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ran on 5 cylinders (crap)

968 views 20 replies 9 participants last post by  jedgxe 
#1 ·
long story short , i had a slight hesitation in my 93 , did the plugs and wires the other day , then i happen to be working on the car and unpluged one of the spark plug wires to check if this socket i found did fit them so i canhave it for next time , my boy called me cuz he got his hand stuck in a belt in his car lol , dont ask how lol... i forgot to plug the wire back in , so yester i noticed the car was running even more "ruff" with a slight knock , figured cuZ i needed a half quart of oil , added it and thought nothign of it till this morning when i was driving and it did the same thing , pulled into the gas station a block away from my house and since it was still dark out , i see the spakr form the wires , (little zapz) so i pluged it in tryed staring the car , it started but didnt stay on not even for a second , b4 i thought about calling a thow truck , i floored it and turned the car on , steped on the brake and thru it in gear and it stayed on and its been good all day and runs way better then my original problem with the slight hesitation ,..... i only did like 10 miles with the wire not attaed , dont think i caused any damage ,...what you guys think? (i know im lucky)
 
#6 ·
EspizTrep said:
long story short , i had a slight hesitation in my 93 , did the plugs and wires the other day , then i happen to be working on the car and unpluged one of the spark plug wires to check if this socket i found did fit them so i canhave it for next time , my boy called me cuz he got his hand stuck in a belt in his car lol , dont ask how lol... i forgot to plug the wire back in , so yester i noticed the car was running even more "ruff" with a slight knock , figured cuZ i needed a half quart of oil , added it and thought nothign of it till this morning when i was driving and it did the same thing , pulled into the gas station a block away from my house and since it was still dark out , i see the spakr form the wires , (little zapz) so i pluged it in tryed staring the car , it started but didnt stay on not even for a second , b4 i thought about calling a thow truck , i floored it and turned the car on , steped on the brake and thru it in gear and it stayed on and its been good all day and runs way better then my original problem with the slight hesitation ,..... i only did like 10 miles with the wire not attaed , dont think i caused any damage ,...what you guys think? (i know im lucky)
Running with plug wire disconnected can damage your coil for that cylinder. It will not be noticeable right away, but eventually that coil will fail.
 
#9 ·
EspizTrep said:
hopefully it wont fail soon , how much would it be do change the coil if it does ever fail? and how would i be able to tell?
If one coil fails ,it'll run and idle very roughly. The 2 cylinders for that coil will have a weak spark or no spark at all. If with any luck, the wire that you left unplugged just happened to be grounded, then your coil will probably be ok, but that plug wire will go bad. The damage happens when 40,000 volts tries to get to ground. If it can't get to ground through the spark plug,then it will go through the wire insulation and leave a very small carbon track in the insulation of plug wire or coil windings. After wire is connected to the spark plug, some of the spark will follow the carbon track , and eventually short it out. I don't know what a new coil pack costs (I never had to replace mine) But on the 3.3 it's very easy to replace. If in the future your car runs rough and you suspect the coil pack is the culprit, you can check the primary and secondary coil windings with an ohm meter, before spending any money on the coil pack. As far as your original problem of slight hesitation. Put some Sea Foam in your tank. You can put two cans of Sea Foam in a full tank if you want. What does grap mean anyway ????
 
#13 ·
That not dramatical. Maybe you should check the engine oil. The time that the spark plug cylinder was disconnect the injector was not disconnect. Check your engine oil if it smell gas.
 
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#14 ·
jedgxe said:
If one coil fails ,it'll run and idle very roughly. The 2 cylinders for that coil will have a weak spark or no spark at all. If with any luck, the wire that you left unplugged just happened to be grounded, then your coil will probably be ok, but that plug wire will go bad. The damage happens when 40,000 volts tries to get to ground. If it can't get to ground through the spark plug,then it will go through the wire insulation and leave a very small carbon track in the insulation of plug wire or coil windings. After wire is connected to the spark plug, some of the spark will follow the carbon track , and eventually short it out. I don't know what a new coil pack costs (I never had to replace mine) But on the 3.3 it's very easy to replace. If in the future your car runs rough and you suspect the coil pack is the culprit, you can check the primary and secondary coil windings with an ohm meter, before spending any money on the coil pack. As far as your original problem of slight hesitation. Put some Sea Foam in your tank. You can put two cans of Sea Foam in a full tank if you want. What does grap mean anyway ????



After changing my plugs, I found 1 sparkplug thats covered in what looks like burnt black oil and the boot to that wire has a burn mark on its side.

Is this the kind of symptom you're suggesting?


:notify:
 
#15 ·
pucking said:
After changing my plugs, I found 1 sparkplug thats covered in what looks like burnt black oil and the boot to that wire has a burn mark on its side.

Is this the kind of symptom you're suggesting?


:notify:
It's possible, but I don't know how your boot got the mark. could be from laying on something hot, or getting oil on it , or from running with it disconnected. Either way any damage to wires or boots is a potential cause of arcing. Running disconnected could just as easily arc through the boot as through the wire. Even though the boot is thick , the connecter inside of it is bigger around. so it's about the same thickness of insulation to go through as the small conductor of the plug wire through it's insulation. What ever provides the shortest path to ground is where the carbon tracking will start. If cable and boot are completely clear of ground then the arcing will happen inside the coil. If someone wants to run with a wire disconnected, it's best to get a spare plug to connect to that wire and ground the spare plug to the block. If someone wants to crank without starting such as for a compression test, then remove the auto shut down relay.
 
#17 ·
GreenVisionEsi said:
****!!! ..... I'm gonna need a coilpack too... damn hell this car better run good soon or i'll go nuts... nothing major, but a ton of little annoyances that drives me crazy.... :S damn old spark wires
Did you check your coil pack with an ohm meter???
 
#18 ·
didnt have the time to do so for now, damn snowstorm... I'll get to it shortly.
While where on the subject of coil-pack... I saw something the other day
just wondering if there's a difference in coil pack with gold or silver terminals... probably not, but at first I was like... uhm.. damn why is mine gold :|
 
#19 ·
GreenVisionEsi said:
didnt have the time to do so for now, damn snowstorm... I'll get to it shortly.
While where on the subject of coil-pack... I saw something the other day
just wondering if there's a difference in coil pack with gold or silver terminals... probably not, but at first I was like... uhm.. damn why is mine gold :|
The gold colored ones are brass and manufactured by Diamond. The silver colored ones are Aluminum and manufactured by Toyodenso. I don't know if one came with the 3.3 and the other came with the 3.5. I do know that Nippondenso made the starters for the 3.3 and Melco made the starters for the 3.5
 
#21 ·
GreenVisionEsi said:
****!!! ..... I'm gonna need a coilpack too... damn hell this car better run good soon or i'll go nuts... nothing major, but a ton of little annoyances that drives me crazy.... :S damn old spark wires
oops forgot to mention that the resistance specs are the same for both the brass and the aluminum. primary resistance @21to27 degrees C (70 to 80 F) should be 0.45 to 0.65 ohms. Secondary resistance (same temperature range) should be 7,000 to 15,800 ohms. If all readings are in spec on the 3 coils, then your coil pack is ok.
 
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