Check Engine Light and TCS

TyraNSX said:

Tried the homemade stethoscope. Could hear all the front bank injectors clicking (sounds like a little woodpecker on a tin roof). Went for drive, ~4mi out got hesitation and codes again. Checked cyl 2, could hear injector clicking. Cleared codes, it kept coming back. So I'm stumped. Ignitor maybe or coil? Unlikely it's coil since moving coil didn't move misfire. Will try swapping coils again just to be safe.

Torn between maybe wasting money on an ignitor which might not even be the problem or going to dealer. An igniter is $243!!! Holy Crap!!!!

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So?

Argh!! Took car to dealer on Aug.2. Did not act up on way down. Got some gas. Did not act up for 2d at dealer. Did not act up on way home. They are chalking it up to bad gas & sitting too much. Will have to wait & see.

Sitting too much isn't good for us or cars. I guess if the problem turns out to be bad gas, that's a good thing. Going through all your diagnosis steps was the bad thing. For once I hope the dealer's right. No more miss = YEA!

Car might be fixed. Went to new Cars & Coffee on Aug. 20th. Was fine on way out, started acting up again on way back. Same codes (P1202, P1399). Went back to Crown Acura. Was lucky enough to speak the the NSX mechanic, Dave. He is very knowledgeable & experienced on NSXs. Explained to him how I had been checking coils. Turns out I was completely mistaken on the cylinder numbering pattern/layout. I must have totally misread a post on here somewhere. I was working on the front bank, cyl 2 is on rear bank. DOH!!!

On Monday he checked the car and swapped coils on cyl 2 & 3. Got a P1203. I have since got a new coil from Acura of Augusta for $96 (free shipping). Crown Acura parts (heavy crack users apparently :biggrin wanted $245 and came down to "only" $168. So Crown Acura service dept. is great. They didn't even charge me for this visit!! Parts dept., not so much. I have price checked parts with them several times & they are always 2-3x higher than any other Acura dealer.

For future posterity & to save someone else going on a wild goose chase I am attaching some pics showing the cylinder numbering/positioning & firing order. I made the Excel figure based off pdf pg. 55 (printed pg 5-11) of the '91 service manual download from Prime.

I have not driven the car since Aug 25th after installing the new coil but so far, so good.

How could you NOT drive the car after all that?

I am having simiar problems. To test coils, remove coil cover, unbolt coil, take out and plug in upside down. Next get a 12 light tester and clip lead on any ground. Start up car and run test tip where rubber boot meets plastic neck of coil. If you can get spark out of the side it's a bad coil. I had brand new ones fail on me! Acura took them back but this is a notoriuos problem. My next problem after replacing three bad coils was the igniter on lower bank. When the car is cold there are no issues but once warmed up (5 min on highway) No power and stalling and hesitation on acceleration until 4K rpm. Check engine light and traction control lamp comes on. Codes P1201, P1202
P1203 and P1300 Random Misfire Misfire. When cold problem goes away. The igniter is $500 or so. Went to local pick a part Ecology auto recycling (Foreign yard in Otay Mesa) and picked up two used OEM ones for $12. The Acura part is universal and used in all Acura 6 cylinder cars from 96 to 2005. found an 99 Acura TL and removed two to test out. Will get back with test results.

pgilliam1 said:

The injector still could be randomly misfiring. Most of the episodes I've read about where ignitors go out involve more than 1 cylinder and it's more randomly spread amoung them (doesn't mean it can't be though). If your misfire code is consistantly cylinder #2, I would concentrate my efforts on that cylinder. Move the spark plug, coil pack and injector (run the engine after each swap and check then reset the ECU codes) from #2 to #1 and see if the code changes. Also check the connection to the injector for looseness, cracks or bad/burnt insulation.
Good Luck - I hate to see anyone have to be subjected to dealership tactics.

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$12.00 for a used ignitor? Awesome!

No,

I got two of them for $12

kookoo4nsx said:

$12.00 for a used ignitor? Awesome!

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bring back from the dead

I am having a 96 Auto with errors 4,5,6 contribution balance fault P1204,1205,1206 and p1300 boost calibration

I have swapped everything , the plugs on 456 were black as night and 123 were mint.

put new sparks and new coil packs drove car and the brand new plugs were black again.

took cats off used test pipes still same error after 5 miles.

cant figure it out any ideas guys

Stevon said:

I am having simiar problems. To test coils, remove coil cover, unbolt coil, take out and plug in upside down. Next get a 12 light tester and clip lead on any ground. Start up car and run test tip where rubber boot meets plastic neck of coil. If you can get spark out of the side it's a bad coil. I had brand new ones fail on me! Acura took them back but this is a notoriuos problem. My next problem after replacing three bad coils was the igniter on lower bank. When the car is cold there are no issues but once warmed up (5 min on highway) No power and stalling and hesitation on acceleration until 4K rpm. Check engine light and traction control lamp comes on. Codes P1201, P1202
P1203 and P1300 Random Misfire Misfire. When cold problem goes away. The igniter is $500 or so. Went to local pick a part Ecology auto recycling (Foreign yard in Otay Mesa) and picked up two used OEM ones for $12. The Acura part is universal and used in all Acura 6 cylinder cars from 96 to 2005. found an 99 Acura TL and removed two to test out. Will get back with test results.

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Hi Stevon, I know this thread/ post is a bit old but I am currently experiencing the same exact codes and you explained the exact same symptoms my car is experiencing. I havent tested my coils yet, but I did replace all 6 spark plugs. I also purchased a used igniter as you suggested. The igniter should come in today or tomorrow. After replacing spark plugs im still having the no power/ stalling/ hesitation on acceleration. Im hoping after I replace the igniter it will solve my issues. Did the igniter solve your issue?