VS coil pack not sparking

[billygiles]

hi all,

got a vs acclaim which has developed a bit of a problem. It seems that one of the coil packs has stopped sparking and i am not sure of what caused it and what to do to fix it!

I was just cruising along and went to accelerate and it all went to pack - engine lost power and became difficult to start. left it over night at the servo and went back next day and started ok - misfiring but idling semi ok, drove it home with serious lack of power like it was running on 4 or so cylinders. Checked out spark at coil packs and noted that middle coil pack did not spark. Swapped it out with a known working coil pack from my vt with no change (coil pack from VS worked fine in VT).

What would cause this issue? Seen some posts saying DFI or CAS - is anyone able to let me know?

[hako]

Try checking the codes first: Checking error codes VR/VS (Revised)

Gregorys has a good test of the ignition circuit - if you get stuck pm your email address and I'll scan and send to you.

[billygiles]

thanks Hako.

Did the diagnostics test and only error code "12" was returned. Not sure where to go now.

[camstatic]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but if the CAS wasn't reading properly it wouldn't be firing at all would it? It's quite possible the DFI has burnt out the circuit for the middle coil, but check the condition of those mating connectors before you go swapping it out. Any VN SII V6 DFI (the units with individual coils) onward will fit by the way, it's just the bracket that's different underneath.

[Changa]

Yeah DFI sounds like the go, my VS has constant misfires, so I am currently trying to get a hold of a DFI (got a mate at a scrapyard looking out for one).

[billygiles]

thanks guys,

dont know why i didnt think of it before, but i swapped out the dfi module on my vt and put it in the vs - proved that dfi module was defective but still had misfire. Will try and source a "cheap" one and replace.

[Croydon]

Well, it happened again to my wife - stopped in the middle of Church St, and had to be recoverred. Time for some serious digging. This problem has been happening on and off for 4 years, and cleaning dirty connections has seemed to help. Got a code 49 this time, previously it would not tell me anything.

The tests in the Gregory's books were helpful to a point. Firstly nothing was coming from the CAS. $120 fixed that, but still no go. The Gregorys test for spark with a test light across the coil tabs showed OK, but it missed the odd one at random across all 3 outputs. No spark at the plug, though. Cam Angle Sensor (also mentioned in the code 49 write up) showed 11.7v out of the DFI (should be 7-11V). Took a deep dreath, and $387 (ex Repco) it starts and runs!

Fingers crossed.

So I guess these problems could be an intermittent in the DFI, rather than the CAS. I notice lots of folks have this problem.

[Sheany]

any updates on this? I'm having identical issues with my VX, might check the CAS as you suggest. How did you do the test?