Coil Update!

[AYW550]

so for any of you who have read my past posts, you will no that at the moment i have a very lumpy, missing, r34 NEO motor, the engine light has been constantly on and it absolutely guzzels down the petrol

i bought the car used almost 3 years ago (with 98,000 km on the odometer) and it was sweet as for about a year before the engine light made its first appearence...it would only very rarely come on, maybe only a few times a year after the first year and would always go away if you restarted the car, but it slowly got worse and now its constantly on and will not go away and gives the 'classic' 'primary ignition fault' engine code, (now have 120,000 km on the car)

so after just getting a massive labour bill for getting my exhaust system installed, i decided to tackle the removal of the coils and plugs myself,

now ive got the coils out, and they look absolutely perfect! no visible cracking of the casing, and the rubber boots that go down to contact with the sparg plugs are all nice and flexible soft rubber.... ive seen some pics of coils on here that other people have posted ond their coils look nothing like mine, mine look so new....also i dont think my coils are exposed to the same heat extreams as in auzzie

so now im thinking the sparkplugs and the PCV valve are the culprets, both im sure are OE parts, the PCV valve looks to be all gummed up and all of the plugs are very black and covered in carbon, and perhaps its possible that the spark plugs have burned thru the resistor parts inside and might be interfering with the elictrical signals going to the coils???? im sure the plugs have done the full almost 120,000 kms

what do you guys/girls think??? could bad plugs be the cause?

Edited August 10, 2009 by AYW550

[Turk1]

I would imagine that the spark plugs could be that cause...I thought my petrol consumption was bad lol, but if your only getting 120,000km out of the tank then that is just...ouch haha. You really gotta find out the problem because your petrol bills are just gonna keep piling and piling.

[AYW550]

I would imagine that the spark plugs could be that cause...I thought my petrol consumption was bad lol, but if your only getting 120,000km out of the tank then that is just...ouch haha. You really gotta find out the problem because your petrol bills are just gonna keep piling and piling.

lol, sry, ive got 120,000 km on the odometer, when she used to run right i could 500-600 km on a tank of gas, but now i might only get 300 km on a tank,,,but petrol bill not a worry cause i havent been driving the car cause i dont want to ruin which ever cylinder isnt firing but still is getting gas put in it

[N-DAWG]

I would imagine that the spark plugs could be that cause...I thought my petrol consumption was bad lol, but if your only getting 120,000km out of the tank then that is just...ouch haha. You really gotta find out the problem because your petrol bills are just gonna keep piling and piling.

120,000 kms out of a tank???

[AYW550]

120,000 kms out of a tank???

sry guys, ive edited it now

[MissR34]

dude, you said your tuner said that yes your car did somewhat sound like a wrx, which means it would be a coilpack, not a spark plug!

how can the spark plug create its spark if the coilpack is not firing the plug to spark?

[AYW550]

dude, you said your tuner said that yes your car did somewhat sound like a wrx, which means it would be a coilpack, not a spark plug!

how can the spark plug create its spark if the coilpack is not firing the plug to spark?

umm, because im pretty sure that if a good coil was firing a bad spark plug it would have the same effect as a bad coil not firing a good spark plug, meaning, that either way the result is no spark or intermitant spark from the plug

[MissR34]

yes but even when my coilpacks went they didnt have cracks or anything like that in them, they look fine (just a lil dusty), and to be honest i couldnt tell the difference between the good coilpack and the bad coilpack when holding them one of each in my hands...

[N-DAWG]

I could tell the difference between my good and dead coilpacks... the tops had popped on em >_> I've fixed my GReddy eDamage since then though lol

Sometimes they can get little hairline cracks in them too.

[MissR34]

the tops had popped off?

[MissR34]

the tops had popped off?

[Turk1]

lol, sry, ive got 120,000 km on the odometer, when she used to run right i could 500-600 km on a tank of gas, but now i might only get 300 km on a tank,,,but petrol bill not a worry cause i havent been driving the car cause i dont want to ruin which ever cylinder isnt firing but still is getting gas put in it

Myne runs at 300km to a tank i really really really wanna fix it but I got no clue what to look at!! lol.

[central coast person]

What is your oil consumption?

I had the same problem as you described. I also burnt 5L of 40w-70 oil only driving 500km so keep checking your dipstick to see how your oil is going. (i doubt it will be this bad as the person that owned the skyline before me killed the engine). Especialy if you have black spark plugs, its the number one sign of them burning oil and although your engine is young mine was dead at 150,000km so theres a chance its a internal problem.

[666DAN]

Coil packs 100000000000000000% it's been covered a million zillion billion times, R34's specifically have shit coils that ALWAYS die. A quick diagnostic with a paperclip will show error 21 from the ECU

Never replace with OEM coils as they will just shit themselves down the track. They can look shiny and new but the transistors inside suffer from wire seperation at engine temperature and gradually disable the coil pack even in fairly new cars (my last R34 did it when it was 3 years old....yes back in 2002)

Buy some splitfires, do not pass go, do not collect $200 and forget about the issue ever again

[Turk1]

What is your oil consumption?

I had the same problem as you described. I also burnt 5L of 40w-70 oil only driving 500km so keep checking your dipstick to see how your oil is going. (i doubt it will be this bad as the person that owned the skyline before me killed the engine). Especialy if you have black spark plugs, its the number one sign of them burning oil and although your engine is young mine was dead at 150,000km so theres a chance its a internal problem.

Are you talking to me or AYW550? lol

Well a mechanic I took my car to said my car is eating oil quicker than normal, anyway to fix this? Or will I just have to put up with it?

Also I am in the eastern suburbs of Sydney...does anyone have any good reccomendations of people that know how to work on Skylines?

[central coast person]

hahaha i guess both of you.

Turk1

Yeah if you can find the time to check your oil levels and pull your plugs out every 500km (make sure you give them a good clean) you will be able to tell that your engine has wear because its burning oil that the pistons are leaving behind on the cylinders.

Look for black smoke for the exhaust when you take off,

Plugs have a build up of carbon on the ceramic,

oil level going down and having to refill every ( X about of km)

How often do you refil oil and how many Liters are you refiling with?

To give you a idea, i had my mechanic do a compression test on all my cylinders and change my plugs. After 1000km my plugs were black and the compression test was something stupid 7:1 i think i cant remember right. Thats the best way to tell the engine has WEAR.

i blew smoke

i chewed 5L of oil every 500km

If you get to this stage just get a new engine.

[Turk1]

hahaha i guess both of you.

Turk1

Yeah if you can find the time to check your oil levels and pull your plugs out every 500km (make sure you give them a good clean) you will be able to tell that your engine has wear because its burning oil that the pistons are leaving behind on the cylinders.

Look for black smoke for the exhaust when you take off,

Plugs have a build up of carbon on the ceramic,

oil level going down and having to refill every ( X about of km)

How often do you refil oil and how many Liters are you refiling with?

To give you a idea, i had my mechanic do a compression test on all my cylinders and change my plugs. After 1000km my plugs were black and the compression test was something stupid 7:1 i think i cant remember right. Thats the best way to tell the engine has WEAR.

i blew smoke

i chewed 5L of oil every 500km

If you get to this stage just get a new engine.

On cold days/nights when i havent started the engine for a while it will kick out white smokee until it has warmed up. I havent looked at my oil lately, will check it out tomorow...what oil should i be feeding it? I really think I should go out and buy myself a tub haha

[central coast person]

Its probably just steam. My car does it and the easiest way to tell is if you wipe your finger on the steel of the exhaust (have to be clean of carbon) there will be condensation. guarantee you its steam and nothing wrong with it all cars do it.

Umm for a brand new engine 10w-40

once smoke starts to blow (depends how the engine was treated) just go up in grades......

20w-50

25w-60

40w-70

if it stops blowing out with one of those your sweet for a while, if it blows out 40w-70 when your engine is dead.

20L barrels

[Turk1]

haha yeah all cars do it but my smoke is alot more thicker than normal, especially nights when its real cold...dont think its anything to bad but yeah haha thanks for the tips tonight brother helped me out alot i must say. got a few things to do on my mind tomorow...a little double minded on taking out the spark plugs though, never done it before lol.

[central coast person]

Allen key

socket set

i think that's it.

Take off the intake, inc pipe up to the throttle body then allen key take off the coilpack cover (Nissan 2500 plate) then socket takes off blots for coilpacks, pull the coilpack out then socket take out the plugs.

Do one at a time!

Bed time for me now...