mattstryfe

Codes:

• P0303 - Powertrain Cyl 3 misfire
• P0304 - Powertrain Cyl 4 misfire
• P0300 - Powertrain - multiple cyl misfire
• P1399 - Powertrain

Background:

7th of January was unseasonably cold ~5degrees
Started car up in morning for work.
Let it warm up 2 bars (as always)
Drove to work

While driving i noticed extreme hesitation (No CEL yet) while under 3K RPMs. After a few miles the CEL came on (non blinking). I drove another 2 miles to work. During that time the CEL went away on its own. The hesitation got better but was still present. Leaving work, same thing. However, the CEL was on when I started the car this time. Let it warm up. It was idling very rough and backfiring every once in a while. Living only 4 miles from work I decided to chance it and drove home so I could park it and work on it.

The next day I was able to get a hold of my OBDII scanner and got the codes.

Today I did a compression test which showed 240 across the board. However, the CEL now blinks and just gives me a P1399. While I was warming up the car for the compression test the blinking CEL would come and go intermittently. I know a blinking CEL normally means catastrophic but I needed to do the compression test.

The spark plugs look decent and are within the proper gap range. They are from 2011 and have ~15K miles on them. However, I did buy new ones yesterday thinking it was them.
[attachment=71946:IMAG0013.jpg]

Then there's this...
[attachment=71945:IMAG0010.jpg]


Summary:

• Random misfire CELs on cyl 3 & 4
• Very rough idle
• Extreme hesitation under 3K RPMs
• Compression test yielded 240 across the board (235 in cyl 1)
• Good looking spark plugs

Video Link of idle

Once the car cools down I am going to take a look at the vtec solenoid and see what the hell is going on with it.

franky

Wow idle sounds horrible. Swap the coils around n see if cel pops up for the other two cylinders. If so then its the coils. If not then do a valve adjustment.

mattstryfe

Yup. I was hoping this would work even though the individual cyl codes went away. Sure enough, i swapped coil 1 with 3 and 2 with 4 and I now have:

[attachment=71954:Screenshot_2015-01-10-15-10-57.png] --> [attachment=71953:Screenshot_2015-01-10-15-10-45.png]

Now I am wondering if I should go ahead and buy all 4 or just the 2. Thoughts?

Utah S2K

Before I replaced any packs I would go to Autozone and pick up some dielectric grease. Stuff some in the coil pack boot. It may be the pack is dry. When the weather gets cold the copper shrinks and opens a small gap between the packs conductive connector and the plug. This allows arcing between the two and sets the codes. Try this first. Most packs don't need replacing...just regreasing.

Utah

zeroptzero

The center electrodes on two spark plugs look bad for such low miles on them. I wonder if they came out of the cylinders that had the failing coils ?. The electrodes eroded significantly from what I can tell of the pics.

If you hadn't mentioned that the coils were performing poorly I was going to suggest that the fuel may have been icing up if it had some water in the tank, and to try a fresh tank of fuel with Preston water removal additive or a similar product.

mattstryfe

Thanks for taking the time to respond guys.

I will try that tomorrow even though I already ordered some packs. They have ~120k miles on them, and according to the threads I've come across, is slightly above the average life expectancy.

I was thinking gas too but I ruled it out when I was only getting 2 specific cylinder misfires. The image of the spark plugs is 4-3-2-1. The ice makes sense and I originally, and still kind of think, it has something to do with the cold. I hope not and it was just coincidence that it was very cold the day 2 of my coil packs decided to die. Seems like a stretch but we'll see.

mattstryfe

Regretfully bumping this as my replacement (new) coil packs (4) resolved the problems until today. They lasted for ~2 months. I am now getting

• P0301 - Powertrain Cyl 1 misfire
• P0303 - Powertrain Cyl 3 misfire
• P0300 - Powertrain - multiple cyl misfire
• P1399 - Powertrain

So I will swap the packs and see if I can get 2 and 4 to misfire. However, there is obviously something going on which is causing my packs to fail.


Has anyone else seen/heard of anything like this?


Matt

mattstryfe

After checking the codes a 3rd time, it's now giving me misfires on cyl1,3,4...

golfman

Just wondering where you got the coils? Also I would like to more about the car. Year and mileage and how long you had the car.

mattstryfe

Year: 02
Mileage: 115K
I've had the car since 06 when it had ~20K miles on it.

Based on this thread I went with the 04-05 coil packs which I found on Ebay here. While I'm not ruling out the fact they may be defective; the seller and the product seem legit.

Some other background info and tests I did today while I had light.

• Compression test - 240 across the board
• plugs look the same as the previous picture (they were not replaced when the coils were)
• I filled up yesterday from about 1/4 to full tank (at the same gas station I have used for many years)
• The codes keep changing from cyl1, 3, 4 to cyl1, to cyl 3,4 (never 2 as of right now)
• Voltage checks out. I am getting a constant 13.xxx
• I checked the valve clearances when during version 1 of this (back in Jan) Everything was in spec.
  • I am going to check again tomorrow but I need a cold engine

I was, and still am, referencing this great thread to run the tests that I can.

Thanks,
Matt