Help Please Guys

[victor71]

today i was replacing my spark plugs and one of coilpack plastics plug broke leaving the pins bare. i connected it all back up and put something to split them apart. anyways some how i think the broken plug shorted out and my car didnt idle right and it stunk bad. i smelt the igniter and it seems the smell is coming from there. i was wanting to know what is the worst case scenario other than replacing the igniter could happen? really need some help here. freking out

[Nic_A31]

More details?

Bad smell?

Like unburnt fuel, or burning platic?

Not idling right?

Does the engine vibrate worse than normal when you raise the throttle ?

Coilpack looms often fail after 100'000km because the loom stiffens from excessive heat inside the valley, so there's a good chance you killed the loom while taking it off to get the sparks ?

As for further damage, try not to run the engine if its on 5 or less cylinders, fix the problem asap.

[victor71]

yeah it smelt like burnt wire thats bout it. i didnt drive it much just took it out of the workshop and drove it back. the car was vibrating heaps. i dont really think its the coils because before the new spark plugs they were still good. the exhaust sound sounded like there were little gaps that it stopped type of thing it wasnt like a free flow kind of sound. hope this helps. one of my mates thinks its the igniter because i didnt drive it heaps. o you reckon it couldve f**ked up that shorted coil too? and what bout the spark plug

[Nic_A31]

The coilpacks fail around 100'000km anyway, for the same reason - excessive heat, but usually the loom goes, like I said, its stiff, and when you move it to get into the valley it cracks and breaks, so its probably the ignition/coil loom from the ignitor to the coilpacks.

As the car is idling, wriggle the connection on either side of the ignitor pack and see if it cuts out. If the ignitor pack is f**ked, it'll overheat and shutdown within about 60 seconds.

Try another loom, and if still no luck, to work out which coil isn't working, disconnect them one at a time, until disconnecting one doesn't make a difference when you rev it, that's the one that doesn't work, where as disconnecting a working one will cause worse vibrations since it'll run on 4 cylinders, instead of 5 as it is now.

Ignitor pack's dont cost much, neither do loom's, but looms can be hard to find since alot of people have the same problem.

If you need to upgrade coilpacks, go Splitfires, either eBay or SlidingPerformance (who also sell brand new ignition looms), JustJap, etc

You can sometimes find ventilated valley covers on eBay, or just run the engine without the cover, so it doesnt cook anything again.

[victor71]

so if the coilpack has shorted. the igniter can still be alright? what exaclt does the igniter do? start the car?

[Nic_A31]

Ignitor is like a distributor, it sets off the coilpacks.

If the ignitor is f**ked it should overheat and drop out all cylinders, so it's likely to be the loom, or a coilpack or spark.

[victor71]

oh ok well ill have to check the coilpack. hopefully the short circuit hasnt done much damage

[mad082]

you didn't happen to put the plug back on upside down?

and what did you use to hold the pins apart?

sounds like you have probably shorted something out like you said and that may have burnt out the ignitor (since you said that's where the smell is coming from). you may not have burnt out all channels on the ignitor and that's why the car will still run (just not on all cylinders)

[victor71]

nah i fixed the problem. it was the coilpack got burnt. replaced it. too easy. thanks guys