nsantolick

When a coil is failing, can it cause the coil wire to heavily corrode?

I examined both ends of the connectors on several ignition wires. All are like new, with no visible "fireflies" in the dark.

BOTH of the coil wires show heavy corrosion on the coil side. I've endured sporadic ignition problems and did find that, at first anyway, cleaning the contacts on the drivers side coil would temporarily fix the problem.

Anyway, the problem got worse over a few tanks of gas. The car has been parked for a while, so I can diagnose/fix it all.

Is it normal to have those leads corrode? I feel that both coils are failing, but I've heard that they are remarkably durable, so I'd like to confirm.

The IMU did in fact "kick in" several times, sometimes to reset if I just turned the car on and off. Now, it's worse...

The distributor ends of these coil wires were clean. It was just the coil side that's displaying that greenish corrosion...

I'll eventually supercharge and am trying to get the car up to specs first. Is there anything to be said about upgrading the whole ignition system to something aftermarket???














Nick - 89S4

Mrmerlin

If you take a Qtip and stick it in the tip of the coil after it has gotten hot does it come out clean?
The only thing that causes corrosion is a liquid, so if both of these wire ends are damaged then it might be wise to replace the coils as they could be leaking

nsantolick

When I first tried to search for the cause of the IMU to "kick in" and make my car run on one bank, I found that the drivers side coil wire was a bit loose, and heavily corroded.

At first, I just brushed it off, and the car worked again. I'm fairly certain that this was the cause of the intermittent failure. While driving the car after that light brushing, it eventually repeated. On the side of the road, the same cleaning did fix it...

I cleaned the coil wire end and coil contact with scotch bright and a lot of spray electrical cleaner. I reattached the wire after applying some dielectric gel. The car was fine for 300 miles, then, the problem came back...

Now, it's really bad. I assumed that the drivers side coil was in fact leaking and am about to order a new coil. Last night I checked the other side, and although the coil wire was a bit tighter fitting, it too has corrosion.

So the liquid inside the coil IS corrosive???

The car's 21 years old, with 81,000 miles. I'm surprised to see the coils failing, but fortunately, it's not that difficult or expensive to replace them. : )

I know that the ignition system is well built. With the eventual supercharging though, should I consider a MSD upgrade or something now? I don't see more than 500-1000 miles until I add forced induction... Can't wait... Just want to make it all proper first...











Nick - 89S4

Stromius

Had the same problem. I thought it was rainwater seeping in above the passenger coil. I added a piece of fuel hose, 6" and cut down the middle and put that on the hood/fender joint to channel away water so it doesn't drop onto the coil/coil wire connector.

I cleaned the coil and coil connector with baking soda and then added dialetic grease to keep it from coming back. There's probably a good corrosion inhibitor to buy too.

Stefan

Fogey1

Not exactly on topic but a quick report on DeOxit. I've had a can of it stashed deep in a toolbox for more than five years and never tried it until the other day.

I was a taking apart an old flashlight in which the batteries had died and leaked. After i knocked out the batteries I found a copper conducting strip that was green and fuzzy with a crystalline corrosion.

I'd already decided to throw away the (cheap, old, non-led) flashlight but decided to see if DeOxit worked.
I first tried a Q-tip with no significant result except a dirty Q-tip and a bit less fuzz.
Then I scraped the corrosion off half the top of the strip with a knife blade and got the usual bright stripes of clean copper with some corrosion left.

Then i sprayed DeOxit on both sides of the strip and went to get a beer. When I returned in a few minutes the part I'd scraped was shiny and the corrosion on the part I hadn't touched was visibly cleaning up. By the time I finished the beer it was clean.

I was impressed. No connection to the product.

blown 87

It is good stuff.

nsantolick

Where can I buy "DeOxit?"

nsantolick

Now you've got me wondering. Is corrosion on the coil contact area normal because of water spilling onto that area?

Both sides were corroded. The drivers side definitely caused my IMU to kick in as this failure began to become apparent to me.

For reasons unbeknownst to me, the drivers side coil wire was actually fairly loose. It most definitely wouldn't have quite been "water tight" in it's condition...

I feel like putting some newspaper or something over my coils and simulating rain now... lol

I've ordered replacement coils, and I'd have changed them as a matter of course whilst supercharging, which I still hope to do come December. I just want to work over the car until then, and don't need use of a car, little lone this one much for the rest of the year...

It does really make sense though that water can cause this issue, and it adds to the importance of fresh ignition wires, I suppose.









Nick - 89S4

Tampa 928s

You may want to check if you have the two rubber type strips that slip on the fender lip over the coils. I believe Porsche used theses to run the water away from the coil.

WallyP

The two little rubber strips are critical items. While rain is a problem (especially in areas with acid rain!), the real killer is soapy wash water...