I too believe I have a coil pack problem. I had been experiencing problems as Genom had described.

I was afraid to pull out into traffic with less than 100 yards clearance from a stop!!

However, upon visual inspection I could not see any damage.

I then removed the ignition coild one by one and still, no visible damage.

So I swapped the leading and trailing coilpacks..

I now have low end power again..

Anyone have any clues what may be happening?

Should I swap the packs back incase the other 2 go bad too?

 

Follow-up

I swapped the coils back.. I didn't want to take the chance of blowing the trailing coilpacks too..

While I had them out, I decided to test them with my DMM. Sure enough, the leading coilpacks are bad.

Using the test procedure in the manual, I show no continuity between pins A & B.

So, Even though there is NO VISIBLE SIGN of damaged coilpacks, two of mine are bad. If anyone is having low power, stumbling, stalling < 3krpms this may be your problem.

 

u know ur not in the LOUNGE right? lol. Thanks for the info.

 

I need to post atleast 1 informative post every 6 months or else people will call me a troll :p

Some gti-VR6 guys have been repairng cracks in their coil packs with epoxy. I wonder if we can crack open the bad packs and replace the transistor then use epoxy to repair the casing.

Im going to take my bad ones apart just for fun anyway.

Anyone have pics of the insides of dead coil packs?

 

The potting compound is very tenatious. We had to use a die grinder to get it out. The top part just pulls off. The transistor is in the middle. Transformer (coil) to the right. Note it uses laminations.

https://www.rx8club.com/attachment.p...id=21817&stc=1

 

Guess there's no 6million dollar man job possible on that puppy!

thanks for the pic!

 

A slight cross-post, but basically I too had burned coils (1 and 3), here's the tech report from when I got it back on Wednesday:


Found normal rotary eng cold start at this time called Mazda hotline talk to Lance REF#357485 was told to update pcm with updated calibration M and thats all we can do at this time. Note: Also recommend to use high octan gas. Car came back with same problem looked ignition coils over found 1st and 3rd coils to be melted on top were conector connects, R&R Coils and all four plugs and CK main grounds per hotline tech Luis to correct. Test drove no further problem.

(Typed verbaim)

It wasn't until a friend of mine that works at Mazda told the tech to inspect the ignition coils that the tech found the problem-- the computer reported no codes, etc...

-- Aaron

 

I was debating wheather or not I should tell them that the coils are bad and I tested them.. Looks like I should, or they will never find the problem.

Of course, they would notice the scratched up nuts when they went to change them :/

Thanks for the update amartin.. what mods do you have , or are you completely stock?

Also, did your packs bulge?

 

By the way.. If anyone wants/needs to check the coilpacks themselves here's how.


Unbolt the two clamps for the intake accordian tube. Pull the airbox up and and then out. You should be able to keep everything attatched and still move the aribox enough to allow clearance. Move the accordian tube off to the side, away from the coilpacks which were under it. Remove that one wire clipped in above the #1 coilpack.

Unplug the coilpack. Unbolt the coilpack with a 10mm socket. remove the coilpack.

Looking aththe coilpack connector, with the pointy thing pointing up.. A is on the right, B in the middle, C on the left.

Using a DMM, measure the resistance.. A-C, B,C and A-B.

A-C should be open.
B-C and A-B should show measurements in the k ohm range.

My test showed A-B to be open.

 

Also, removing the accordian tube is easy. Unscrew the clapms on the sides, remove the vacum hoses (they just pull out) and the whole accordion can be smooshed out and wont be in the way at all. After that it's maybe 15 minutes and your done.

Both times mine have gone they have melted and bulged, but now I have plenty of exp. with the car performance with the blown packs. Wont even have to look at them next time :D

 

I didn't see my coils... only the tech did. I was running the CZ Stage 1 mod, and had upgraded to the M-Flash about 3 weeks ago, it was shortly after the m-flash that this happened.

 

After getting new coils and plugs, I've gone from 12.5-13.5mpg to 16.5-17mpg

... just an interesting side note.

 

I was speculating that there might be an increase in MPG.. I hope I have the same results!