Wonder if you guys could help me out. I have a 99 TL, with 97K miles on it. Was working fine until yesterday, when I was going back home from work, all of a sudden the engine starts shaking, the car hesitates a little bit, shudders, and looses power.

"Damn, I lost my timing belt" was my first thought. I stopped the car immediately, called AAA, they towed me to the nearest mechanic, and the guy said "it's not the belt, it's probably a misfire in one of the cylinders, but it's safe to drive it back home, so bring it back tomorrow" (all this happened at around 8PM).

So, I took it back today, after driving it very carefully while the engine is still shaking. The guy changes all the plugs, even though he himself had put brand new NGK's a couple of months ago. He said sometimes they go bad (aren't NGK's supposed to be the best?). Once that's done, he says his computer is still showing a misfire in one of the cylinders, so he now thinks it was not the plugs, but one of the coils. He gave me back the car, kindly charged me nothing, and told me to come back tomorrow. He's then gonna try to isolate the bad coil and replace it.

What do you guys think? Is this really a bad coil or could it be something else? Is it REALLY safe to drive the car back home like this (I live 10 miles from work)?

And if it was a coil, what would be the reason why it went bad all of a sudden?

ANY help/advice would be appreciated. THANKS!

 

If its showing a missfire code it most likely 1 of 2 things. Either plugs or a coil. If he tried new plugs then it most likely a coil. He just needs ot isolate which one it is and replace it. Yes its safe to drive it but id recomed getting it fixed as soon as possible.

Also if it were the timing belt, you would be buying a new engine right now. When tht goes on our cars it causes major damage

 

yep yep, by the time you say oh that must be my timing belt, just about everything inside the engine crashed and smashed into each other. i bet its a coil.

 

Thanks, guys. Car is at the shop right now. Hopefully it'll be fixed by this evening. This could not have happened at a worst time, though, because I'm moving to a new apartment on Saturday. Oh well...

 

yep. exact same happened to me bout 9 months ago, and i drove the car while like that for like 2-3 weeks, was so embarassing. but if i corrected the problem asap and changed the plugs, it woulda been all fine, but i waited until the check engine light stayed on all the time (be4 it would come off and on) and was the coils. so try to fix it soon, may save u money.

 

by the way, what type of gas do u use?

 

I always use premium gas, of course. BP or Shell if possible. This problem is getting on my nerves. My usual mechanic still was not sure if it was the coil or not, and I really needed the car fixed by friday because I was moving to a new apartment on Saturday. So he said that I should take it to the dealer to be sure. I knew they were gonna charge me an arm and a leg, but I had no choice. I called the dealer and tried to arrange an appointment, but they said it was impossible for them to even look at the car until Monday. So I said "screw it" and I took it to Pep Boys, because I REALLY nedeed the car for the weekend. I arrived at Pep Boy on Friday noon, the guy looked at the computer codes, and he says "yep, it's coil number 5". They called Acura to order the part... and... of course... "we will not get it until Monday". So I tried three different places and still no luck. You can't imagine the type of weekend I'm having here. In Florida, without a car, you are screwed.

I will take it back to Pep Boys on Monday because they already ordered the part, and I hope the damn thing will be working fine after that. I'm crossing my fingers.

 

that sucks, good luck man. hopefully one of your friends with a car or truck can help you move.

 

Well, the problem seems to have been fixed. The mechanic at Pep Boys replaced the coil for cylinder 5 and the car runs ok now. Total charge: $190 (out of that, they charge you $90 for a frickin' "diagnostic"!!!)

HOWEVER, I spoke to my other mechanic (the one I took the car to in the first place, and the one who wasn't able to pin-point the exact problem) and he said that it's weird that just one new coil fixed the problem, since he had gotten error codes for multiple cylinders that were missfiring.

I'm confused. As far as I can tell, the car runs ok. But I do feel it's not strong enough, certainly not 225 horses strong. It's specially weak between 1500 - 3000 revs. I tend to baby the car and not push the gas pedal too much, and even then I get about 21 MPG, tops. In the city, I get 18 if I'm lucky. Plugs are brand new NGK iridiums.

Could it be one of those infamous coil-packs problems? Or is it my imagination?

 

replace the rest of the plugs and double check the plugs for fouling just to be sure. and i would think that pepboys would have waived that $90 since you had them do the service.

 

it's not the plugs man..

you could have brought it to the dealership for that price!

 

a misfire is most likey 1 of 100 things, bro.

 

bring it to dealer to have them run their acura diagnostic tool to really pin point the problem. good luck again!

 

even our diagnostic system cannot pinpoint misfires unless there is another code like say an EGR code along with the misfire. Misfires that do not involve a bad coil is pretty intense.

Almost ANYTHING, can cause misfire codes..

 

I know that, Many things can lead to a misfire. i was going by his 2 options of Plugs or coils. And since he replaced his plugs i was stating the obvious and saying that it then had to be his coil/coils.

 

u a mechanic? exact same happened to me when we diag'd it. lol

 

Also coils are becoming a common issue with these cars now too.

 

Shade tree mechanic

 

i might be an apprentice at a nissan dealership next few months......

a g35 would be cool......

 

 

sorry, misunderstood you.

out of coils or plugs that foul.. 9/10 times it will be the coils..

but for Esteban, that's a piss poor way of diagnosing a misfire.