Coils

[Potzy]

Hi all,

I've been lurking for a while trying to find some insight into the problems I'm having with my '56 plate 1.6l Focus. In short, it's chewing coil packs!

I've had Zetec powered cars (including my old kitcar which had several engine replacements/upgrades in its life) and not once have I ever had to replace the coil pack.

The day I bought the Focus, I drove it home and the engine light came on (off to a good start!) so I took it back the following day and they diagnosed a faulty coil pack. It was put down to the car being sat in their showroom for a while so off I went.

Long story short, it's 18 months later and it's now on its 4th coil pack. I've done these replacements myself and I've tried different manufacturers/OEMs but after a few months the symptoms return. Hesitation, a blip/drop in idle (like it misses a spark) and the engine line coming on. Rather annoyingly, every time the engine light as come on, it has turned itself off by the time I get to the garage!

I've replaced the HT leads and I've just this morning put in some new Bosch spark plugs to see if that helps. The old plugs looked fine to me, no signs of wear/residue etc.

When I was able to get my fault reader on there whilst the light was on it reported a "Coil 3 undervolt" or something along those lines.

The local garage are understandably reluctant to take on a case like this as I've already done everything they would already do... it's still under warranty until October so I do have that option I think. But before I persued it, was wondering if anyone had any suggestions?

TIA

Tony

[artscot79]

First of all have you gapped the plugs to 1.0mm they come pregapped at 1.3mm but to prevent coil pack failures they reduced it to 1.0mm secondly it could be the wiring to the coil pack that's the issue the wires are known to break as a result ford sell a new piggy back loom for this issue I would replace the plugs at 1.0mm or gap them I should say then have the wiring to the coil looked at

[Potzy]

Hi Artscot,

No, I hadn't gapped them from how they came, I'll have to do that next weekend as when I get home from work it's dusk and I don't fancy touching the spark plugs so soon after driving :)

I didn't know that Ford had a piggy-back loom option, I don't suppose you (or anyone?) know what the Ford part code is? My local Ford garage is pretty useless at finding the parts from a description...

[Potzy]

Haven't had chance to tweak the plug gaps but the engine light came on again tonight. Popped the code reader on there and it came back with the below... would seem to suggest some sort of electrical issue?

[artscot79]

Sounds like its the wiring to the coil pack its best having it checked as it can break almost anywhere

[Potzy]

Indeed.

I've tried 3 local ford garages and they all swear blind that there is no such part (the wiring pig-tail you mentioned)...