Car won't start (coil pack thingy???)

[formula13x]

My wife pulled into the Gas station. When she tried to leave, the car wouldn't start.

2001 Grand Am 2.4L DOHC 80,000 miles or so.

It turns over and over, but never hits. I can hear the fuel pump kick in. Cant find a fuel pressure attachement on the fuel lines, so I haven't tested that.

I don't know what a lot of these parts would be called on this car. It's a different breed than I'm used too. I started trying to check for a spark, but don't really know how to test it on these cars. I pulled the "coil pack/engine cover thing????" And pulled a plug, stuck it in a that plug boot, stuck it on the coil pack thing, grounded it and tried to turn it over and see a spark (at night). No spark. I don't know if this is even a proper way to test, but I was thinking this might be dead. What's this part called, and how can I test it? What else might I try?

[LargeFish]

The cover has a few components. The ignition module is flat and bolted down to the IDI cover. The 2 coils (each fire 2 of the plugs) connect to this module. The coil housing is also a common culprit. The other ends of the coils get connected to the plugs thru the boots. There are springs in the boots and the coil housing. Parts shops can test the solid state iginition module. HTH...

[formula13x]

Great!!
I learned a lot from that post.
a) 1 coil per pair of plugs.
b) It can be tested.
c) The housing can be a culprit.

I saw the molue in there, and figured it was probably related to the DIS somehow.

A couple more questions from that post though...

What does IDI stand for?

How can the housing be a culprit? Because of grounding somehow?

What kind of parts shop? Should I just call around? Or how about an AutoZone, O'Reilly's, or NAPA?

[LargeFish]

IDI = Integrated Distributorless Ignition. Also called Coil-On-Plugs. I think I've seen someone mention AutoZone can test the ignition modules, but yeah, I'd let your fingers do the walking. The coils can be checked with an ohmeter but sometimes ones that fail under load/temerperature test fine. The housing can develop arcs after a while. Check for discoloration or spiderweblike cracks or lines of any sort.

[formula13x]

Hmm... Discoloration huh?
On the black boot that sits between the plugs and the coil pack, it had brownish discoloration running up the side on one of'em. That did worry me a bit and I believe this to be my culprit, but the plugs looked good, but I just changed them about 10,000 miles ago. But I didn't know the proper steps to take in order to eliminate this or ensure that this is the problem.

Another question. Worst case scenario, what's the going rate to purchase new coils? What can be re-used? Or do I have to purchase a whole new housing?

[LargeFish]

The housing, coils, boots and module are all sold seperately AFAIK. Discoloration on the boots shouldn't be the problem and with your car being newer the housing may be fine, but it's a very common culprit on older quads.

[p8ntman442]

WARNING after prefoming work under your idi cover take out those silly spark plugs, and put some antisieze on them. Without antisieze, you will be looking at asking how to remove broken plugs from a head later on down the road. And if you choose new plugs if necessary, do not go with platinum. Use stock ac delco or ngk plugs. :D

[spike4881]

Originally posted by p8ntman442
WARNING after prefoming work under your idi cover take out those silly spark plugs, and put some antisieze on them. Without antisieze, you will be looking at asking how to remove broken plugs from a head later on down the road. And if you choose new plugs if necessary, do not go with platinum. Use stock ac delco or ngk plugs. :D

Why not platinum? Don't they ignite hotter and therefore more efficient?

[dcmain]

Hotter is not always a desirreable thing in an aluminum head, but I think the difference in resistance is wore likely the reason why people have had problems with the fancy plugs. The ignition modules on the Quad are matched electrically to perform well with the stock plugs. IMHO

[4kQuad]

A Quad also sparks on both the power and the exhaust strokes.
So,
I think that's what kills the New Spendy plugs in Quads. They are not made to put up with twice as much heat causing the things to brake down fast.

Thats just in my head, I have no proof to support it.

[p8ntman442]

not sure why, but umm if you dont believe us, try it, they will work good for a month and then you will have to replace them, ask anyone with a quad who used platinums b4.

[formula13x]

The plugs still look good. I changed them out about 10,000 miles ago. Although I only pulled one of'em.

Also, don't the offer Platinum as an OEM replacement?