2004 SOHC preferred coil brand?

[davebugs]

Did some searching. On the 2.2's and DOHC 2.5's I know we all seem to have the best luck with Diamond.

 

Have a friend's sister in form out of town with missfires. If I need a coil pack (I don't have any for SOHC 2.5's) any specific brand(s) to buy or avoid?

[ocei77]

Have only had to replace about three coils on BE/BL. Used NGK for one, oem for the others. No problems with either.

 

O.

[davebugs]

Thanks.

 

I believe she's gonna try and nurse it several hundred miles home this weekend.

 

But good to know both these work.

[johnceggleston]

dave,

 

it is rarely the coil. if it is the coil it will throw misfire codes in pairs, 1 & 2 or 3 & 4, just by the way the coil works.

 

sometimes the igniter will cause a misfire problem.

 

but usually it is the wires, or the plugs. these will fix 80% - maybe 90%? of the misfires.

[davebugs]

dave,

 

it is rarely the coil. if it is the coil it will throw misfire codes in pairs, 1 & 2 or 3 & 4, just by the way the coil works.

 

sometimes the igniter will cause a misfire problem.

 

but usually it is the wires, or the plugs. these will fix 80% - maybe 90%? of the misfires.

 

I understand all that very well. It had codes for cyl3 & 4.

 

The car is at a friends 50 miles away and his sister drove several hundred miles to get there and got the code on I80. It calls for the cheap plugs BKRE5 or the "double platinum" that say laser platinum on the box IIR. Also IIR they say plugs at 60k so she's about due. I was gonna grab the fancy plugs (I stock the cheap ones) and a coil and head up there. Then backtrack 20 miles to dealer if plug wires were needed.

 

That was my plan. It was cold/wet when she got the codes. Now no more problems so apparently she's gonna try and make it home.

 

From what I've seen ANY electircal problems causes the opposing cylinder to have a missfire also. A bad plug, wire, or coil.

 

I told him to swap wires back to front so if the code came back they could tell if it followed the wires or not. He had spine surgery before Thanksgiving so I don't know if he did it or not. But no codes since the lady had them cleared while traveling on I80.

 

I did recommend he get a cheap ODB2 reader because they come in so handy for everything since 95/96.

 

If she does get another code and he did swap the wires that'll give insight to the wires which is one of the 3 main possibilities. The plugs are due anyways so replacing them is no biggie.

 

I'll be curious to see what the problem ends up being. I dont know her for all I know she'll take it to the dealer and get plugs/wires/coil - wouldn't that be a sad day!

[mr.radon]

I had a EJ25 motor in a '99 OBW throw the P0303/P0304 codes every 5-10 miles driving the car after I rebuilt the motor.

Checked compression: 174-178 PSI on all cylinders

Checked Timing: perfect timing

Checked wiring, cleaned all the grounds on the engine and chassis.

When I did the engine i put in new injectors.

I figured it was the $$$$ NGK Iridium plugs I put in.

After 2 weeks of throwing codes I replaced with the cheap V-tip OEM NGK's, still got the codes.

Swapped the coil with a coil from a junk yard, no codes.

 

What really puzzled me was the engine had no stumble, no hesitation, great power, even pulling up a pass there was no physical indication that the cylinders actually misfired. The light would blink a few seconds then go out, reader would show the codes, I clear on the fly and 5 miles later boom, codes again, clear drive.

 

I guess in some cases it is a bad coil, at least in my case it was.

 

What are the electrical tests you can do on these coil packs? I recall there were tests for the old style coils.

Edited December 29, 2011 by mr.radon