Coils or Transmission?

[rudy3285]

2002 LSE V8.

Has been taking oil, smells like burnt oil when I put it in the garage at night. When the car hasn't warmed up fully, sometimes when I pull away from my driveway, the RPMs will suddenly drop, almost like stomping on the brakes. It'll do it once, and that's it--and not always.

The other problem I have is this: if I put the transmission in the manual mode and stand on the throttle (causing a 2-1 kickdown), the car does the same thing as above. It's like someone mashes on the brakes. It actually causes the tires to chirp and the traction control to kick in (the light flashes). If I leave the transmission in D5 and do the same thing, it does the normal 2-1 kickdown without any problems whatsoever.

When I've got time I'll pull the valve covers off and look at the coils. I'm assuming the burning oil is due to the valve covers, but I'm wondering if the sudden stopping I'm experiencing is due to a coil dying or if it's the transmission control module, solenoid, something like that.

Any insight?

Also, when I get the coils out, does anyone have the specs for what the resistances should be? What's the preferred replacement coil? I've seen Accel, advance auto parts, autozone, and motorcraft coils discussed here...

Thanks much.

 

[joegr]

Checking the resistance of the coils is completely useless. The LS coils tend to fail with a high voltage breakdown. The resistance measurements (taken at very low voltages) will usually be completely normal.

Yes, coil problems can cause your symptoms.

There is no "transmission control module." The transmission is controlled by the PCM, which also controls the engine.

 

[rudy3285]

Ok, thanks for the feedback.

It's definately the coils, one went bad last night. Now I've got a rough idle and it makes the car shake. I have the coils on order and am going to order the gasket set soon.

Is it safe to drive the car for a week in this condition? (20 minutes total round trip to and from work)

Thanks again, I appreciate your help.

 

[joegr]

...Is it safe to drive the car for a week in this condition? (20 minutes total round trip to and from work)

Thanks again, I appreciate your help.

Every minute that the engine runs you are doing more damage to your catalytic converters. It's really hard to say how much is too much.

 

[1LoudLS]

if the check engine light is flashing, you really shouldn't be driving it at all, if its just a little rough, you might be able to drive it a little with out doing too much damage as long as you baby it around. however depending on how bad the misfire is, its hard to say how much damage is being done.