Poorly coilpack

[bazibbo]

My ford coilpack appears to have died... or half of it has anyway.

Eveything worked a few days ago, then started it up yesterday, to double check (again!) my crank sensor position and couldn't get my strobe to pick up a signal. After dismantling it tried it on no.2 and it worked fine, so checked and 1 and 4 aren't working (right hand pair). There's a bit of heat in the no.1 exhaust, but not enough spark to fire my strobe. (didn't check 4)

i've double checked my wiring, though I've made no changes since the last time its run, and I've run the 'test injectors and coil' which doesn't appear to do anything on the coil setting.... unless the big green block would turn red if things were wrong.

The coilpack is an aftermarket one, but sub 1000 mile, so nearly new. Would the test facility pick up a fault? I don't particularly want to rush out and buy one because I don't know how to test it properly.

Any input appreciated... I really need to get my baby up and running this side of christmas.

[lumley32]

the 'test injectors and coil' only turns the outputs on and of, it wont tell you if there is a problem!

i assume your running wasted spark so 1 and 4 are the same coil internley just the + and - side, if thats the case 1 and 4 will have the same spark and the same problems.

the only thing that can kill a coil that fast would be the dwell time, is it set to the correct value?

was it running on all 4?

easy way to test is swap the coil wires round so 1 and 4 become 2 and 3 if the problem stays with the same part of the coil then its the coil thats given up!

[bazibbo]

Yep, was running on all four, though I wonder if it was messing around a bit at low revs.... dunno.

Yep, wasted spark.

Can I get to dwell time on the s40? Can't find it in general settings or coil per plug settings. Got a 'coil on time' of 2500 microsecs if that's it.

I'll have a go at swapping coil wires round over the weekend.

Ta for that

[bazibbo]

Just done my homework and coil on time and coil dwell time is the same. I haven't got any reference for time on, I'll see if I can find it somewhere.

[Simon P.]

Actually, 2.5 millisecs is quite short for coil pack dwell time so I would think that is not the cause of the failure. 2.5 is more what I expect to see on a coil on plug (COP) type application.
Try reading through this article if you're looking into setting the correct dwell time of an unknown coil pack. Certainly helped me when I was looking into this for my own application.
http://www.dtec.net.au/Ignition%20Coil% ... ration.htm
But if you can find the info somewhere that would certainly be much faster...

[stevieturbo]

You dont make it clear if you actually checked for a spark at all 4 plugs when performing the coil test ?

Ignoring timing lights etc for a second, do you actually have a spark at all 4 ?

[bazibbo]

Sorry, wedding function scuppers all plans....

[bazibbo]

Well, with weddings and weather issues, i've only just got back on to it this morning before leaving for work.

Having swapped leads, I checked for a spark on no.1 with a spare plug and it apeared to work fine. Replaced the potentially dodgy plug and started it up again. It still ran pretty badly, sounding as if it was on three cylinders again.... but, the no.1 exhaust was hot so something was happening. The plug was pretty messy too.

So ran it up the road for a hundred yards or so.... missing all the way. So turned round and headed home, then things began to improve. Put a few miles on and things are nearly all spot on, despite a bit of rough running around tickover.

Still not getting a signal on my timing light... and, haven't yet had chance to test for a spark on all 4 cylinders ( sorry Stevie! )

ta guys, input appreciated

I'm booked onto a rolling road tomorrow morning to fettle my fuel / ignition so wether this problem is already solved, or caused by attrocious fueling at low throttle openings, or whatever... It'll get solved.

[stevieturbo]

It's a waste of money booking a rolling road to tune an engine that has blatant problems. They will need resolved before any mapping can take place.

A coil test on all 4 would take less than 5 minutes. Less time that it would take to drive up and down the road. More so since you seem to say you had the plugs removed to swap !

Remove plugs, ensure they are grounded

Power up laptop, unplug fuel pump or injectors and perform coil test.

Job done.

And if you've been running the engine with non sparking plugs and the plugs are soaked with fuel, you need to throw them in the bin and fit new ones or you will be forever chasing your tail.

[Antral]

It's a waste of money booking a rolling road to tune an engine that has blatant problems. They will need resolved before any mapping can take place.

A coil test on all 4 would take less than 5 minutes. Less time that it would take to drive up and down the road. More so since you seem to say you had the plugs removed to swap !

Remove plugs, ensure they are grounded

Power up laptop, unplug fuel pump or injectors and perform coil test.

Job done.

Well said, Totaly agree with Stevie.

And if you've been running the engine with non sparking plugs and the plugs are soaked with fuel, you need to throw them in the bin and fit new ones or you will be forever chasing your tail.