vs backfiring,spluttering,cough when i excerlerate!!! grrr

[vr5lchick]

hey
well my car has only just started playing up about a week ago!
i noticed it at first when going up a hill on the freeway
it was coughing and spluttering and i could feel the motor? gerk!
after that it actually backfired (popped) under the bonnet!
has gotten extremely worse since and coughs and farts when i excerlate at any speed!!
so today i got the leads and plugs replaced! gave it a bit more power but still the same crap
was going to book it in to the macanic to see whats wrong but they say they cant look at it till end of next week so thought i would ask on here!
also of a morning you have to wait till it completely warms up before driving it as it just doesnt want to go on take off!
so any ideas?
we have a feeling it could be coils,injectors or headgaskets but if anyone has had the same problem might save some time!
cheers

[greenacc]

coil is a definite possibility, not sure if that engine has 1 or 2 ?

[Dan366757]

Sounds like what my vs v6 did bout 2 weeks ago, turned out one of my coils packed it in.

[vr5lchick]

its really bad ay! mainly up hills or when ya go to excelerate from a certain speed
the back fire under the bonnet is the scary thing...
if i drop it back to 3rd it gives it more power and less spluttering but still does it (just not as bad)
wack it into nutrel and it seems to rev fine!
any way of testing the coils?

p.s it has 3 single coils
its an ecotec

[Dan366757]

yeah sounds exactly the same as mine, for a while before i noticed it was down a little on power and had a small miss then all of a sudden one day i put me foot down to go round someone up a hill and it completely s**t itself, fartin sputterin no power what so ever had to sit on 60-70 the whole way home, if i went over it was way to rough, got home read a thread on here and found out the middle coil had no spark at all.

The thread i read said to: Pull both the leads off one of the coils, start the car and if the spark arks across the coil then its fine and if it sparks everywhere else or not at all then its no good, then try the next and obviously its easier to see at night time.
The coils cost me $54 each new from repco, hope that helps cheers

[vr5lchick]

yer i got to sit on 60-70 other wise its just plain embarrassing lol

[vr5lchick]

problem solved!! turns out it was the coils not sure which one as we just replaced the hole thing even the bottom plate!! got the hole lot from the commodore shop cardiff for $85 soo no to bad concidering it cost $100 for just leads and plugs yesturday.... glad the flu has finally left my car haha

[Dan366757]

Awesome wish i had of went there, i paid round $150 for 3 coils without the DFI module lol.

[nicb]

hi guys... thanks so much for this info.. my car was doing the exact same thing, coughing and splattering upon load and i did what Dan said to do and yes one of my coils was dead..
Went to the wreckers today got a coil pack for $33 and its now running perfect...

[justbad4you]

very common prob,,most go for leads 1st then work thair way over to the coils if the leads are ok ..well done

problem solved!! turns out it was the coils not sure which one as we just replaced the hole thing even the bottom plate!! got the hole lot from the commodore shop cardiff for $85 soo no to bad concidering it cost $100 for just leads and plugs yesturday.... glad the flu has finally left my car haha