The other day my car started misfiring. I performed a cylinder drop test by disconnecting each ignition coil and determined the misfire was coming from cylinder 2. I then swapped coils to see if that was the issue and the misfire disappeared completely. I did go ahead and replace that ignition coil with a name brand coil ( not cheap generic from the jungle site!)

Upon further inspection I found that the insulation was missing on the wiring going into most of the coil connectors. This must be a common issue as a pack of 4 was only $10.

I spent about an hour replacing all 4 taking my time by doing one wire at a time. Then I took my time with cable management and rewrapping the harness and securing it properly to prevent any chafing or other damage.

A post mortem revealed no visible corrosion on any of the terminals but most of the connectors broke apart when I disassembled them as the plastic had become very brittle

Tools used:

  • Seam ripper for cutting the wiring harness open
  • Wire cutters
  • Wire strippers
  • Crimper
  • Scissors
  • Heat gun
  • Metal license plate as a heat shield

Materials:

  • 4 new connectors
  • 12 red heat shrink butt connectors (possibly controversial)
  • Cloth electrical tape
  • Several zip ties to replace broken factory ties