Ok, something is up with the coil packs.
 

Hi folks,

Greddy turbo system with EMU, BOV, and "fixes", otherwise stock.

About a month ago noticed some stumbling at idle and low RPM. Did some searching, found it might be the coil packs. Bought new ones and installed them and all was well again.

Well here I am a month later with the same symptoms. Coil packs have clearly gone south again. Plugs look good. The heat of summer seems to be making the problem worse. Drove all winter with no issues.

Why am I toasting coil packs? Did I miss some information about some kind of special fix or something?

Thanks,
Ken

Have you checked your wires for corrosion?

The only fix I can suggest is to beef up the wiring to the coils, but thats sort of a DIY fix where you wire it yourself.

Or you could go the HKS twinpower ignition booster for around 600, which already beefs up the wires for you in a supposedly easy to install harness.

did you get the new coils or the old type? they had a revision to the coils used in the rx-8.

my old coils also went, but the new ones have been great so far

Staticlag, I don't see any corrosion anywhere. Do you mean the plug wires or the electrical harness wires?

Mysql101, they should be the new type, they were purchased from onlinemazdaparts.com only a month and a half ago. Part number N3H118100A9U. How can I be sure I have the right ones?

Is there a definitive way of checking them?

get them out of the heat. remount them away from the oem site. Get a good ground from the packs. You can cut the back plate(mounting plate) so the back part of the coils can ventilate a little. All these little things add up. The twin fire will not help coil longevity.
if you have bad plugs it may put more demand on the coils? same with the wires. The coils have a hell of a job to do and generate heat internally but the ambient temps they have to soak in cant be good.
olddragger

What about the Okada Project Plasma Coils? There is a small article about them in the lastest Import Tuner.

Not enough feedback on them yet, a little too expensive for most. Try them out and see if they're worthy. :D:

What the hell, right? Oo

There is someone else other than Okeda for plasma coils. Can't think of who now. I think I talked to Ray about them.

I can do my best to get the coils to a cooler location, but I'm guessing it's going to be hard to move them because of the limitations of the length of the plug wires and harness wires.

Still, why am I blowing out coil packs so much faster than other people? Something doesn't make sense here.

well i have seen the second version packs from mazda go bad... if you want to beef up your spark plug wires mazsport has a great set for sale... i am not sure what mm they are... it could be 10mm

Ford loves to make sh*t-a$$ coils! My LS has coil problems all the time, its a 2000. They are just coming out with TSB for them now..

I read some threads about the Canzoomer causing coil issues... could my Greddy EMU be affecting the coils?

Is there a link between ignition timing and coil pack failures?

Here is a snapshot of my ignition timing maps. These maps are Greddy maps which I tuned a bit from there. But did not change these ignition values, I only tuned for AFR. There seems to be some (a lot?) timing advance here. Comments? I downloaded Mazdamaniac's maps and looked at them, and they only have negative values everywhere.

I'm so confused. :banghead:

No. They fixed that before they released the EMU.

No.

GReddy tuned the kit for only 6 PSI and good gas. Their timing is way-crazy advanced. Why? I don't know. I guess they were able to get away with it. Its one of the few changes to their tuning that I did they didn't steal from me. :lol2:
At low boost, the OEM timing map is on the ragged edge of detonation. Adding timing at the top end sometimes alleviates misfires.
They chose to only pull timing at tip-in.

OK, thanks for the info MM, that clears some things up for me.

However I still can't seem to figure out why the coil packs in the car lasted only about 6 weeks after changing them. It seems one autocross on a hot day and they were shot.

Are they really that susceptible to overheating? Is the heat the real issue or is it possible there is some other electrical problem? While I have found some posts about coil pack issues, in general, it seems my case is much worse than the norm. And I don't want to throw money at this thing for no reason by buying aftermarket bits that might not do anything.

All 4 of your coils went, or just one, or two? Maybe you are just unlucky?
I had coils replaced, but they went bad after i flooded the engine and was cranking it so much with spark plugs out and no ground. I replaced them with new ones, and never had a problem since then.
Do you have the white spots on the bottom of your coils? If yes, then your coils are gone, if not, then maybe there is something else that is related but not coils specifically.

Yep, all four coils were replaced about 6 weeks ago. Tested them according to shop manual procedure and found all four were shot, and also had the burn spots (white spots). Now, 6 weeks later, the same thing. All four shot, burn marks on undersides. I put 'em back in for now, because the car is drivable, it's just stumbles a lot at low RPM. I'd like to figure out what the heck to do before buying and installing another set.

I'd like to move them and heat sink them but I don't know if the plug wires and harness wires are long enough to accomplish that.

Very frustrating not knowing the root cause.

No wires are not long enough. You can get a coil relocation kit. I think Pettit has that, they offer that with the SC, if I am not mistaken. Contact them maybe they have it as a standalone kit?
Not sure but Mazsport may too.

i'm pretty sure pettit sells the coil relocation kit separate from the sc.

Actually, that turned out to not be true. (I know that I had suggested otherwise a while back because of the coincidence. Mulligan.)
First of all, the coil TSB specifically mentions that the white spot is not an indication of a bad coil.
Second, I have several coils that are spotted and strong and a few that are dead with no spots.
I think the spot is just an indication of extreme heat (and a potentially failing condition as a result) but not of an actual failure.

so what you do think about relocating the coils, Jeff? Something we should try out soon

Not to jump in here but Im also having problems with my 8 and I didnt wanna start a new thread..

Ok, Car is having a hard time starting up the last week. And I've noticed some sputtering in the high rpms and some sputtering at idle. Im hoping this is just the coils? I called my mazda dealer and asked if my coils had ever been changed and he said no. My car has 53K miles on it right now. Does this sound like a coil problem, bad engine, or anything else? Also the car is an early built 04' and only has a midpipe and drop in air filter for mods. Any input would help alot.... Thanks.

Ok so in regards to this what is the best option for the coil issue? Okada coils or the HKS TwinPower?