2003 jazz vti misfire?

[Nighthawk jazz]

Howdy all,

I'm new to Ozhonda - great site, seems like there's plenty of jazz knowledge here and I hope you guys can help me out.

My 2003 jazz vti with 125000k's has developed an annoying misfire. It seems to occur under light acceleration and occasionally at idle when the ac is on. It is an intermittent problem.

I've spent some time surfing the web and have eliminated it down to coil packs. I don't want to pay honda$$$$ for the packs but if ordering online want to make sure I get the right part.

Has anyone else experienced a similar problem and fixed it with non Honda coil packs?
If so could you please post details of where coil packs were purchased and prices.

So far I have found some at Rockauto.com but they are for 2007 fit 1.5l L4. Will these be suitable for a 2003 Jazz 1.5l?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Nighthawk

[Artie]

Is your Jazz an automatic (CVT)?

[Nighthawk jazz]

Yep. 2003 1.5l vti with cvt

[ouch]

what does misfiring mean?

[Artie]

Yep. 2003 1.5l vti with cvt

Just wondering if your problem could be related to a CVT issue rather than coil pack? As ouch asks, what are the misfire symptoms and how did you do the diagnosis?

[Nighthawk jazz]

My initial diagnosis is based on feel. Have ordered an obd2 reader to confirm, and check fault codes. It feels as though one cylinder is intermittently not firing. The miss seems only to occur when gently accelerating @ around 2000rpm, and also when stopped at the lights with the A/C on. I have had trans shudder in the past and this feels completely different. Trans has been flushed and refilled with genuine Honda cvt fluid and has been perfect since this was done, around 25000 km ago.

Car has a distinct feeling of plug(s) sparking weakly. Fuel filter was done same time as Cvt fluid, and whilst I concede bad fuel may cause similar symptoms, I read that coil packs may be problematic on some jazz's at around 130,000kms and again from what I read coil pack failure displays almost exactly the symptoms that I have experienced.

I understand sticking egr valves may exhibit similar symptoms so I went ahead and disconnected the egr and went for a test drive....still missing! so I kinda ruled that out.

Furthermore, I removed the coil pack electrical connectors and sprayed them with contact cleaner. This seemed to reduce the misfiring for a couple of days but now it has come back.

Any ideas?

Whilst I continue to try and nail down the source of the problem I thought I should find out if the Coil packs that are available online will be suitable for my car. That way if all else fails I will know what I'm up for. Trying to avoid going to the dealer for this one as I understand their coil packs are around $200 a pop, and there are 4 of them!

Any help appreciated.

[Artie]

No worries Nighthawk. I just thought I'd pose the CVT possibility but it seems you've covered that base already. Checking the fault codes should be the right way to go from here. Hopefully someone else can come in and help some more.

[GU357]

get the scan tool first to be sure, the OBD2 part is near where the clutch pedal would be its kinda mounted to some tin work off the side of the center console.

seems unlikely to misfire but fully possible.

when was the last service? did they change the iridium spark plugs?


and are u sure its not the leads or something else like that? im guessing its happening at a certain engine load because the engine is under more load when taking off or idling with AC on.

[Nighthawk jazz]

Thanks Artie & GU.

I'll get the OBD2 onto it as soon as it arrives, and hopefully nail down the cause. New irridiums @ 100 000kms - nearly 30 000kms ago. Yes it does seem to occur under light load, but if I push it a bit harder, ie under even more load, it doesn't misfire at all. Maybe I'm being too soft on her:)

I can't complain, this has been a really great car, zero probs until now. Apart from the regular servicing, discs,pads and one battery replacement it has given faultless performance for nearly 10 years!

Anyone diy the coil packs on their Jazz? If so what prompted the repair, and where did you get them?

Thanks in advance

[GU357]

I havent heard of anyone replacing them until now.

they are good lil cars.

[fundies]

Possibly even a faulty fuel injector.

[DVS-00R]

Don't do the coil packs yet. I would check the spark plugs first. Something as simple as gapping them could solve your problem.

If you are in Sydney and would like some help, shoot me a PM.

GL :)

[Nighthawk jazz]

Thanks guys, I'll work it through and see how I progress. Plugs will be my first port of call. I have heard that gapping irridiums can be a little tricky but hopefully they will be set correctly. I also got some dielectric grease for the ends of the coil packs. I've heard that this can help with misfire symptoms.

Cheers

[chinx_4eva]

I had a very similar problem if not exactly the same problem with my Jazz same year model etc.

Pretty much can be 95% sure it is the coilpacks, they are known to play up and especially when you said taking off and A/C is on because it does put more load onto the packs and hence you feel the malfunction.
If you know how to take the coil packs out as you said, you can pretty much determine which one is at fault but just looking at it, it'll probably look a bit burnt (don't know how to describe), pretty much just not normal.
They usually don't all go at once, 1 or 2 if your unlucky depending on how long the missfire has been going on for
Yes coilpacks are expensive, around $200 from Honda a piece sadly :(

Another thing can be fuel filter as well but unlikely

[Nighthawk jazz]

After a wet week here in Adelaide I finally got around to inspecting the coil packs and putting a little dielectric grease on them. Guess what I found? No 1 coil pack is clearly different to the rest. To my knowledge it has never been replaced, so must have discoloured.

Will do my best to post photos. Here goes....

Regular coilpack

http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj519/greavessmith/b7d26bff.jpg

Discoloured problem coil pack

http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj519/greavessmith/a93bfa7f.jpg

Compare the two

http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj519/greavessmith/34d6c22d.jpg

Have called the local Honda parts place and they reckon a new coil pack is around $95 so not too bad overall as I only found one to be discoloured and will be replacing that straight away.

Many thanks to all who gave advice and helped me to pinpoint this problem. Will keep you updated if problems persist, but I reckon this is it

Hope this helps someone else too!
Thanks again