-Matt

I have got all they symptoms of running rather rich, little sluggish, loud, popping and banging lifting of the throttle and the engine light is on.

I recently changed one coil pack (number 2) as it was faulty, and noticed that if i put a electrical detector pen over the new one it was giving a much bigger pulse than the old three.

Could these old slightly weak coil packs cause it to run rich?

I have already fitted a new Denso MAP Sensor, so that is good.


Could there be anything else, before i buy three more coil packs?

Cheers

HarryD

What was your CEL code?

zeroptzero

with poor combustion you will pass unburned hydrocarbons through the exhaust, so yeah it is like running rich in that you have raw fuel heading out the tailpipe and all the symptoms that go with it. When one coil pack goes bad the others will follow at some point. After 100k miles they can fail at any time without warning, some will go further though.

-Matt

Thanks guys, I haven't been able to get the code read yet, however i have replaced the coil packs and reset the ecu.

It now feels a lot better, particularly at high revs. However CEL light came back on and feels a bit lumpy at low revs.


Now last week the starter motor signal cable came off, this was a right pain in the arse to get back on!
So i just had a good look under the car and i found another loose cable!

its linked from the starter motor signal cable, its black with a small crimp end which is soldered to a blue/red cable.



Ive had a quick search, and would i be right in saying this is for the knock sensor?

This would explain the symptoms?

However I can't actually find the knock sensor! Anyone any clues?

Cheers

jkelley

That's a grounding cable of some sort.

The knock sensor is near the top bolt of the starter. A lot of people have broken the knock sensor (couple hundred bucks to replace) by trying to remove or reinstall the top bolt of the starter. So, word of caution.

cleenyc99

not the clearest pic but that looks to me like a pin that was pulled out of a connecter. also looks corroded.

solitarycheese

Can you be more specific with that "electric detector pen", maybe a link or something? I need to test my other coilpacks. I'm also just over 100k+ and had a coil pack die on me earlier this year, which caused an immediate flashing check engine light, low power, and extremely rough engine operation. I just replaced the one coilpack which cured all immediate symptoms, but I'm still running a little rich. I was hoping there was some way I could test the other coils.

Car Analogy

That is called a spark plug test light. Its an inductive current detector, that uses a light rather than a gauge. Light brighter with more current. You place the tip on a plug wire (or a coil pack), it lights up when current passes through the wire.

Its a sort of pen looking thing, with a metal tip at one end, and a long wire out the other end, with a spring clip. Clip that to ground.