Hey Guys my 99 Acura ran fine today, then at lunch I went to get some food and next thing I know my car is vibrating at idle and while on the gas. My Engine Light is on as well as my TCS (traction control) light. And when I get on the gas my engine light starts flashing. Does anybody have any idea why my car would run perfect one minute and then run like crap the next time I start it up? Please let me know if you have any ideas.

 

I had the same thing happen to me last week, I have a 99 TL, it happened also last year , both times it was in very wet cold weather, after it was running perfect and then the light cames on, bad acceleration and almost choking when stopped, reving barely at 700rpm. Last year it cost me $1200 at the dealer, coils - oil change and so other work. I never got the exact reason for the problem. I have not gone this year since I may try an do the work myself.

 

Usually failure of a coil pack - they are light lightbulbs, work one minute- turn it on again and nothing
Buy 1 and try it on each cylinder until the car runs better

 

I took it to a shop today and they told me one of my fuel injectors went bad. The wanted to charge close to 400 to do it. I saw one guy looking at my plugs and showed it to the manager. Is there a way you can tell if it is bad by looking at the plug? I am sure they ran some test and then pulled the plug. But I couldnt see what they were doing, just that he showed the manager the plug. I put new plugs in 2 months ago. Who knows, the plug could have went bad. Any way to check a plug? Are injectors hard to work on? It was like a light switch....it ran fine, then all of a sudden it was missing and running rough. Would an injector do the same thing? Also does anybody have a recommendation on a brand for fuel filters? I have never changed mine?

 

Did they give you a detailed diagnosis or just say 400 bucks?
A bad coilpack will allow fuel to buildup on the plug. Thats what they could have been looking at. Did you tell them it had new plugs? Exactly what brand plugs did you use?
Handling the coil during plug change can cause its failure soon after.

Coilpacks are 45$- just get 1 and fix the problem yourself
The shop is jerking you around if you were not shown the plug and have it explained, what they were doing was deciding how much they think you will pay for a fix, In my opinion

 

I put Bosch plugs in, which I read were not good after the fact, but I have no idea how they determined it was my fuel injector. But I know they wanted to charge me 155 for the fuel injector and close to 90 an hour for the shop rate which I think the said 2 1/2 hours. Is it easy to access the fuel injectors? Can you tell just by looking at it? And would there be a code for a fuel injector going bad that I could have read at Autozone?

 

i would start out by getting rid of the plugs and getting the ones recommended (ngk) for your car and reset the ECU to see if that solves it.

If it is infact a injector its very simple for a DIY'er to replace it.

 

replace coils and plugs call it a day, i do about 18 coils a week.

 

Why dont you give useful information other than just replace everything info?? Replacing all the coils is VERY VERY often not needed. Usually it leads down to just 1 that needs replacing.

 

you think i already didnt know that?

im not going to sit here and explain how to do coil ramp tests with a scope, which im sure he doesnt have. or fire off individual coils,and read a kv meter.

sure he could swap coils cylinder to cylinder and see where the misfire jumps to.

but in the long run im sure another coil will go bad and then he will have to go through the same routine again.

 

Typically we find it easier to have them spend a few hrs of their time, buy 1 coil and start out buy replacing #1 resetting the ECU taking it for a spin see if they get a misfire again, if so move on to #2 etc and repeat till they find the trouble one.

 

It sounds like we have the same problem. I have a 00tl My car was running perfect one day then the next day when i started my car up after starting and stopping a few times (i courier) my car idled really rough then shut off. then when i started it again i gave it some gas and it idled rough and then the cel and tcs light went off. I took it to autozone and they told me cylinder 2 and 4 were misfiring. I have 117,000 on my car so they told me it was probably my sparkplugs. I took it to my mechanic who changed my plugs and cleaned out my EGR valve. It has been running fine but he told me i'd probably have to replace the EGR soon. I'm not sure how long there suppose to last but there like 430.00$ so i'll have to wait to replace it.

fsttyms1, if you have any other suggestions on what else this might be any help would great.

 

If its running fine now i wouldnt worry about any thing. If you get a misfire code again it probably will need a coilpack or 2