11-06-2009, 01:51 PM
Today, after spending the past month doing some winter projects, i finally took the car off the jack stands and tried to start the car. It started but ran extremely rough. After a couple of seconds, maybe 30, it died and I could not get it restarted. I did alot of things to the car so I started double checkig everything I had done in the past month:
- Removed and replaced the steering rack
- Replaced many dash lights
- Replaced the Temperature sensor
- Removed, cleaned and replaced the Idle Control Valve
- Replaced the coil
I checked everything and nothing seemed wrong. I was dumbstruck...what could it be? I then proceeded to check the DME relay, I replaced it with my backup unit but no change. Then I checked for current on the fuel pump and all was fine. All fuses were fine too.
By now I had cranked the car for about a minute in total with no luck. I went to the back and could smell fuel from the exhaust, so I knew there was fuel comming through. So that meant something electrical was wrong. I pulled a spark and it was soaked with fuel and when I cranked it I saw that there was no spark. I checked te voltage on the coil and it was dead! I thought my new coil died after just 30 seconds and while cusring I proceeded to take it of the car.
Once I had the coil off I inspected it, not thinking it would help, but it made me feel better. But I found the problem! This is a new Bosch coil, so this came as a surpise me, but what was wrong is that the studs where the power cable attaches to had too muh plastic on them from the casting process. This meant that none or very little of the metal eyes were coming in contact with the coil studs. I chiped off the excess plastic, cleaned the studs with a wire brush and put the coil back on the car and crossed my finges. She started right up!!
I am very surprised by this and did not expect this from Bosch, but I hope my little story will help someone else avoid this issue in future.
- Removed and replaced the steering rack
- Replaced many dash lights
- Replaced the Temperature sensor
- Removed, cleaned and replaced the Idle Control Valve
- Replaced the coil
I checked everything and nothing seemed wrong. I was dumbstruck...what could it be? I then proceeded to check the DME relay, I replaced it with my backup unit but no change. Then I checked for current on the fuel pump and all was fine. All fuses were fine too.
By now I had cranked the car for about a minute in total with no luck. I went to the back and could smell fuel from the exhaust, so I knew there was fuel comming through. So that meant something electrical was wrong. I pulled a spark and it was soaked with fuel and when I cranked it I saw that there was no spark. I checked te voltage on the coil and it was dead! I thought my new coil died after just 30 seconds and while cusring I proceeded to take it of the car.
Once I had the coil off I inspected it, not thinking it would help, but it made me feel better. But I found the problem! This is a new Bosch coil, so this came as a surpise me, but what was wrong is that the studs where the power cable attaches to had too muh plastic on them from the casting process. This meant that none or very little of the metal eyes were coming in contact with the coil studs. I chiped off the excess plastic, cleaned the studs with a wire brush and put the coil back on the car and crossed my finges. She started right up!!
I am very surprised by this and did not expect this from Bosch, but I hope my little story will help someone else avoid this issue in future.