Bummer, another #3 CEL this evening at about 35mph and a little over 2K rpm -- just a momentary stumble at ETC 189F, IAT 65. So, although I still think the original cause of the problem was heat, clearly, heat reduction alone isn't enough to get me by ! My remaining hope is that the problem is connector tarnish related rather than coil-pack malfunction -- I'll test that by swapping the #1 and #3 packs plus careful cleaning of the connectors.

If the end result is the CEL merely moves to the #1 cylinder, then the only remaining choice will be to replace the coil-pack -- I really hope not to have to spend the bucks to do that! Color me approaching depressed !

 

I wish you nothing but good luck. Even if the coil pack is going bad, you did a great job of wrapping your header (as expected) and IMO it looks really good. It surely reduced your underhood temps as well. We'll just have to wait and see if high underhood temps and the coil pack CEL were related. I'd give it a 50/50 shot.

 

Thanks for your support Fred, you're my man (and I sincerely appreciate your compliment to my header wrap effort)! I seem to be getting a little rain currently, but expect to make the change tomorrow and be able to find out if the coil pack problem is real or illusion. Whatever it turns out to be, the goal is to return my xB2 to reliable operation!

========================Next Day===============================

Packs swapped and connectors cleaned as well as I could. With luck, no more CELs (last one only took 50 miles ).

 

I somehow missed this post until now. You're welcome and thank you! You do very nice work and obviously put a lot of thought into what you do as well as a lot of attention to detail. As someone who recently spent many hours researching the merits of various style hose clamps to mitigate certain problems I've experienced with the standard SS worm gear type, I really appreciate that.

Good luck with the coil pack Trevor.

 

Thanks for the good words Fred !

Regarding the coils, so far, both are behaving themselves nicely following the 1 to 3 swap and connector cleaning. I'm feeling optimistic, though clearly, it's too early yet to draw conclusions. Given the possibility of impending coil failure, I decided to locate an affordable backup and swap that in for the original #1 as a certain good. However, the very affordable probably Chinese "backup" I settled on has an uncertain pedigree (though quite possibly respectable). So, rather than complicating the tests already in progress on coils 1 and 3, I decided to swap the new one into #4, moving the OE 90919-C2006 (marked -C2002) onto the shelf as my backup (10K miles, no CEL's).

As before, if I hit any more Coil-Pack CELs, I'll be sure to report them.

 

Oh, well, so much for that ! Just had a CEL on #1 188 miles after the swap (engine stumbling for a short time and then OK). This time it was 11 seconds after starting the engine following a short park -- 666 rpm, 11 mph, ETC 178F, IAT 73F -- that's to say, totally inconsistent conditions. Still, I'd rather the problem follow the coil than stay with the cylinder. The new coil in #4 is doing fine, so I'll swap my backup into #1 and shelve the problem coil in case of a more severe coil issue appearing. If the new coil continues to do well, I'll probably purchase another and swap it into #1, so I again have a known good spare !

 

Not unexpected but unfortunate nonetheless. We may have to replace a coil pack now and then today but at least we don't have to replace distributor caps, rotors and plug wires and deal with all their associated problems.

 

It does seem odd though, never in the past have I ever had to replace a coil, regardless of vehicle age, and I'm inclined to keep vehicles until "their wheels fall off" ! Still, if coil cost is sufficiently low, it's hardly the end of the world. Unfortunately, that rules out purchasing from the dealer. I'm willing to experiment some in that regard, but most people are probably just stuck -- a direct hit to the wallet ! Well, guess I just have to see if this issue reappears, hopefully not.

 

I really like the coil on plug design but not the shoddy quality of most things today. I agree that the coils should last the life of the vehicle and they could, if made to those standards. Then again, how much more would our cars cost if they were still built to last?