I'm towards the end of removing everything to do a vacuum job on my car and today I unplug the ignition coils and find the below. That particular connector with all the white residue looks really worked over.

I haven't attempted to test it yet but what would this mean to you guys? Just a bad coil or would the wire contribute as well? I'm thinking while I'm in there I may replace all the spark plug wires as they are originals and at least the one coil if not all...

 

That's pretty typical from what I've seen on the leading coil. I had a similar issue about 8 year ago. Since then, I use a little dielectrical grease on the coil connection. I would go ahead and replace the coil and the plug wires while you are there.

 

if the coil is in more than one piece, its bad.

 

replacing it now wont hurt you later on.

 

I'm definitely replacing the broken one. Any tips on where to get one for a fair price. In looking around they seem to run ~250 most places for a non-oem.

 

http://mazdatrix.com/getprice.asp?partnum=18-1000-N3A3

Or call Ray at Malloy Mazda.