Imo000

The #3 can easily reached without removing anything. If you don't have a jack, get two patio slabs at Home Depot, stack them and back onto them. This will lift the corner enough that you can easily reach the #3 and #2 plugs/coils.

sjg1138

OK so I swapped the #2 and #3 coils and.... I'm still getting P1314 (and P0302) from cylinder #2. The engine still runs horribly.

Any ideas? What should I test next? I looked down the #3 and #2 plug holes and all looked good. I guess a plug could have gone bad in #2, although the plugs are fairly new (8k miles). When this all started it was really sudden (not like a situation where the misfire happened once in a while). Something seemed to fail all at once.

Does anyone know where the coils get their signals to fire from? Maybe there is a bad connection on the other end of the coil wire.

P0302
Misfire, Cylinder 2, Damaging to Catalytic Converter
P1314
Misfire, Cylinder 2, Emission Relevant

fpb111

Check the #2 spark plug before you take anything else off.

sjg1138

ok I removed the #2 and #3 spark plugs. I dont see anything unusual about them, but maybe someone out there can detect something. #2 is the cylinder that is misfiring and is on the left in the picture. #3 is on the right (which has not had any issues). TIA

Ahsai

They look fine although I would have guessed they had more than 8k on them but that could just be the photos. Can you swap them and see if the code follows one of them?

sjg1138

Yes. I will swap them and post again. I'm a bit surprised by the shiny black deposits. #2 is on the right in this pic.

I'm getting good at getting the plugs and coils out! BTW, I'm doing it without raising the car and without removing the muffler. Having the proper tools (different extension sizes) really helps, that and being a contortionist.

Ahsai

Try #1 or #4, which are the real tests

sjg1138

So it looks like I made a mistake. I was actually swapping coils from #1 and #3 rather than #2 and #3. Oops. That explains why I had no change in the error code.

Soooo. I took out coil #2. I also got to thinking, there must be a way to test the coils with a multimeter (rather than swapping them) and low and behold there is.

On these coils the Primary Coil resistance is tested between terminals 1 and 15 and should have a value of 0.4 to 0.7 Ohms. All three of mine had a value of .7 ohms, so no problem with the Primary coil.

Next up the Secondary coil test. From what I can tell, terminal 4 to the spark plug contact point is the Secondary coil. I measured 18k ohms on both the #1 coil and the #3 coil. On the #2 coil I measured an open circuit! Pretty sure I found the problem here. It seems that the secondary coil in #2 is shot.

I think it may be time for 6 new coils. It has been 15 years and 72k miles so there is that.

ZX9RCAM

I replaced all when the 1st one went bad....

Ahsai

Good news!

sjg1138

Question for you guys while I wait for 6 new coils and plugs from Pelican. Do I have to "gap" the new (4 electrode) plugs ? Or do they (Beru 14 FGR-6 KQU) come properly set ?

Ahsai

They come pre-gapped with their tips protected by a cardboard sleeve. Eyeball the prongs anyway in case they got bent during shipping.

sjg1138

Update time.

I have replace the #2 plug and coil. #3 and #1 plugs/coils are out and ready to be replaced. Amazingly I was able to get a torque wrench on the #2 plug and tighten it to the prescribed 22 ft-lbs. Doubt I will be able to get the torque wrench on the #1 plug. Any ideas on this?

Ahsai

I do it by feel. Usually they recommend hand turn it till it seats on the head then turn 90 degrees more. If in doubt, err on the lose side. You can always go back to tighten it more if needed.
http://www.boschautoparts.com/SparkP...le-install-doc

sjg1138

Thanks Ahsai. I have been hand tightening them so that procedure makes sense. I'm amazed that the plugs are reachable at all given the tight clearances. It is cool how few tools are required to do the job though.