Where'd my coil packs go?

[Silverdawg]

Long story short: I've been chasing water around my ignition coils for a few months. I lost #1 a month ago. We've since had a foot of slush and slop and now it's misfiring again. So, I was out tonight putting dielectric on the boots and something struck me. I have no coil packs! They SHOULD be on brackets at either side of the front of the block right? I'd never noticed them before. All I have are the rusty studs where the packs should be. So, where'd they go? Could the be in the back?? Or did they leave for Florida without me?

Or is the Chilton book THAT bad? Sometimes I think I'd be better off with nothing than the Chilton book.

- S-dawg

[galaxie641]

Well looking at your profile I assume this is on a '00, if so you have no coil packs you have individual coils on each plug and thats it.

[Silverdawg]

I see now. The stupid book had me thinking that a COP equipped 4.6L engine would also have coil packs - which seemed riddiculous. So, I don't have to worry about water getting into coil packs. I've dielectric slathered EVERYTHING involving the COPS and ignition wiring. Hopefully that wil fix the issue.

Incidentally, are there any other ignition harnass parts that could pose a problem with misfires after driving in rain and slush? You'd think a 4x4 truck would be capable of being driven in something like that, however, mine reverts to a lurching, shuttering, sputtering 7 (or fewer) cylinder mess whenever I drive in even a drizzle. I'm getting sick of having to drive the Civic when it snows or rains.

[krewat]

You might have a cracked COP letting water in and shorting out, if it's that bad in the rain...

When it's misfiring, get the misfire counters in the PCM read to see which cylinder it is. If it's random, it's not a COP. If you see one cylinder doing all the misfires, change the COP on that cylinder.

The connector on the harness for the COP should have a rubber seal inside it like the fuel injectors and everything else does. Maybe the rubber is gone?

[Silverdawg]

krewat,

Thanks for the suggestions. This has been an intermittent problem with the truck for a few years now. I've had it since 2004 and have replaced 3 COPS. None twice. It looks like there are only three OEM Motorcraft ones left, leading me to believe the prior owner had one go also.

It made it through a day of slogging it out in the rain without a hitch. Though I did make it a point to avoid puddles whenever possible. I didn't notice any cracks in the COPs when I had them out and the boots looked to be in good condition. I cleaned them up with a tacky rag and really scrutinized, so I would have noticed a crack. Then I put a ring of silicon grease around each boot near the tops. Blew the plug holes out with an air gun before reinserting the COPs. I'm going to get back in there tomorrow night and check out the seals on the connectors. Incidentally, I've noticed that a lot of the loom is loose and poorly taped. (I was squeezing water out of some of it just now). I know it all got undone when I had the heads replaced (under warranty for mis-manufactured leaky head gasket seats!!!) in 2006, so it looks like it got done sloppy. I guess it could provide places for wate to linger and drip and soak into old connectors.

If I start getting the misfires, I'll ask the tech for that information. But maybe I can lick this before it gets to that point.

While I'm at it though, I have a massive supply of split loom, 1/2 and 1/4 inch heat shrink and electrical tape. I think electric blue loom would look good.

The one thing I did want to rule out is water dripping on my PCM. I've heard something about leaky windshield gaskets or something. But I imagine the symptoms of that would be a bit more pronounced.

And galaxie641, thanks for answering my question. I'm still not sure about this whole distributorless ignition thing.