Replacing injector coil issue

Hey Tacoworld,

I have been a long time reader on Tacoma World and a longtime taco owner. I finally ran into an interesting issue after a spark plug change in my 06' v6 4.0 that has prompted me to reach out.

I watched several videos on doing the spark plug change and it seems pretty standard. One thing i noticed is when i replaced the injector coils they didn't seem to "pop" back into place. Sure enough when i turned the truck back on the motor is running rough at a low idle and feels like its misfiring. Certainly worse off then before the spark plug change.

Has anyone else experienced this issue? id prefer not to replace the injector coils... Thanks in advance for your help TacomaWorld

Rahmeen

 

I think you mean ignition coils. Use a little dialectric grease in the end of the boot and make sure it's going straight down on the plug. Are the boots soggy with oil? Are the little springs missing from inside? Look for signs of arcing or cracking on the coils too

Also, welcome to TW!

 

Hey thanks for the reply b_r_o, I did use some dialectic grease and I looked in the coils when I re installed them and they seemed to be in order, I tried to be cautious not to mess up the gapping either. I did notice the spring inside the coil seemed to be a little crooked? Planning on re doing it this weekend and I’ll take some pictures. Thanks

 

Also, there was no oil on the ignition coil they didn’t show any discoloration or seem abnormal. I’ll get in there tomorrow and take some pics

 

What year is your truck? Did you gap the new plugs? Any check engine light/codes?

 

What spark plugs did you use? My truck likes OEM Denso’s best. It did not like Iridium’s.

 

Hey all,

The taco is a 2006 she’s at about 185xxx and was running fine before the spark plug change. The plugs were “pre gapped” from O’rileys I didn’t have a gauge to check but I’ll be getting one today and making sure I didn’t f that up during install. They are ngk’s the “nickle” ones one step above the coppers. No check engine light yet I only made it two floors down the parking garage before it stalled and I decided to park it

 

Did you leave any vacuum lines off? Like the one on the drivers side?

 

Def check the gap. If you used anti seize on the spark plugs check and make sure it is only on the threads. I assume the old plugs looked okay coming out.

Have you restarted the truck since it died? If you are having misfires it should throw a code and give you a check engine light.

 

I only pulled one vacuum line and it’s back where it belongs. I undid one brace on the driver side as well and that’s it. The front cylinder on the drivers side was a b!tch to get off and I really had to work the clippy off the end of the coil. I had to do the same to replace it my thought is maybe it wasn’t seated on the end of the spark plug but then again it went in straight I just had to negotiate it around to get the plug back on.

Worth noting again I didn’t feel like ignition coils “popped” on to the ends of the spark plugs in the same manner that the popped off

 

I’ll hop in the truck this evening and see if she’s throwing a code, I probably won’t get to O’rileys to pull the code till tomorrow tho. Thoughts on driving about 5 10 miles w a misfire?

 

Be careful driving with a misfire. Converters dont like raw fuel. Here's a 09 Subaru where the customer drove for about an hour with only 2 cyls working

The grease lets the coil boot slip on without a pop feeling, dont worry about that..

Are you sure all the coil connectors are snug?

 

The coil connectors are snug via the bolt that secured them they can still wiggle ever so slightly

 

I mean the electrical harness connectors

Hopefully you can get some codes pulled soon that will specify a cylinder. Check the plug for cracking and correct gap first obviously, but then you can move the coil to a different cylinder and see if the code follows

 

Good morning guys, I disconnected the harnesses from each coil and re connected them. Re started the truck, it started roughly and was shudders at low idle >500rpm. Headed to O’rileys to get a gap gauge, here’s pics of the plugs re plugged. The first one is the front driver side cylinder which was an absolute bitch to get connected... still no check engine light

 

Here are the passenger side cylinders

 

Did you disconnect the battery at all? Try cleaning the throttle body? That idle is way too low

 

Yes I did the battery disconnect during the whole procedure so it was unplugged for about an hour. Haven’t cleaned the throttle body yet, the truck has an aftermarket intake and a throttle body spacer from previous owner I haven’t messed with it yet. I assume cleaning the throttle body involves hitting it with cleaner?

 

If you had the battery disconnected for replacing the spark plugs maybe you just need to take it out and drive the crap out of it for a bit to relearn the ECU.

Why would you disconnect the battery for spark plug replacement?

There is no power to the coils unless the truck is running.

 

Found a video online looks like I need a replacement gasket as well, I’ll have to check with O’rileys see if they have one. My idle has been a little low lately but it’ll usually sit around 700 rpm prior to any of this tomfoolery