I have a 2008 Honda Accord V6, 33,000 miles. I have had the car in the shop 3 times in the past 2 weeks because the engine light starts flashing and the engine starts missing. Two dealerships have looked at it, changed ignition coil the second time in the shop. They have run every test and nothing shows up. Turn car off, restart, light does not come on, car runs smooth. Then it starts acting up again. Any ideas? Dealers have already run it through their engineering support group. Don’t want to end up sitting on the side of the road with a blown engine or worse. Thanks!!
Without knowing what codes exist it’s near impossible to make much of a guess. Drop by an AutoZone, Checkers, O’Reillys, etc. and have them scan the car. They will do this for free and it only takes a minute. Post the results back.
One shop changed the coil. If they go this far they should have changed the spark plug(s). Is it known if this was done or not?
A 2008 car should normally store an error code when it flashes. You want to get that number and post it back as a reply to your original message. It should be in the format [P1234].
Dealer invoice states install coil. Replace cylinder #1 coil. Code PO301. Plugs not changed. Picked up car from dealer today. Running fine so far. They did suggest switching from BP to Shell or Marathon gas and to keep a log to see if there is any connection to miles driven, road conditions, weather conditions, etc.
Thanks for the responses!
The gasoline issue is a non-issue. This seems to be something that dealers say when they can’t figure out (or don’t want to) a problem.
How many times have they changed the coil? Was it just this once? It could have simply been defective and you may be good to go.
If it comes back up the plug ought to be inspected if it hasn’t been along with the wire (unless this is coil on plug in which case it was just replaced). But you should also earnestly request a check of the compression.
I assume this is under warranty - keep your records very carefully. I’d even take notes about each visit. I would also pester them to always be painstakingly clear about what has been done each time.
P-0301…Misfire cylinder #1 detected…
Bad plug, bad coil, bad injector…This does not require engineering support…
As I mentioned previously, if these guys are going to the extent of changing the ignition coil they should change the spark plugs. A coil usually fails due to a misfire somewhere down the line and since this engine should be a COP type the fault is likely in the spark plug as there’s not much else there.
Just to throw something out there, what about valve lash? Maybe a borderline valve that is very close to zero lash and depending on operating conditions/engine heat maybe the valve is hitting zero or slightly under on the lash. Once the valve starts hanging open a tiny bit the miss will develop due to lowered compression. Once cooled down a bit, say inside the shop, the valve lash reverts back to at least a little clearance, the valve closes, and the miss goes away.
This of course will cause an engine miss which in turn can damage the coil. Just theorizing anyway.