This just came out of my car :



Errm.. ain't there sposed to be some plastic 'round that thar metal?

 

Pacific Northwest--that says a lot. Get any RAIN up there?

 

what the hell am I looking at??????????

 

It is one of the car's six individual ignition coil packs. One end sits on the spark plug and the other end gets plugged into the cars DME.

 

That there be some corrosion....

 

How old is your car? Mine looked like that after 6 years of winter driving.

 

I had to have all 6 replaced on my 2003 at 55k

 

2006 car, 42k miles

The car started misfiring a few days ago. I was expecting to find a coil pack cracked, because heard that happens - the plastic cracks from the heat and water gets inside.

Instead I found the plastic completely gone! And the metal plates inside rusty and warped. It amazes me that they kept working as long as they did.

This is roughly what they should look like :

 

The environment takes a greater toll than the mileage.

 

I had all the coil packs replaced at 39K miles. A misfire & CEL. Three came up bad, so I had all replaced. My mechanic said that they all looked pretty bad. The coil packs are known to deteriorate from road spray and on cars that are not garaged. It has been reported that, once a single unit goes down, the rest will soon follow.

 

What kind of money for the total replacement???? Just curious..

 

Yes, Never just replace one. REPLACE ALL.

Also while you are there replace the spark plugs too.

I have a 2006 with 25k and I have replaced my sparks 2 times and the coil packs once after a missfire issue.

Also do not overtighten or you will crack the plastic and have to start all over again.

 

I paid $800 for 6 coils + 6 plugs parts and labor. The shop's parts were a bit overpriced, you could get 6 plugs+coils around $300 total online and save some.

 

That is interesting. You think it was manufactured that way (no plastic), or is there plastic somewhere on your engine?

 

I assume some chunks of plastic are out on the road somewhere. These things are right at the bottom of the engine and totally exposed to the elements and the road. Most normal front-engine cars have these things on top of the engine, not the bottom, which protects them a bit.