I'm pretty sure this is what's causing my car to run like shit **PIC**

[Kroze]

After replacing all new spark plugs to NGK and all new coil packs, I was wondering why my car is still running weird as if it's missing/stumbling at random interval. If I drive the car for a long period of time, the issue sometimes goes away completely. Well, After looking around the engine bay for a little bit and repeatedly replacing the coil pack #6 and the car still doesn't run right, I found out the coil pack harness wires have strange electrical tape wrapping around it. Look at what I found when I remove the electrical tapes...

How do I go about fixing this clusterfuck?

 

[ballmode]

"deleted"

Racial slurring is not allowed and will not be tolerated...

AT Moderator
Bartman39

 

[Plugers]

Grab the weatherpack kit from summit or other auto parts place. Not sure if they have a 7 position connector, but you can use a 3 and a 4 if needed.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DELPHI-WEAT...H_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35beb63928&vxp=mtr

or

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Weather-Pac..._Automotive_Tools&hash=item564b6ac39c&vxp=mtr

And the connectors you need.

 

[SyndromeOCZ]

Those look like heat shrink butt connectors, they usually hold up pretty good if installed correctly.

 

[Kroze]

Why is 2 of the connector ends are blackened/charred? Does this mean that the are wires melted?

 

[SyndromeOCZ]

Why is 2 of the connector ends are blackened/charred? Does this mean that the are wires melted?

My guess is that they did it when they were using a lighter to shrink the plastic on the connectors, they are designed to be heat shrinked after you crimp them so the water stays out better.

 

[Kroze]

Here is a closer pic. Look at the 3 red wires being group together into 1, don't they need to be individually connected? Would this cause problems? If it doesn't can I also group the 3 black (assuming ground) wires together into 1 when I fix this mess? Also, the burnt/charred looks like it's from the inside, not out.

 

[Black2na]

what car is it? is it something you could gather an engine harness from a junkyard car i mean or some time with a a soldering iron and some heat wrap. would be the best bet

 

[exdeath]

what car is it? is it something you could gather an engine harness from a junkyard car i mean or some time with a a soldering iron and some heat wrap. would be the best bet

Beat me to it. Was going to say if I found this on any of my cars, I'd just swap the whole engine harness with a clean used one.

 

[Kroze]

Well I cut and solder every single wire and shrink wrapped them. Car is running great! for now...

Gotta see how it is when it's cold out.

 

[5150MyU]

As long as your testing pointed you in that direction and you found that wiring (It looks like it was done correctly) problem-good for you.

 

[phucheneh]

The red wires can go together because the coils all get power at the same time. The grounds must remain seperate so the ECM can fire them indivudually.

Did someone just splice in an entire harness for the coils?

That's pretty ugly, but in theory it's sound. They just didn't crimp/heat-shrink worth a shit. I've done factory recalls with those butt connectors (because the manufacturer doesn't trust their underpaid often shitty techs to solder, I guess).

 

[Kroze]

The red wires can go together because the coils all get power at the same time. The grounds must remain seperate so the ECM can fire them indivudually.

Did someone just splice in an entire harness for the coils?

That's pretty ugly, but in theory it's sound. They just didn't crimp/heat-shrink worth a shit. I've done factory recalls with those butt connectors (because the manufacturer doesn't trust their underpaid often shitty techs to solder, I guess).

I bought this car used last year. There's so many hidden shit that I got screwed over. Car was flooded, CEL doesn't work, accidents history (carfax doesn't show shit), and now I just found out all of the coil packs and harness was cut D:

 

[BUTCH1]

Well you did the right thing, soldering eliminates any concerns from loose connectors, looks like the previous owner did it in a hurry you can see where he overheated the shrink in some spots. What's weird is if he was replacing a coil pack the replacement should have had the same connectors as the original, wonder why he went the cut and splice route..

 

[JCH13]

+1 for soldering, good call. I also squirt some di-electric grease inside sealing heat shrink, but I have a thing for overkill.

 

[Kroze]

Bad news, this still doesn't fix the idle stumbling/misfiring. The car only does it at idle, when I'm diving, the car runs perfect.

I'm at a complete loss. Replaced coils, spark plugs, iacv assembly, fixing the wiring doesn't help.

Code p1320 and p0306. Which is ignition coil and cylinder 6 misfiring.

 

[JCH13]

You might have something else in the wiring hardness that's messed up... have you traced the ignition wiring as far as you can?

Is it possible you've got a slightly cold solder joint somewhere? It might be worth a few minutes to re-flow the joints on cylinder 6 just for peace of mind.

 

[Kroze]

You might have something else in the wiring hardness that's messed up... have you traced the ignition wiring as far as you can?

Is it possible you've got a slightly cold solder joint somewhere? It might be worth a few minutes to re-flow the joints on cylinder 6 just for peace of mind.

Oh the coil #6 code (p0306) pop up BEFORE I cut and solder these wires. But apparently it's not the cause of the random idle sputter/misfire issue. Again, the car only sputter/misfire when it's idling with my foot on the brake.

 

[LTC8K6]

Sounds like a vacuum problem maybe? Air leak?

 

[iamwiz82]

If the harness was hacked here, what is to say it's not hacked elsewhere as well?

 

[Toff]

Change the coil pack messing up to another location. They are interchangeable. If it now throws a code for the new location then you know its the coil pack. If the code stays in the current location then you know it may be the wiring for that one.

 

[phucheneh]

Switch coils as recommended above.

If the misfire does NOT move, you have a wiring issue. Double-check power with the key on...test light works better than DMM for this, because it verifies the wire can carry a load. >12v on a DMM with no load on the circuit can mean one tiny strand of copper is touching- no more is required to get a 'normal' voltage (or resistance) reading. You'll of course be using a known good ground.

If that passes, it pretty much has to be the negative from the ECM. If you want, you can check the wire the same way- unplug the ECM connector and stick a small probe (don't damage the terminals) in the appropriate pin on the ECM connector. Connect that to ground with a jumper wire. Do the test light check again. If it doesn't light, or is dim, there's a bad spot in that wire. (if it works fine, the driver in the ECM is likely bad)

If it's the wire, rather than rip open the engine harness, just cut the wire at the ECM connector (leave as much good wire coming out of it as possible) and overlay a new wire to the appropriate coil.

 

[phucheneh]

Good tools to have:

http://www.amazon.com/10FT-MAGNETIC-...ble+test+leads

Although mine don't have a magnet (and I wouldn't want one).

I can't find them online, but I also have backprobes that are basically an alligator clip with a needle soldered to it. Quite handy.

 

[JCH13]

Oh the coil #6 code (p0306) pop up BEFORE I cut and solder these wires. But apparently it's not the cause of the random idle sputter/misfire issue. Again, the car only sputter/misfire when it's idling with my foot on the brake.

Possible you have a small brake booster leak then? If you're letting in un-metered air that might cause a misfire.

And it's possible, perhaps not likely, that there's still a wiring issue with cyl6's coil. It would be worth a double-check IMO.

 

[phucheneh]

I believe the code he's getting is for the primary circuit on number 6. It's not just that the ECM is detecting issues in the crank acceleration; it sees a wiring problem, too (though that wiring can and often is inside the primary winding of the coil).

Unmetered air usually sets a code for lean fuel trim. If not that, you can at least look at the datastream and see that it's adding a lot of fuel.

Although a misfire can do the same thing, since you'll be pumping uncombusted oxygen into the exhaust.