its not like im trying to build any boost to get there.

 

[buddy3824]

get that code scanned. sounds like you are either going to have a po300 or a po301-304 code. find out which one(or multiple) it is and that will tell you which cylinder is messing up. an o2 sensor is most likely not going to cause you to bog down, more or less it will mess up fuel trim and your mileage.

the code will stay in until cleared or on most cars, after 5 or so key cycles with X runtime, it will clear the light itself and store as a pending code. pending codes arent removed from ecu memory unless cleared with a scanner that I know of.

 

[ALynch]

I installed some new wires on my car and must have not had one of the wires all the way on the coil pack. I noticed some weird stuff going on while I was driving so I popped the hood and saw it arcing. shut the car off quick and put it back on. No CEL ever came on. Just go get it scanned to be sure.

 

[NHerron]

You can't scan codes like you would normally, this is due to the DSMlink chip. You have to plug the special adapter into the obd port then hookup the laptop to the other end of the cable. It should have came with the car if the previous owner was nice enough to remember.

 

[ALynch]

Ah didn't see the part about him having Link. After you put the wire back on, did you remove the negative battery cable for a few minutes to let the ecu reset and clear the CEL?

 

[Talonman86096]

Yea I have the adapter and cable but it doesn't want to make a connection to the computer in the car. I get the command time out error when I start the capture and try to make a connection. I find it weird that it all started happening after I changed the wires but it ran perfectly fine for a few days after and then just out of the blue this happened yesterday and I don't believe wires would throw a cel. I'm going to get the codes scanned in the next day or so, luckily I have a vehicle I can use. I think it could be fuel related that's why I was thinking o2sensor possibly.. maybe bogging down wasn't the right term to use. I gotta get the code and go from there. Thanks for all the suggestions and input!

 

[Talonman86096]

Ok I borrowed a scanner and was able to pull the code and it came up one of one p0300 random misfires detected... So basically this means it could be a whole bunch of things correct? I have 550 injectors which were already accounted for by the previous owner with link and he had checked to ignore misfires because it's a 6 bolt swap. So if it's throwing that code does that mean the tune has been lost? I can't get link to work on my laptop idk if it's because I have vista or what but I can't get it to communicate.

 

[NHerron]

Good thing you have link. All ya gotta do is figure out how to use it and once you do, select the setting which disables the ECU from checking for misfire. That is the easiest way. Its normal for us swapped guys because the 2g ecu expects a much more accurate signal than what the 1g cas sends out vs its 2g brother.

 

[Munkee]

It connects through a serial cable right? I don't think vista would be a problem but maybe if you are using a serial to USB adapter? I've seen cases where some off brand adapters dont work w/ this kind of stuff (happened to me w/ my emanage). Check your drivers when you connect the cable maybe?

 

[Talonman86096]

I do have a serial to usb adapter and thought that it could be the problem. I downloaded the drivers and still could not get it to connect. I have an old laptop laying around here somewhere that has a serial port and Windows XP that I am going to try to get running again just to use for Link so hopefully Ill be able to get that working...in the mean time tomorrow I am going to do a compression test and go from there, hopefully rule out the worst case scenarios right away, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[NHerron]

Try actually reading about the code you pulled. Its not bad and its normal for a swapped dsm. Yes I'm talking about the all of a sudden engine about to die, boggin down, no response symptom. I used to get it about once a week, just randomly.

 

[Talonman86096]

I did do some reading about the code, and I figured it cant hurt to do a compression test anyway and it only takes like 10 minutes. Anyway the compression was fine 170 across the board. I got link to work finally. Now can anyone tell me where or how I can set it to Ignore Misfires? I didnt see any check boxes or anything for it. I did open up the previous tune that was applied when the new injectors were put in and it was the same as what was on the computer before I opened it so I assume that it is still applied. I'm sorry I know I'm going to be sounding like a complete noob here with link but I need to learn it some how. I was told that it was already set to ignore misfires but I don't see anything anywhere that says that. Help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for all the replies I've already received.

Ok so after looking around a bit more with link I found under the DTC's tab it says DTC's Checks Currently Enabled and the Cylinder Misfire box is checked, should that be unchecked? Just want to double check before I uncheck it and see if it corrects the problem.

Ok well I unchecked the Cylinder Misfire box and cleared the code and took it for a drive and it ran just fine, no misfire, no code seemed to be running the way it should so now my next question is do I also need to click the Invert CAS button under misc? The plugs have been swapped in the order 3241 and I have a 1g CAS (Green Cap). The Invert CAS button is not "pressed down" in the misc. tab so I assume that means its not checked. I was doing some reading up on it and from what it sounded like if its not inverted it will still run fine, but if it is inverted it will run better. Is that basically how it works?

 

[NHerron]

I'm on my tablet, but this should answer your questions.
swapplugwires [ECMTuning - wiki]

 

[Marc91GSX]

Did you disconnect the battery at any time while you were changing the plug wires? If so, iirc, then dsmlink will revert to it's factory tune (the one that was burned into at ECMtuning) and you have to upload the tune you hopefully have saved on your computer. The bad running could have been a result of that a long with it being a 6 bolt swap.

 

[Talonman86096]

I didn't disconnect the battery when I did the wires. I knew if I did that I would have to reset the tune and at the time I didn't have Link working yet so I was avoiding disconnecting it. I now have link working and checked it and the tune was still applied, I compared it to the saved copy.

Well I clicked the Invert CAS button and took it for a spin and it seemed like it was running better then it ever really has. It ran fine the other night after I ignored cylinder misfire but now with the CAS inverted there is no slight hesitation when cruising or when you push the gas down, seems much more responsive and boost builds right away. Looks like those were my two issues. I don't know how the car ran fine without those done or why it took this long to act up. Thanks for all the replies and help, much appreciated!

 

[NHerron]

Yup sounds like the typical symptoms of the inverted cas situation. It is hardly noticeable until you see how much better it runs with the cas properly inverted.

Sounds like everything panned out nicely, glad we could help.