Right 1997 OBD2 VR6 (standard) Thermostat got stuck a few weeks back, car started overheating so limped home with the heater on full, stopping to let it cool down etc. Fans work fine on all speeds (even 3rd, which only kicked in just as I pulled into the driveway at home with the red temp warning light flashing). Car spewed out a little water/pressure from the expansion vessel cap. On Saturday we replaced the thermostat and housing. I also replaced the air filter (and modified the airbox a little) and replaced the pollen filter. We found the coil pack to have a couple of cracks which arced a couple of time cracks yet to be resin treated. The HT leads were also found to be a little hard and with a bit of damage on the insulation (nothing through to the core though). Finished the thermostat replacement and took the car for a blast. All good. Water temp at 90. Oil temp maxed at 108 (a little high, as it used to sit at 92 ish before the thermostat died) Sunday and Monday car got some good use. Water temp stayed at 90 solid. Oil temp around 100 again. Didnt miss a beat. Monday night it rained (not sure if that makes a difference) Tuesday morning. Car starts fine. It idled fine for a few seconds. I go to put it in gear, press the clutch and the car dies. Start it up starts fine but will not idle unless I have my foot massaging the throttle. Ok.. so I dump the VR6 on the driveway and jump into the Accord. Tuesday night (dark so used a torch). Check all plugs around the thermostat and air inlet/maf/throttle are pushed on ok. Check no cracks/leaks in the inlet pipes. Start the car, starts but no idle smelling very rich, not quite running as smooth as it should even with throttle. Unplug the MAF and start the car exactly the same. Take the MAF off and spray with electrical contact cleaner. Let it dry and then plug it all back up. Start the car exactly the same no idle, smelling very rich, a touch rough. Decide to take it for a blast to see if it makes a difference. Car was not quite right not pulling as hard as it should, a bit louder than normal felt like it was missing a couple of cylinders. After letting the car warm up etc, the car kept a very weak idle, very lumpy, smelling rich. It was definitely missing a cylinder or two. When I got home, there was a smell of burning oil/plastic outside the car I popped the bonnet, no obvious signs of where the smell came from. I checked the HT leads, and two were loose, so (in the dark) I plugged them back in, but still a very rough idle and very lumpy, still missing a cylinder or two. Water level looked fine. Didnt check the oil at the time. Further checks will include: Oil in case of mayo (but doubt it) HT leads again (just get a new set) wondering whether they have deteriorated and disturbing them on Saturday pushed them over the edge New plugs (have waiting to go on for a while) Check the loom/plugs around the coil pack area to ensure everything is seated properly Have a poke and see if I can find what was causing the smell of burning I was thinking to clean the hall sender, but Im thinking maybe not as we didnt touch it, so it probably is not causing the issue I dont want to disturb it and add another variable to the mix Any other ideas? Sods law... the car would be very useful if my wife could use it on Friday, but I dont really have the time to spend on fixing it as there is so much to do in prep for a family event on Saturday...
Faulty coil pack I'd say. Especially if it's cracked already... Play swapsies with a mate if you know anyone with a vr
if ur stuck ive a good stock mk3 vr6 coilpack 15posted , can you see arcing anywere under the bonett when its dark, usely if u give the engine a quick rev ,u can usely see arcing issuises or while engines trying to idiol , if its ht leads give them a spray with wd-40 , usely tempory cure damp arc unless uve replaced them,,,
I didnt have any warning lights, and I dont have VAGCOM to hand to check for any fault codes. I'll get a friend to bring his VAGCOM over at some point. I picked up some leads from GNS yesterday lunch time (but skipped buying a coilpack as I was thinking it was ok - as it was relatively ok when we did the thermo, apart from the minor cracks). The new leads seem in much better shape than my old leads, which were pretty solid/stiff in comparison. If these leads fail me, then I'll just go to VAG. So.. I got home at a good time yesterday and took a look at the car while there was still daylight... what difference a bit of light makes! The terminal for Cyl 3 had come off the coil pack, taking a significant chunk of plastic from the side and middle with it... spewing out the protective insulating foam.. So.. i think it is safe to say coil pack failure is mainly to blame! When I removed the spark plug from that cylinder, it stank of fuel. All the other plugs were generally ok, bar a layer of normal soot. I swapped all the plugs out too, they looked old but ok - glad to see they were the correct NGKs. Cleaned the hall sender, which was not carrying much oil residue to be honest, but worth the effort while I was there. Just going to pick up a new coilpack from GNS today (I need the car running tonight - else I would have taken the used part for 15!).. So - does anyone have any experience with the two 'different quality' VR^ coilpacks available at GNS.. there is a 75 item, and a 130 item..
Well - I've gone and brought the more expensive Beru item. The cheaper alternative was visibly cheaper. The casting/metal looked cheaper. The plug pins didnt have rounded edges (to prevent catching and bending when plugging in) and they didnt look best aligned to start with. The other thing - on the cheaper item, there were holes into the unit that were not blocked off, where as the same location on the Beru item was blocked clean off. Made me wonder if the cheaper item would easily let water/moisture in. Fingers crossed it solves the problem.
If you get stuck you can swap bits out from mine. Also the vagcom is inside so might be worth a check to see if you are going in the right direction.
Cheers Eddie I might just have to do that... I'll give you guys a shout on Sunday or next week to figure out a time. I believe Nav also has Vagcom, so will see who is available. Thanks guys! Hooked up the new coilpack - started her up... still missing a cylinder or two... lots of fuel coming out the back. Checked the leads by unplugging from the coil whilst running to see if it effected the running. Found a couple that had not seated quite right.. and one of the new HT leads was a dud, so put an old one back on in its place. So now all the cylinders are getting spark, but removing the lead for cylinder 5 seems to have the least effect on running (but does marginally effect it). Leaving all the HT leads on - if I unplug the MAF (or even run without the damn thing in place) - there is no difference in the running of the engine at all. If I unplug the Hall Sender - there is no difference in the running of the engine. One thing I realised - I didnt do the 'leave the ignition on for 15 mins without starting' step after cleaning the hall sender (as mentioned in the guide). I might try that, but I doubt it will make any difference. I think its time for VAGCOM to get a proper idea of what is wrong. Thing is I wont have time till next week earliest... Powernut - I was short on time, I was hoping the coilpack would solve the problem and I'd have the car running today so my wife and I had a car each to go to work/run errands independently in prep for a family function tomorrow... hence I just drove to GNS and picked the unit up... Otherwise I would have taken your unit! (I still might actually, depends if GNS will take back the coilpack even though it is not faulty? Which I doubt). I certainly dont enjoy spending money for the hell of it!! As a result, my wife drove me to my parents house in Hayes, and I got a lift to work with my Dad (luckily we work at the same place, but different projects), and luckily my Mum is coming over to our house tonight, so I'll go to my parents house with Dad after work, jump in the car with Mum and get home home to Amersham... after a detour to Southall to pick up about 10kg of Indian sweets! (diabetes here I come!)
I am around (Grounded doing kids sitting ) the whole of Sunday. Will be outside soldering wires on some project.
coolio - will see how I get on on Sunday. If i get a moment to look at the car I'll a) check the fuses (just realised I didnt do this - just in case) b) do the 15 min on ignition thingy to reset the potentiometer? c) see what happens if I unplug the lambda d) play with the leads I probably wont have time to pick up and swap parts till next week. First port of call will be the MAF.
You have a cylinder or so shutting down an this will not be the MAF. MAF will cause bad running for the entire engine. Lambda sensor will cause a shift in mixture and possible bad running for the entire engine.
Have you got an induction loop timing light? If so, check you've got a spark at each lead. If not, take the plug out and do it the old fashioned way? You want to dry the petrol soaked plugs first, in case you get a false reading. If there's a spark at each plug, it's on to the compression tester.
I did have a old timing light... at Gurd' house! We built up a fair few tools which now live in his garage. Not sure if he still has it, or if it works. One way or another I will check the spark at the end of each lead/plug if I cant get hold of the timing light. Im wondering whether the new 'GNS special' HT leads are all duff enough to be causing the problem. The old leads should still work - I'll give em a go too if I dont have any luck with the new ones (and mix n match if required). Reason why I was saying MAF is because it literally does not make the slightest bit of difference if the thing is plugged in or not. I thought the engine was supposed to run badly without it? Im going to try the leads/spark before swapping parts out.
MAF is used in referencing engine airflow pre throttle. The rest is modelled to calculate airmass behind the valve. With MAF disconnected the system will do a crude estimated value for MAF before working out airmass post throttle. Diagnostics will tell if this if working within limits.
Cheers Eddie. I'll let you know how I get on playing around with the leads/plugs a bit more just to completely rule them out whilst I get hold of Vagcom to run diagnostics.
I think you've got a 8v in there mate. You should scrap it. Or I'll give you 50 for it BUT you'll have to deliver it. Seriously though you should do a compression test on the car. Check no3 cylinder because that was the one the coil pack blew up on. Could it be that there is no compression. I'll see you in the morn anyway.
