2006 aveo repeated coil pack failures

[rrb6699]

I've replaced 4 coil packs on my 2006 aveo. they seem to last 6-8mos then fail again. car does not overheat. bad design? what could cause this repeated failure? how to prevent?

[Eg.h2o]

GM coil packs, or cheap eBay/China coil packs? Cheap ones don’t last long.

[rrb6699]

I agree. it's hard to say. they're from autozone. tried the rock auto cheepies once. just once.

[Eg.h2o]

If you want to do this on the cheap, go to a pick and pull junkyard and pull 2-3. They’re probably OEM, and you’ll have a lifetime supply.

[rrb6699]

I found packs w/lifetime warranty. haven't been paying for any since the first one.
I'm trying to figure out the cause though. it's always been the 2-3 coil that fails.
I discovered that my valve cover gasket needs replacing while changing spark plug wires. AND that I did change the plug wires last time it failed.
so, trying to get to root cause.

[avguy]

I don't recall anything like this ever posted on the forum before, and neither factory coil pack on our Aveos have given it up either, so your situation is a first for me for this vehicle.

How are you determining that the coil packs fail (particularly the factory part)? Misfire, testing the pack, something else?

[rrb6699]

apologies. the code that gets thrown is cyl 3 misfire. but, actually it's the entire half of the coil pack 1 & 3. I guess the first misfire seems to be 3 every time because that half of the pack fails. .

while I was driving a big loss of power happens. you know what a motor running on half of its cylinders sounds like. it's like rpms are still the same, but,the engine never "revs" higher through the gears sound-wise. so you have to actually drive in lower gear than normal to keep enough power to keep going.

I just replaced all plug wires and coil packs 3 days ago for the 4th time. somehow I got packs with a lifetime warranty at autozone so they get replaced free. (I think it odd to have lifetime warranty on electrical parts but not arguing.)

to me it's a design flaw(coil pack on top drivers side of engine) thus it is exposed to excessive heat. or, there's some electrical issue that just reduces the life of that one side of the coil pack.

I don't know why the coil pack has cylinder numbers unless ecm needs it. seems to me a coil is a single function component and just steps up voltage, so, could you just plug it in any order right? I didn't do that - just a question. if the answer IS yes, then if I swapped coil wiring then the 1, 4 side should go next time instead of 2, 3 that has always failed.

that would eliminate (some) heat as a root cause, but, I still think heat contributes to the issue and mean it's an electrical issue that is causing the problem that feeds power to the coil.

[JB_Fraser]

You cannot swap 1&4 with 2&3 on the coil module or else you will be firing on intake and power as opposed to compression and exhaust, unless you were to swap the timing signals on the primary. Suppose you could make up an in-between connector to do this but could be quite ‘messy’.

I’ll re ask Avguy’s question, how did you test the coil to determine it was bad?
Did they all have the same failure?
Likely you primary side is OK , and you are experiencing failures on the high tension secondary.
You will need to test the resistance of the defunct coil pack and narrow it down from there. If all your measurements have the correct impedance then you may be having an insulation breakdown on the coil itself, which can be caused ‘as you indicated’ by heat but as well a bad plug cable or plug itself.
Remember , once the energy is created in the secondary it will find a path , if the plug or wire doesn’t provide this then something else will get compromised and it could just be a diminishing spark on your 2&3 secondary.

hope that makes sense,
Cheers

[rrb6699]

I didn't check impedance on the failed coil. had to turn it in to get replacement and just replaced it. car runs fine now after replacing the pack. fixed problem but, does not reveal the cause.

the failure always hits the 2, 3 side when these coil packs have failed. even through 2 sets of plug wires and 1 set of plugs.

rr

[JB_Fraser]

If you have another failure , I would check the coil on the primary (Center tapped coil, 1-2 ohm) and the coils on the secondary (two isolated coils (1&4) (2&3) around 10K Ohms +) and infinity between these two pairs.
If this all checks out, it’s possible there is a breakdown of the insulating material or even a hairline fracture on the housing.

Things you can do to prevent failure:
Replace the plug wires on the (2&3) coil (I think you just did this).
Try using Iridium Plugs (should hold your proper gap longer)
Check your plug gaps on occasion.
The mounting studs on the engine for the coil pack should allow it to be installed quite easily, if this is not the case then the heating and cooling cycles will stress the housing of the coil pack.

If you still believe it to be a heat issue, you could put some standoffs on the mounting studs and give yourself a bit of an air gap between the coil and engine.
These packs do create a lot of heat on their own as well compared to an individual coil system.


Good Luck going forward, hope this helps
Cheers