1rufan

Last week I went to start my mom's 2001 Acura TL with 129K. The idle was rough and it felt sluggish. The check engine light blinked, The exhaust smelled odd. I brought to Auto Zone and they said the code was 1399. Brought it to a mechanic and he felt the car needed a new crank sensor. The plugs and timing belt have not been replaced yet.

Any thoughts what I should do. How much should a crank sensor cost to replace?

Thanks in advance.

Arkady

Might just be a bad coilpack or spark to be honest. I'd run it for a minute to see if it throws a "random misfire" or a specific misfire code, and then check on the plugs and coils.

Davius

I agree, do the coil check. One coil at at a time, disconnect the electrical clip on coil and see if the engine changes RPM; if it does, that coil is working. If the RPM doesn't change, then that coil probably needs to be replaced (assuming plugs are good).

whitetiger5

Lol..."let's throw a crank sensor at it and see what it does."

If the misfiring is related to a coil then you shouldn't get random misfiring CEL (1399) I mean it couldbe more than one coil? but then I would thing you would still get discrete codes for each coil, not random.

A very common problem that causes random misfiring is the EGR system ports becoming clogged or obstructed. you can check it very quickly by removing the intake manifold cover and inspecting the passageways.

If I'm not mistaken, clogged passageways will result in random misfiring.

Arkady

For what it's worth, I had a random misfire code thrown on the way up to the lake on the 4th of July this year. I kept driving and checking my codes, eventually it threw a few other codes for multiple coil packs misfiring. Sounded like I was driving a 2-stroke engine haha, but after the day's festivities I checked it out and found that just one of my coils had died.

Davius

I also experienced something similar with one coil being bad. Pittered, puttered and sputtered; threw the random misfire code(s) as well as a misfire code on every cylinder. One bad coil really threw the whole engine off and made it seem worse than it was. Replaced it with a non OEM coil ASAP (only one available at local shop til OEM was ordered) and the engine would still kick randomly at idle. Replaced with OEM coil and all is good again.

1rufan

I just picked up a few new codes in addition P1399:

P0303
P0301
P0302
P0304
P0306
P0300

Have no idea what is going on.

1rufan

I plan to do that. The plugs are due for replacement.

thoiboi

you got a bad coil pack somewhere... start diagnosing which one is bad and replace it with an OEM equivalent.

Arkady

Yeah, those codes can look spooky but it's most likely just one coilpack dying and throwing a wrench into the entire computer. Those are pretty much the same codes I saw.

Open the hood and turn the car on, and unplug one coilpack at a time while listening to the engine for 5 seconds or so. If the engine starts sounding worse, plug that coil back in and move on to the next one. Keep this up until you find a coilpack that doesn't affect the sound of the engine.

Once you've got that sorted, turn the car off and swap the bad coil with one of the good ones you found, and test again - this checks to see if it's the coilpack itself that's the issue. If it is, the problem will travel to wherever you moved that coil to.

Then, it's as simple as buying a replacement - like the other guys said in this thread, buy an OEM equivalent. They can be a bit pricey but these are at the heart of your car and you shouldn't cheap out on them. Luckily they last for ages before giving out.

1rufan

I replaced all the plugs with NGK. I noticed the with cylinders 2 and 3 the plugs appear a bit wet. More so with cylinder 3.

I removed the connector to the coils and did not notice much engine difference with cylinder 3. Just a little with cylinder 2. Is it possible 2 coils can be bad?

Thanks

1rufan

Another observation. The valve covers for cylinders 1 -3 look oily. Plugs 2 and 3 has a slight rust color marks in the white section of the plug.

1rufan

Replaced coil #3 with a NGK brand and the car is much smoother idle. When I start the car in the morning the idle is a bit rough and evens out later on.

zeta

iTrader: (1)

^
Just curious, does the car still have the original 19 y/o O2 sensors installed?

1rufan

Yes ii has the original O2 sensor.