Problem with the triggering system on the coil ? Can the coil go bad and get out of time on firing? 1996 Mercury Grand Marquis
ok I PUT NEW PLUGS AND WIRES ON MY CAR A MERCURY GRAND MARQUIS 1996 4.3 V 8 …IT HAS A MISS NO. 5 CYC. IT RUNS PRETTY GOOD AT AN IDLE IS OK YOU CAN HEAR THE MISS ONCE IN WHILE WHEN ACCELERATING THE CAR POPS AND BACK FIRES THE CODE READER SAYS SOME THING ABOUT THE TRIGGERING SYSTEM ON THE COIL CAN ANY ONE TELL ME ANYTHING ABOUT MY PROBLEM PLEASE SOME ONE GIVE SOME KIND OF A RESPONSE EVEN IF IT IS I NEVER HERD OF THIS THANK YOU JOE
Experienced mechanics share their insights in answering this question :
Hello – no, the coils cannot vary timing, they are responsive to whatever timing trigger is passed to them (crankshaft or camshaft position sensor, ignition control module, distributor, etc.). The coil which services Cyl 5 could be failing however – try swapping the 2 coil packs and see if the symptom moves to another cylinder – if so, you’ve found the problem (coil failure). Misfires are tough to trace and can vary as to their cause from junk in the spark plug well causing a short, to plugs, wires or coils, leaking or clogged fuel injectors, to blown head gasket leaking coolant into that cylinder. Popping and backfiring are usually indicators for an air leak (lean condition) in the air intake. I would recommend a misfiring inspection by a mobile, professional mechanic, such as one from YourMechanic, who will come to your location, diagnose this problem, give you an accurate assessment of damage and cost estimate for repairs.
How to Identify and Fix Common car Problems ?
Our sources include academic articles, blog posts, and personal essays from experienced mechanics :
A malfunctioning ignition coil will cause your vehicle to misfire when you accelerate. In extreme cases, a misfire could cause your vehicle to shut down while you are driving. The misfire is a result of one of the cylinders fires incorrectly or not at all.
A faulty ignition coil can also lead to a no-start condition. For vehicles that use a single ignition coil as the source of spark for all of the cylinders, a faulty coil will affect the operation of the entire engine.
If you see a good spark at the coil, but not at the spark plug, then the problem may be caused by either a bad distributor cap, rotor, or carbon point and/or spring, or plug wires.
The most common causes of misfires are worn, improperly installed, and mishandled spark plugs, malfunctioning ignition coils, carbon tracking, faulty spark plug wires and vacuum leaks.
The ignition coil on your car is supposed to last around 100,000 miles or more. There are a number of factors that can lead to this part become damaged prematurely. Most of the newer cars on the market have a hard plastic cover that is designed to protect the coil from damage.
What kills ignition coils is location; being mounted in one of the hottest, most vibration prone and dirtiest parts of the engine. Modern ignition coils are typically located between two camshafts on the valve cover and exposed to dirt and oil.
If the ignition coil does not have spark, it`s time to check its wires. Use a test light to check the continuity on the signal wire and power wire on the ignition coil. If both wires are functional but the coil fails to produce spark, the ignition coil or the ignition control module is bad.
A faulty ignition coil could also be related to a battery that has abnormally low or high voltage. A bad battery can cause a huge range of additional issues with your vehicle. Sometimes, the issues can be remedied by replacing your battery but your vehicle may also need an ignition coil to be replaced.
The relationship between crank and cam timing events can also cause no spark, especially on Chrysler products. On these vehicles, the PCM won`t trigger the ignition coil if the cam and crank are out-of-sync.
A Bad Crankshaft Position Sensor
The crankshaft position sensor monitors the position and rotational speeds of the crankshaft. Without the crank sensor, the engine control module (ECM) wouldn`t know when to fire the fuel injectors and ignite the spark plugs.
A clogged or failed exhaust gas recirculation or crankcase ventilation valve or faulty oxygen sensor can send the wrong signals to the computer and cause misfires.
The type “A” misfire is the most serious condition and indicates impending catalyst damage. If detected, the Malfunction Indicator Lamp (MIL) may flash once per second to alert the driver that immediate service is required.
Misfire at Idle Only. Your car may drive perfectly fine but display signs of little hiccups or small misfires at idle. Generally, the cause of a misfire at idle is an incorrect air-fuel mixture. This can be caused by a faulty O2 sensor, a fuel injector that needs cleaning, or even vacuum leaks.
Dirty or Old Spark Plugs
If your engine is misfiring, you may be able to fix the problem easily by replacing your spark plugs. Spark plugs are relatively easy to remove from engines and inspect for damage, and at less than $25 a piece, they are relatively cheap to replace, too.
A misfire could be a sign of several different engine issues. If you continue to drive without resolving the issue that caused the misfire in the first place, it could potentially cause more extensive damage to your engine over time which can wrack up to some costly engine repairs.
You can replace one coil at a time or all at the same time. I would however recommend having all spark plugs replaced with the coils so you do not have to remove coils twice.
Why are ignition coils so expensive? These are precision components. As a typical spark plug is fired eight times a second, ignition coils have to be well made. Being tempted by a low-quality part is a false economy.
Excessive heat and vibration can cause the insulating material to break down and create internal coil failure. Worn secondary ignition components such as spark plugs or wires can cause a coil work harder, require more voltage, and therefore significantly reduce the operating life of the coil.
For part of your car repair and maintenance, you can use WD-40 to remove carbon residue, and keep moisture away from spark plugs and spark plug wires. “WD” stands for Water Displacement. So if your spark plugs are wet or you need to drive moisture away from ignition distributors, WD-40 can help!
Make sure the spark plug gaps are correctly set. It`s also important to make sure to regularly check your engine`s oil levels, as dirty or low oil can cause your ignition coils to fail. Additionally, make sure to avoid overfilling the oil, as too much oil can cause sparking problems and lead to ignition coil failure.
Too much timing will make the engine surge and misfire, and that can be misdiagnosed as an ignition problem.
Usually, if a coil pack is bad, there will be a loss of fire or spark in one or more cylinders. This causes what`s commonly referred to as misfiring. Misfiring can cause drag on the crankshaft, and usually results in a very poor performing engine.
Bad Sensors
One common culprit for this problem is the crankshaft position sensor, which measures the position and speed of the crankshaft. The computer uses the information from this sensor to know when to fire the spark plugs. If the sensor isn`t working, the spark plugs won`t fire, keeping the engine from starting.
It could be due to a part that`s failing in your fuel system. If an oxygen sensor or mass airflow sensor is failing, it could give incorrect data to your engine`s computer, causing the misfire. When a vacuum line is broken, it can cause a fuel-injected motor to misfire.
Relevant Questions and Answers :
the most relevant questions and answers related to your specific issue
Problem with the triggering system on the coil ? Can the coil go bad and get out of time on firing? 1996 Mercury Grand Marquis
ANSWER : Hello – no, the coils cannot vary timing, they are responsive to whatever timing trigger is passed to them (crankshaft or camshaft position sensor, ignition control module, distributor, etc.). The coil which services Cyl 5 could be failing however – try swapping the 2 coil packs and see if the symptom moves to another cylinder – if so, you’ve found the problem (coil failure). Misfires are tough to trace and can vary as to their cause from junk in the spark plug well causing a short, to plugs, wires or coils, leaking or clogged fuel injectors, to blown head gasket leaking coolant into that cylinder. Popping and backfiring are usually indicators for an air leak (lean condition) in the air intake. I would recommend a misfiring inspection by a mobile, professional mechanic, such as one from YourMechanic, who will come to your location, diagnose this problem, give you an accurate assessment of damage and cost estimate for repairs.
What would cause the clutch on an ac compressor to continue to go bad after being replaced three times?
ANSWER : The compressor clutch relay on these vehicles are a known cause of sticking on the compressor clutch and overheating the A/C compressor clutch coil. Replace the A/C relay to see if it cures the clutch going bad the next time you do a compressor clutch replacement, or replace it now if you have just replaced the clutch.
1998 Suburban is getting gas but no fire to start engine all components under hood have been replaced except ignition coil
ANSWER : It sounds like you have an electrical problem of some kind that is disabling the ignition. It is also possible since it has not been replaced that the ignition coil could be causing this issue. Ignition coils often have intermittent failures which will allow them to work properly sometimes but not all the time. If this is the case for your vehicle, I would recommend having the ignition coil replaced. Consider YourMechanic as ignition coils can be replaced from your home or office.
My car won’t go past 35mph
ANSWER : Hi there. From the description you provided, your vehicle has problems with the transmission again. You stated it will not shift into 3rd gear again, like before the transmission was rebuilt. If the transmission is again the problem, it should be covered under warranty. It could be a faulty shift solenoid. The shift indicator not reading properly could be a faulty transmission position sensor. If this is an overall lack of performance issue, according to your last statement, then possibly you have a restriction in the exhaust system. I recommend having your vehicle’s problems inspected and diagnosed by a certified technician from YourMechanic.
I get fire to my distributor coil. But I do not fire any of my plugs. My distributor won’t turn.
ANSWER : As you may know, the distributor has a small gear on the bottom end of it that turns with the flywheel as the motor turns over. If the motor turns over and the distributor does not turn, this would suggest that the distributor is either not installed correctly or that the distributor is broken internally and not causing the gear to turn with the flywheel. I would recommend having an expert from YourMechanic come to your location to take a look at the situation and replace the distributor if necessary.
At times my jeep will start fine and at times I have a hard time getting it to start. It seems like the wireless ignition node is
ANSWER : The recommended diagnostic to resolve this is a hard starting diagnostic. The work is performed by a certified mechanic right at your location. Among the first things the mechanic will check is whether required maintenance is up to date because old spark plugs, clogged fuel and air filters, and the like are potential causes of the hard starting you are describing. Other possible causes include a failing coolant temperature sensor, or bad connection to the sensor, problems with other sensors such as the cam and crankshaft position sensors, a defective fuel pump, and many other causes, all of which will be familiar to YourMechanic’s experts. With regard to the fuel pump, if the engine is not getting enough fuel it will be hard to start. If you request a hard starting diagnostic, YourMechanic will get this issue diagnosed and resolved for you.
I recently changed out a bad coil pack that had been bad for a month. Literally today it got changed and shuts down while driving
ANSWER : Hello. The bad coil wouldn’t have caused the crank sensor to fail. Crankshaft sensors are the most common failure on this engine so it should just be a coincidence. I would use a scan tool just to make sure that there is no rpm reading before replacing it though, as there are some other problems that can occur, but are not as likely. If you need help with this, consider having a technician from YourMechanic come to your home or office to diagnose this problem with a scan tool and replace the crankshaft sensor if necessary.
replaced bad coil pack and new coil not sparking car starts but runs rough engine light on blinks sometimes
ANSWER : Hello and thank you for your questions. If your engine was rebuilt about 10 months ago, the question is to determine if the management system has been installed as well. With the symptoms that you are having, it sounds like the coil packs are old and in need of replace. You replaced numbers 1 and 4 and now number 6 is not firing. I recommend replacing number 6, 2, 3, and 5. This will ensure that you have all 6 coil packs that are new.
Just because the coil packs are okay during a test doesn’t mean that they are functioning correctly. Coil packs on Buick vehicles from 1998 – 2005 last between 150,000 to 200,000 miles. I also recommend having your fuel injection system flushed. Unless you have new injectors, the old injectors could cause a cylinder to fail, even though it is working correctly. These symptoms can cause the engine to have a rough idle and rough running during conditions. If you need assistance troubleshooting the rough running condition, I recommend having a professional, like one from YourMechanic, inspect the car and move forward with repairs.
