Coils again---AND THIS HASN'T BEEN COVERED!!!!

cammerfe

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At least if it has, I couldn't find it. Question--how often is the failure of a coil connected to an oil leak and the consequent oil into the coil 'stem'? Do those of you who've experienced it find that the two go together? Or do you find that coil failure is just that the coil is 'worn out'?

I am working with engineering personnel at Accel to create 'hotter' coils for those of us who are using power adders. The exact approach depends to some extent on the answer to the questions above. Please take a moment and answer---'with oil' or 'without oil'.
THANX!!!
KenS from Ben's Place
 
there are been a lot of reports with bad coils only - meaning - they either had not oil to cause the issue - or didn't know to look and connect the two.
 
without oil. mine just have been dying due to being worn out. no mechanic has mentioned finding any oil in the plug/coil wells. and i was slowly replacing them one by one
 
I would say that the vast majority of the COP failures (at least hose I've seen reported here and at LLSOC) were found to have coincided with oil in the plug wells. There have been some COPs which failed without any oil leaks having been found, but they're in the minority.

Apparently, Ford/Lincoln agreed with this, as they redesigned the valve cover gaskets and (IIRC) COP boots to deal with the problem, and enacted an extended warranty to cover the oil-related COP failures in the '03 V8s.
 
I had some coils replaced under warranty, not oil related (at the time). How do you know if your coils are bad? Does the engine misfire? Mine seems to run smooth, however, my mileage is crappy lately. However, I think that is due to the ethanol blend that has been going around lately.
 
I've had one coil failure, and it was completely dry, no oil or water. The coil was still partly working, it was just weak. I believe that someone on here had a theory that heat was causing some of the coil failures. I think that may be the case, and it could explain mine. (I'm in a hot area and it happened at the peak of summer.)
 
lost 2, previous owner lost 3, I replaced the gasket and haven't lost any in a little over 20K
 
I had some coils replaced under warranty, not oil related (at the time). How do you know if your coils are bad? Does the engine misfire? Mine seems to run smooth, however, my mileage is crappy lately. However, I think that is due to the ethanol blend that has been going around lately.

it starts out as a minor engine shake usually at idle or in park, that's the coil going bad. can't really feel it when you're driving. shaking gets worse and eventually you'll misfire. you'll get a CEL on the dash and you can pull the code to see what cylinder misfired. it's recommend to swap all the coils out and do the valve cover gaskets fix at the same time to ensure it won't happen again. just swapping coils will start to add up $$$ might as well spend the extra $$ one time and get it all taken care of. are you still under warranty? you should ask your dealer to see if you have the updated VCGs which are black not gray. those ones don't leak. if you have the gray ones you should have them swap it out if you get another misfire.
 
There are plenty of cases where oil has caused failure of ignition coils in other cars which do not have COPs. Its not as common because it is harder for oil to get on coil packs that are not attached directly to the plug.
I don't think you would be correct to say that the oil has absolutely no effect on the COPs. But neither would it be correct to say that oil was the only cause of failure of a COP where a leaking gasket was involved.
 
At least if it has, I couldn't find it. Question--how often is the failure of a coil connected to an oil leak and the consequent oil into the coil 'stem'? Do those of you who've experienced it find that the two go together? Or do you find that coil failure is just that the coil is 'worn out'?

I am working with engineering personnel at Accel to create 'hotter' coils for those of us who are using power adders. The exact approach depends to some extent on the answer to the questions above. Please take a moment and answer---'with oil' or 'without oil'.
THANX!!!
KenS from Ben's Place
Any more input ???

Thanks for your help!!

KenS from Ben's Place
 
Just replaced #3 no oil. Now I have another but it hasn't set a code. I did just the rest of this side and all were dry. Just ordered all new coils to put an end to this crap. It's pretty bad when a the plugs outlast the coils. This is the last Lincoln I will own.
 
I have replaced 2 on my 2002 both had had oil at one time in the wells before vc gaskets replaced.
 
It never rains but it pours....

As you know, I'm working on getting a new set of coils designed by Accel. This is a process that takes at least a few weeks to go through. While I'm in the middle of the back-and-forth, I have what's an obviously bad coil crop up. Car runs poorly, dies when setting at a light, stumbles, etc.. Since the new coils will be going into the new engine, I figured to just replace the bad one. I have a 'Pro' OBDII link as well as an X-Cal. Both tell me that there're no stored trouble codes and the warning has not appeared on the dash. ???
I guess I'm going to get a set of the $150.00 style from ebay. Then I'll have some spares. Comments??
KenS from Ben's Place
 
same here, have the stumbles, minor misfires etc but no error codes yet. i think the $150 ebay set is a good bet because if you have other issues, you're not out that much money. from everyone i've seen post on LvC that bought that set, it worked fine for them. no way i'm spending $450+ for oem coils.
 

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