Wtf? Hit Kerb And Now Runs Like Bag Of Sh!t

[doberdog]

Last night I hit a kerb whilst puling out the way for an ambulance, at this very moment the engine management light started flashing and she feels like she's down st least 2 cylinders!

Someone said this must be a coincidence and suggested coil packs may have gone. I tried unplugging each coil pack and each time the engine cut. Does this mean its not a coil pack gone or is there a fail safe which cuts the engine if one is unplugged?

Might have to get the rac out to do a fault code reading but will this show just a coil pack failure our the exact cylinder/s that have failed?

cheers for any help

[ormi]

you cant unplug the coils to test for a misfire as the coils are linked....you unplug the injectors which will let you locate the miss better..plugging in the tester will tell you what cylinder is missing,,

[doberdog]

Cheers mate will have a play in the morning

[doberdog]

Ormi cheers for the advice mate. Had the rac out today who did a diag. Fault codes were misfits on 1 and 5, then after a reset just 5, then 1,3 and 5, then nothing, then 123 and 5!?

Rac didn't have a clue why and said in 25 years he'd only been called out to diesel Lexus and never a petrol one.

The rac office suggested changing spark plugs which I did with a brand new set of ngk iridiums - she had Bosch super4's in which% believe shouldn't have ever been used on this car. Anyway they didn't make any difference.

The rac man was going to try unplugging each coil pack but I told him this would just cut the engine and perhaps he should try unplugging the injectors instead - he said that wouldn't be any help.

Anyway after the pools went in I unplugged each injector in turn which changed the idle until cyl5 which made no difference. I then swapped 1 and 5 coil packs and tried the same - you've probably already guessed but Yep now unplugging injector 1 made no difference to the idle.

So it seems coil pack 5 was to blame for the while thing and 2 new ones are on order from the local motor factors at 34quid each - spare one for next time.

The only thing is I can't understand why the fault codes kept showing different cylinders as misfiring if only one coil pack is dead!? Any ideas? Is there something more sinister going on?

Anyway cheers for the advice mate - better than the rac!

[ormi]

no worries mate im at a slight advantage im a licenced toyota tec so work on these engines a lot also im training to be a master tec...

the car would just be picking up one coil dropping off which tricks the ecu in to thinking their is more than one coil down...

cant believe he said unplugging the injectors wouldnt lead you to the problem!!! what a doughnut!!

just glad i could help...

[doberdog]

New coil pack in, air filter and iridium spark plugs and she's running great again. even the warning light about the de cat derma to be taking a break

God knows why this started when I hit a kerb but that's honestly the exact time the light came on!

At least she's sorted now and a spare coil pack in the garage for next time - I gather they go regular on these cars