Garrett GTX35R

 

Guys it looks like one of my coils is not working. First of all I need confirmation on the ignition set-up (below) one last time.

My coils are installed in this order:
Front: White coil, wire to spark plug T1
Middle: Black coil, wire to spark plugs L1 and L2
Rear: Blue coil, wire to T2
(by front I mean towards the bumper and rear is towards the firewall)

Is this the right set-up?

The faulty coil is the black one in the middle which has two outlets connecting to L1 and L2 plugs. No spark on both L1 and L2.

I had a spare black coil, tested that one as well (by cranking when the spark plug is out) and still no spark from the plugs. However we switched places of coils and we get spark from the black coil, so now I am confused because the black coil seems to be working but just not working where it's supposed to work. We tested the spark plug wires they seem to be OK too, so the problem is obviously something related to the ignition but not the coils or the wires.

 

Leading coil not firing will certainly cause this.

Sounds like a wiring issue. You'll have to thoroughly check your ignition harness and charging harness.... body harness is not fun if the issue is there.

At the extreme case, consider buying the Sakebomb Garage AEM coil and harness setup and directly wire your ignition to bypass all the OEM wiring.

 

Is SBG coil and harness setup ok to use with PFC? Already have their spark plug wires. From what I've read in the forum HKS Twin Power and stock coils seem to be sufficient for my hp goals though. I'm considering buying a new engine wiring harness also.

 

No leading spark will cause this. Change the coil. Easiest thing. Any yes the SBG aem setup is fine with a pfc. If the coil doesn't fix it you have a bad ignitor or wiring issue.

 

Tried with another coil already, no spark. At first I thought it was the coil but when tested the coil separately it looks like the coil is fine so yeah at the moment it's either the ignitor or bad wiring.

I'm half relieved because I now know the glowing manifold problem is caused by leading plugs not working. Now the second part of the drama is I have to get them working again.

 

it's OK. at least you made progress!

the ignition is pretty easy to track down if you follow the FSM. check it out and report back.

 

Isnt -7 deg trailing a bit late too? at idle slight negative split seems to work better for me..

 

Test all the wiring from the ecu to the ignitor, then to the coil harness.

 

Can anyone confirm if this coil and spark plug wire order is correct?

Front: White coil, wire to spark plug T1
Middle: Black coil, wire to spark plugs L1 and L2
Rear: Blue coil, wire to T2
(by front I mean towards the bumper and rear is towards the firewall)

 

Yes. Ignitors go but rarely and the small coil harness is easy to test

 

Update: Changed the ingitor with the spare one I had and now I get spark from leading plugs however I wanted to be sure it was the igniter causing the problem so installed the old igniter back and I started getting spark with that igniter also. So now I am thinking it's a wiring/electrical issue.

Tested the plugs/sockets that go from igniter to the coil, and tested the igniter end also. They all seem to be OK. There must be something else in the wiring Don't want to buy a new engine wiring harness yet without making sure it's what's causing the issue.

 

Ignition isn't in the engine harness. Its in the body harness and charging harness. May be easier to just go with the AEM smart coils and wire directly to the ecu.

 

Make sure you check the Factory Service Manual for the proper reference voltages. Its a quick and easy way to tell if the wiring is bad. Most often people will check to see if X is getting power and don't even bother checking what the proper operating voltage should be at.

Just something to think about before buying a bunch of unnecessary things.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using RX7Club

 

I just did waiting for parts to arrive now.

There is a big chance the wiring or the body harness has an irregularity. I removed the igniter and the middle coil and installed spare ones in my garage, the problem was gone but then just to be sure I reinstalled the old igniter and the coil and the problem is still gone. At this stage I can't take risks and I am thinking long run and keeping it simple so I ordered the SakeBomb Garage AEM Smart Coil kit. Plus I have a GTX35R turbo so it won't hurt to have better ignition. One less thing to worry about for me.

 

Alper,

Inconsistent wiring problems are the worst to analyze.
Glad to hear you are making headway in your project.

Did you ever figure out the PFC/DL logging problem or are you changing ECUs?

Chuck

 

Hi Chuck,

The problem was my DL beige box, we tried with another DL box and it works fine now. AFRs are still not perfect, seems laggy and within .3 of the AEM gauge. It's best to check the actual gauge. I don't think PFC is really suitable for long distance tuning, considering the internet lag. Once the AEM smart coils are installed we will have another go tuning it here and I will share the map.

Alper