Help! Poss Coil Pack Failure!

[coops]

Hi all long time lurker here!

I've got a v reg is200 and it has been faultless up until starting it yesterday lunchtime and feeling that the car felt very rough so drove about a mile before the engine management light started flashing at me, decided to head straight to lexus and after another mile the TRC OFF light started flashing at me. got to lexus cardiff and thanks to it being good friday all the techs were down the pub, spoke to one of them on the phone and he suggested it was either water ingress or a coil pack on it's way out. thinking it was a nice day to sit by the roadside with the mrs waiting for the aa we headed off on our 75 mile journey to see the family anyway. lights stayed on and the car felt really sluggish but still went on, i think this has ruled out water as it should have dried out by now. picked up a new coil pack today came to change it so systematically removed one coil pack plug at a time to try and ascertain which was playing up but each time i took one off the car would start then die after a second or so!! need to get back to work in cornwall on monday so my chances of getting a garage to check the codes or getting an obd cable are slim to none at the minute! does anyone have any idea how to find out where the problem is or does anyone have the cable i need and live in south wales!!! all help would be apreciated!!!

[sparkystav]

Well the coil packs do seem to fail in pairs mate so there may well be two gone.

Stav

[Gord]

Hi all long time lurker here!

I've got a v reg is200 and it has been faultless up until starting it yesterday lunchtime and feeling that the car felt very rough so drove about a mile before the engine management light started flashing at me, decided to head straight to lexus and after another mile the TRC OFF light started flashing at me. got to lexus cardiff and thanks to it being good friday all the techs were down the pub, spoke to one of them on the phone and he suggested it was either water ingress or a coil pack on it's way out. thinking it was a nice day to sit by the roadside with the mrs waiting for the aa we headed off on our 75 mile journey to see the family anyway. lights stayed on and the car felt really sluggish but still went on, i think this has ruled out water as it should have dried out by now. picked up a new coil pack today came to change it so systematically removed one coil pack plug at a time to try and ascertain which was playing up but each time i took one off the car would start then die after a second or so!! need to get back to work in cornwall on monday so my chances of getting a garage to check the codes or getting an obd cable are slim to none at the minute! does anyone have any idea how to find out where the problem is or does anyone have the cable i need and live in south wales!!! all help would be apreciated!!!

1st, you can not unplug the coil pack in the way you saying, car will not run.

What you better doing is, change the coil pack, at number 1 cylinder, then start the car, if no change in running then its not that one, keep doing this, number 2 cylinder and so on, until you find the duff one and the car running ok :winky:

[Steviewevie]

Hmm, the TRC OFF light flashing shouldn't have anything to do with coil packs. That's often down to a problem with a speed sensor at the wheels. It indicates that the TRC is malfunctioning. But it sounds like the running of the engine is going wrong too.

As you say it would be great if there was another member nearby who could plug in an OBDII reader for you.

Have you had any work done on your car recently which could have been connected with this ?

[coops]

No recent work done. i did wonder if my way of checking the coil packs was a bit dubious, i'll have a try at replacing one at a time.

The car doesn't feel rough enough (in my humble opinion) to have 2 cylinders down so i'm seriously hoping it's just the one!

My reasoning for the TRC OFF caption was that the traction control is controlled by the power of the car and if the engine doesn't have full control over the power then it can't use the trac control. prob wrong though!

Cheers

[Steviewevie]

My reasoning for the TRC OFF caption was that the traction control is controlled by the power of the car and if the engine doesn't have full control over the power then it can't use the trac control. prob wrong though!

I see your logic, but looking at the manual I can't see anything that says it works like that. Does the TRC OFF light just keep flashing all the time now, or is it intermittent ?

The ABS/TRC ECU is underneath the dash on the driver's side. You don't have any other electrical problems do you ? Going along with an unfortunately common theme at the moment, as Lexus suggested to you, it could be water ingress, possibly from a badly sealed windscreen ?

[coops]

The TRC light flashes constantly whilst the engine light flashes for a while then stays on for a minute or so and then starts flashing again. the whole water ingress theory was my favourite at the time but i had already driven the car for around an hour on saturday on a very rare dry day here, the car was then standing in the sun for a couple of hours before all the problems arose!

[Steviewevie]

I'm no expert on this, but I don't think that rules out water being connected to the problem. e.g. maybe there's some corrosion in there, and a bit of fresh water helped actually make contact (since water conducts), and it drying out was actually the problem because it exposed corrosion again ?

Would be worth having a poke around, particularly under the driver's side of the dash (since that's where the TRC ECU is) and seeing if the fuse box and associated connectors shows any signs of water, similarly around the other electrical components there.

[Steviewevie]

Actually, I've just had another thought. Bit of a long shot, but I wonder if the problem with the engine feeling rough could be because of the TRC malfunctioning and cutting in when it shouldn't be doing so ? i.e. it's all down to the TRC.

I'm only guessing here, so could be way off, but as I said, the TRC light shouldn't have anything to do with your coil packs.

[coops]

i like your thinking, just going to run the car again then have a poke around. this is no way to be spending a glorious day like this!

[AN007]

i like your thinking, just going to run the car again then have a poke around. this is no way to be spending a glorious day like this!

I have a some coils packs that I bought for no reason not so long ago. Let me know if you need any and i'll sell them to you.

Cheers

Al

[coops]

Thanks all, the lex is back! after much prodding around i had a moment of madness and just reset the ecu by popping out the two fuses. error warnings vanished as expected but still feeling rough so went for a drive, 5 mins later got the eng management light flashing but no trc off light. started and stopped the car a few times at various points then eventually the TRC off light started flashing. brought the car home and started slaving in the replacement coil pack starting with cyl no 1 through to 5 and no change then when i swapped it with cylinder 6 the car started running smoothly but warning lights were still showing. reset the ecu again while i was bolting the airbox and snout back in. started the car and all felt good so took it for a spin down some country lanes and a stint on the motorway and all problems seem to be resolved, and for good measure i had a healthy test of the traction control which is working as nature intended! cheers for your help and if anyone does have a definate reason for the TRC OFF warning with a failed coil pack then please let me know as i'm intrigued!

[Gord]

Hmm, the TRC OFF light flashing shouldn't have anything to do with coil packs. That's often down to a problem with a speed sensor at the wheels. It indicates that the TRC is malfunctioning. But it sounds like the running of the engine is going wrong too.

As you say it would be great if there was another member nearby who could plug in an OBDII reader for you.

Have you had any work done on your car recently which could have been connected with this ?

Yes it should, its linked, so if you have problem with coil pack you will get both lights :D but if you have problem with sensor (ABS) the TRC light will flash :D

[sparkystav]

Glad you got it sorted mate.

Stav

[Steviewevie]

ok, hmm, I still don't understand why the TRC OFF light flashes if a coil pack goes. I'm not doubting it though, I'll lodge that in the old knowledge bank somewhere

Great news that you've sorted it now ! :D

[Gord]

ok, hmm, I still don't understand why the TRC OFF light flashes if a coil pack goes. I'm not doubting it though, I'll lodge that in the old knowledge bank somewhere

Great news that you've sorted it now ! :D

Well they are linked, if your TRC comes into play what dose it control so if one not working, nor is your TRC :winky:

[Steviewevie]

I see what you're saying Gord, but if you have a coil pack go then you've still got five other cylinders and reduced power, why can't the TRC just cut the power further still if it detects wheelspin ?

[Gord]

I see what you're saying Gord, but if you have a coil pack go then you've still got five other cylinders and reduced power, why can't the TRC just cut the power further still if it detects wheelspin ?

Coz its in a loop, so to speak, thats like saying, if you have 2 ABS sensors and 1 stops working, why dose the TRC light flash and not work, you still have the other 1 so should still work.

So to sum up, you get both lights telling you, you have problem, and in this case, coil pack gone, so in turn is affecting you TRC, so that lights as well :D

[Steviewevie]

My logic says that losing a coil pack doesn't affect the TRC though. You've got less power to start with, so if you get wheelspin the TRC can still kick in. I don't see how the TRC is less effective just because of a problem with one cylinder, unlike the ABS example, but maybe I'm missing something.

[Gord]

My logic says that losing a coil pack doesn't affect the TRC though. You've got less power to start with, so if you get wheelspin the TRC can still kick in. I don't see how the TRC is less effective just because of a problem with one cylinder, unlike the ABS example, but maybe I'm missing something.

Well its not going to work TRC coz you have problem with coil pack, its not going to be able to send the message as you have problem with coil pack, it don't matter if just 1 coil pack or 3 or 4 coil packs, its not going to be able to do the job, so it puts the light on telling you its not working, you may well get 2 codes come up when you have them read, 1 could say sensor, but in this case, as the engine was not running well, it was going to be the coil pack :D

[wegiel]

Hi guys,

I guess I have the same problem. Waiting for the coil - suddenly the check engine light went on,engine started to shake, then the TRC OFF light showed up.

Went for a diagnosis - cylinder misfiring - heard that 3 had gone. Switched the coils, reset ECU and found out that one has gone but the error was somehow populated.

Waiting for the coil and praying that's all that needs to be done as the car is shaking and I hate the behaviour. Thought it was like a tank, but no way :(

[Steviewevie]

For some reason the coil packs seem to fail in pairs, so keep an eye out for that.

[wegiel]

It looks like there was only one that failed and got it replaced.

Hate the price of the coils and hate the fact that there are six of them. Never know how long the others will keep on working.