Rep Power: 0

Will a '03 SI coil packs work in a '01 LX? Looks the same but not sure?

Could someone verify this.

My LX is misfiring, and I need to replace my packs but not sure which one is bad. I know there were 2 that was going bad but I am not sure how to figure out which one. My CEL was on couple of months ago and Autozone told me before but I just changed out the plugs and everything was good until now I can tell it's sluggish at times. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

TIA.

 
Rep Power: 0

try a cylinder power balance test
.. warm car to operating temp, then record rpm, pull fuel plug one by one, record each rpm drop. when there is one that doesn't drop in rpm when you pull it, that's the one that is broken.
Orrr... the easiest way is just to get an infrared thermometer and point it to each exhaust outlet . if its misfiring, then that outlet going to register lower temp.

 
Rep Power: 0

I did what you suggested and they all dropped. I will have to take my fluke home from work tonight and take the temps and see if that helps.

I wonder if it's even the coils packs. When I was told it was, I went ahead and changed the plugs (I always use Bosh Plat2) but eversice then now I notice every so often in 2nd gear it tends to run sluggish at times almost feels like im on the wrong gear or something.

Any other thoughts? Oh by the way I have 215k on my '01.

 
Rep Power: 0

are you making sure your getting the right plugs? a bad gap setting will affect that as well. I always use NGK iridiums, even N/A.

 
Rep Power: 811

um coil packs almost never go bad unless you threw it on the ground. if you want test the resistance of each one with a multimeter. you need to figure out which contacts to test, but you will get a reading that is not zero. then do it for them all and the values should be similar. if one is way different, its the bad one. but misfire is almost always caused by blown head gasket, or bad spark plugs/wrong plug type/improper plug torque or clogged fuel injectors.

 
Rep Power: 0

Ouch... too much for me, I guess Im better of taking it in since I have lots of miles (215k) on it as it is.

Not sure how to even test or check everything you had mentioned above. Thanks for the info though. Maybe someone can PM me or post here where or how I should even start looking into this further.

 
Rep Power: 811

well first replace the plugs with some simple ngk copper and see if it goes away. then can look at bigger issues. throw some techron concentrate in the gas tank. then worry about the coils but i have a feeling its not those.

 
Rep Power: 0

have you been using lowest grade gas for all 215k miles? its very possible your in need of a good ol fule injector cleaning, or possibly one is going bad at the least. that is if the sparks are good...

 
Rep Power: 0

have you ever thought trans issues? had you ever changed the clutch or even do an overhaul on the trans? is it only on 2nd gear or all gear has it but not as prevalent? i don't think its any prob with the engine if all cylinder is fine and firing correctly.

 
Rep Power: 0

Thanks for that info I will have to start there atleast. Now what is the proper gap for an 01 LX is it 44?

Yes I have been using the lowest grade all this time. I am assuming the techtron as suggested would be a sufficient injector cleaner?

No clutch is still original. Is there a DIY for the tranny somewhere? I guess I should do the search first huh. So far I only notice it sluggsih for a second is at the 2nd gear only. I hope it's not the tranny at all.

I just thought it would have something to do with the packs since my CEL was on and that's what they said it was back then. The only difference now is that it doesn't ran as rough eversince I did the Bosch Plat2.

Thanks again to you all for the suggestions.

 
Rep Power: 811

the best fuel treatment is the FP60 plus from lubecontrol.com but it does take a month or so to fully clean everything out. its meant for constant use in every tank. you could try it out. but getting low octane gas is fine, you would have actually have alot more carbon deposits using higher octane that the engine wasnt meant to burn. but being that old i guess over time something got clogged up.

 
Rep Power: 0

I appreciate the suggestion once again, it's interesting you mentioned the carbon deposit... I noticed that when I changed the plugs but it didn't seem bad at all. Hopefully the FP60 is safe enough to use, I'm not a big fan of any sort of additive.

 
Rep Power: 811

i dont like additives either, but ive been using their lc20 in oil and fp60 in gas for over two years without problem. the stuff has been tested to work, unlike stuff in the stores. fleets of trucks have been using it for over 40 yrs to save on gas and engine repairs. my car gets consistent 42mpg on the highway and runs better than new. i only have around 60k miles, but the engine feels very smooth still. oh and im using regular 87 gas and oil. these are not harsh cleaners, the oil additive mainly stabilizes and reduces oxidation, while gas treatment cleans the fuel system. its gentle enough that you prolly wont notice a difference until a few weeks later at least.

 
Rep Power: 275

If I remember correctly are engines are really fussy and don't like the bosch spark plugs for some reason. Are engines only seem to run good on the spark plugs from the from honda (ie. denso). I have heard a lot of people having problems w/ the bosch plugs in our cars.

 
Rep Power: 0

I had a coil pack go bad after an overheat and headgasket pop. They only had 30K on them. I don't know which one it was as I had an extra set and just swapped them out and was fine.

What about the tried and true Sea Foam?

 
Rep Power: 811

sea foam? lol ive heard too many horror stories to ever recommend that. and idk, i blew my gasket a while back and coil packs were fine. maybe if you let the temp get into the red zone bad things might happen. just use ngk or denso plugs.

 
Rep Power: 0

Yeah, I know you can really fug up a car if you do it improperly. As far as the overheat and coil pack pop, yeah it was July, my wife was driving, and it got very hot.

 
Rep Power: 811

even if you do it properly, that stuff pretty much lifts off chunks of carbon and they have a party in the engine. the lc20 stuff dissolves the carbon and puts it into solution where it gets trapped in the filter gradually. gentle is key.

 
Rep Power: 0

That seafoam stuff is snakeoil. Makes a big show, but doesn't do anything. There was a video on the web a while back where they had a before and after shots of the internals of a motor that got the seafoam treatment.

Try plugs and fuel injector cleaners. Those are cheap and easy to do. As others have stated, it's fairly rare to have coil packs go on a honda that is only 5-6 years old.

Hope that helps!