The other day my car started misfiring. I performed a cylinder drop test by disconnecting each ignition coil and determined the misfire was coming from cylinder 2. I then swapped coils to see if that was the issue and the misfire disappeared completely. I did go ahead and replace that ignition coil with a name brand coil ( not cheap generic from the jungle site!)

Upon further inspection I found that the insulation was missing on the wiring going into most of the coil connectors. This must be a common issue as a pack of 4 was only $10.

I spent about an hour replacing all 4 taking my time by doing one wire at a time. Then I took my time with cable management and rewrapping the harness and securing it properly to prevent any chafing or other damage.

A post mortem revealed no visible corrosion on any of the terminals but most of the connectors broke apart when I disassembled them as the plastic had become very brittle

Tools used:

  • Seam ripper for cutting the wiring harness open
  • Wire cutters
  • Wire strippers
  • Crimper
  • Scissors
  • Heat gun
  • Metal license plate as a heat shield

Materials:

  • 4 new connectors
  • 12 red heat shrink butt connectors (possibly controversial)
  • Cloth electrical tape
  • Several zip ties to replace broken factory ties
  • Aussiemandeus@aussie.zone
    31·
    19 days ago

    Those butt connectors certainly are controversial I hate the idea haha especially since it’s for ignition, soldering would be more ideal.

    • PriorityMotif@lemmy.worldOPM
      7·
      19 days ago

      I used to feel the same. Soldering is more likely to fail because solder is brittle and it’s a high temp environment. As long as you use quality connectors and a proper crimper then it’s good.

    • Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafeEnglish
      2·
      19 days ago

      Proper crimp connections are far better than solder in that environment.

      I used to solder everything in cars before I learned about vibration and stress on rigid joints like solder.

      I switched to crimp only (mumble) decades ago but started buying proper crimp tools and connectors with heat shrink on them. Better ones come with a heat-activated adhesive on the heat shrink too.

      None of those crimps have ever failed, and they’re faster and easier to complete.

      I’ll only solder something now if it’s the only way to fix it.

      My inner solderer cries a little with every crimp, especially after spending decades building up my soldering kits. But I can’t argue with the industry’s experience.