GDI coil packs

[I-S]

As some of you know, I've been having a bit of trouble. Rewind the story a little here...

Ever since I got the GDI I've had what is apparently a slight misfire - juddering "lumpy" pulling at low revs and light throttle from cold, occasional slight miss when warm...

On friday morning, prior to a weekend of driving to/from japshow, I got a very bad misfire and then pulling out of a roundabout it didn't pull properly. Then the engine light came on. I limped the car home in the afternoon, and plugged in the computer.

Code P0304 - cylinder 4 misfire. After reading this thread, I decided to have a go at wrapping the top part of the coil, where it sits on top of the inlet manifold, in insulation tape.

Apparently this worked, and I was able to drive to K's, then on to japshow and back again without incident, and with the engine apparently being smoother at low revs than it ever had been. However, I'm still not sure it's right, which suggests that the fix is not perfect, or other cylinders are affected or both.

Obviously the ideal solution is to replace the coil packs, so I've been doing a bit of phoning around to look into that. There don't seem to be any third party parts for this, not even from the likes of ADL blueprint etc. Japarts said that they could only get them from mitsubishi and it would be the same as dealer price. And what a price! £117 + VAT. Each. That's £550 for the set!

So... anyone know where there's a spacewagon or galant GDI that got rear ended as it was driven out of the dealership?

[Kieran]

Isaac - Maybe try RHDJapan.com? Give em the part number and see what they can do?

[peter thomson]

Isaac - Maybe try RHDJapan.com? Give em the part number and see what they can do?

Definitly worth a try .I bought one for the VR4 at half the price camskill wanted and that's a lot less than the dealer

[bradc]

I had one die in my first Legnum and it was about $150, you may want to try kempy's due to the amount of gdi's they wreck

[peter thomson]

I have 2 practically new FTO coil packs. I used one while I waited for a new one from RHD. Would they be any use. If you let me know the length of the coils I can check to see if they will fit

[I-S]

I have emailed RHD, will see what they say. FTO coil packs won't help, but thank you for the offer.

[I-S]

Still waiting for a price from RHD, they have acknowledged my email though.

However, this evening I seem to have made significant progress...

On monday I taped up the rest of the coil packs, but it didn't really make any difference.

This evening I replaced the negative battery terminal with a more solid one (although the old one was still tight, it was starting to show the same problems my GLS did where it would become impossible to get properly tight), and attached an additional ground lead which runs over to the top of the engine (to a bolt that screws into the rocker cover, to which the inlet manifold is attached).

(As an aside, I also finally fixed the really annoying trim rattle/buzz in the cabin - SO much nicer without it!)

A quick run around and it's feeling much much smoother (although it was starting warm - tomorrow morning will tell me more). The most interesting thing was that when I was pulled up to turn around and park outside my house at the end of the run, the engine started to sound like a diesel. This is a very common description of the way the GDI engines sound, but mine has never done so like this until now - suggesting that it is now running more like it should be.

If the coil packs can't be obtained cheaply then I may make a more permanent bodge with PTFE (higher dielectric constant than PVC).