Well I decided to tackle the ignition upgrade and am not sure what I screwed up. The car was pretty much running just fine but I thought I'd try a DLI II and some new spark plugs. I pulled the old ones (stock I think bought car used) and they were clean. I put in BP8ES gapped to 28 because I thought I could get away with it with the DLI.

So I hook up the new plugs/DLI and the idle was rougher. I pull it out of the garage and a block up the street gently and it just gets worse and worse. Spitting black smoke on restart after a couple stalls. I fight it back in the garage and pull the plugs. Burnt black all over. So I pull the BP8ES and put the stockers in...I leave the DLI hooked up. Not much better. (didn't check the plugs)

Then I pull the DLI and go back to the original (running GREAT an hour ago) ignition. It now barely runs. And I pull the stockers and BURNT BLACK.

Please tell me I didn't just ruin something huge. I'm pretty scared. I don't know if the DLI caused the burn but before I buy new plugs and try to go back to stock I want to ask you guys.

Did I fry my coils? What is this a symptom of? For now, I have no car!

I am running AEM EMS and all the bolt ons including cams. It idled fine before, but I thought it a bit rich and hoped the DLI would smooth things out. Please advise. The fact that I went back to stock and its still broken scares me!

 

check your fuses. you may have a blown one. you can try resetting the ecu. what it looks like is you hooked up a dli with a standalone without changing the dwell settings to something like cdi. this may have sent too much voltage to the coils and fried them. this would explain the horrible idle and black plugs. try pulling the plug and having a fried crank the car to see if there is spark.

as far as the compatiblility of the aem with the dli, you'll have to talk to the guys that run the aem ems. i'm not positive on what they had to do. i just know the xs engineering guys don't recommend running their igntion with a standalone without changing the dwell cause it can cause issues. good luck.

 

Update. Pulled coils/wires. Had friend crank car and saw 4 sparks ticking out of my old (perfectly fine earlier) spark plugs. This means the coils are OK, right? So now my car is barely running, blacking out plugs but why?

 

I'm running an hks dli2 on my stand alone without changing the dwell settings without any issues.

 

With the DLI II it is very important to have a good ground. There is a chance that you fried the coil packs by hooking up the DLI incorrectly, though it's a long shot bc the DLI install is not exactly complicated.

I would say to check to make sure you put the plug wires back in right, but the Evo is pretty fool-proof there.

Make sure to thoroughly inspect all the wires and connectors on all the plugs you just disconnected to install the DLI. One of them may have been loose and you touching it could have dislodged it. Check your boots too. If one of them is cracked or torn, it could be shorting out on the head. Also check inside the head for evidence of arcing.

Also, I assume your gap was 0.028" right? You just said 28, and some people don't know what that means and wind up with an incorrect plug gap.

All of these suggestions are basic, and most are long shots, but since I wasn't there when you installed it, that is all I can offer.

Good luck.

 

Is it possible for plugs to get so carbon/black/sooty (in just a minute) that they no longer work properly? If I see the sparks coming off them does that mean they're ok or should I try a new set of plugs? Looking back, when I put the stockers back in I didn't tighten down the boots enough so they might have not fully fired off, got super rich and burned black.

Still not sure what the DLI and BP8ES' had to do with all this. All I can think of is that the colder plugs were just too cold to burn off the fuel and the car ran far too rich. Then when I put the stockers back in the loose connection blacked them out too.

I'm hoping to get a set of BP7ES, gap them down to 23ish and see if the thing will even start. Right now I can't even get it to turn over for longer than a second.

Is there any major engine damage I could have done when experimenting with the cold plugs/DLI II?

 

if your plugs fire then you're making current. that means your plugs and coils are still firing.

if your running too rich then taht means you're not burning the fuel.

why did you go colder on the plugs... you go hotter on plugs after you do an ignition upgrade...

 

I was installing alky soon and was advised to use br8es gapped to .028. I suppose I should have left well enough alone. BR7 to 8 is a step colder correct?


I just wonder why I can't restore stock config and have it run fine. Is there anything else I could have damaged? Engine internals from misfiring? Detonation issues? (I only went to low rpms and never even boosted).

 

Diffently sounds like you have an electrictal gremlin somewhere but this may or may not be true. But just to be sure I would check the engine crank and cam gears to be sure they are all still positioned at TDC. If that is good I would then next start testing connections, just seems alittle weird that you can't go back without the issue. Something else may of happened at the time of your change over. As for advice I always use a BP (BPR7ES, BPR8ES) type plug so it is a protruding tip for the best position and burn.

Just my .02, good luck

 

Check that your plug wires are going to the right cylinders.

 

Yeah I agree with Zeus, it sounds like you either have a terrible connection in a few of the plug boots (poorly seated) or the plug wires aren't hooked up right, or mixed up..

Two center plugs are the inside coil, the outer coil are the outside plugs.. Not easy to mix it up, but its possible.. It really just sounds like your not making good contact on the boots or plug wires..

 

Oh also, do you have a Check engine light? If you do, check to make sure the O2 sensor plug to the left of the coils under the plug cover is plugged in good, and the crank sensor, the wire running over the valve cover in that well, plugs in just next to the PCV valve, is plugged in good.. check the cam angle sensor, grey roundish thing with a plug in the lower right corner of your valvecover, finally, check for a vacuum leak, did you inadvertantly disconnect the vacuum line to something while doing everything and forget to put it back??

These are **ALL** things that will cause the symptoms you describe..

 

Thanks I'll double check these things. Does AEM EMS throw CELs? Times like this I wish I still ran stock ECU. But with the cams and speed density conversion I can't even hook it up to check...

 

Better to destroy my technical credibility than my engine. My coils WERE REVERSED. I'm an idiot but thanks to you guys I'm learning fast.

Should I go ahead and put in those BP8ES gapped to 28 with the DLI now?

I'm running 272s, aem ems and all the bolt ons. I have a tune next week for SMC Alky. I thought I did my homework and decided on these plugs, but now I'm not sure. Maybe I should just let my tuner decide at TorqueFreaks Portland. I suppose it can't hurt anything to at least install the DLI now.

Thanks again Malibu, Zeus and everyone else for your time. I now have a car again!

 

Cold plugs are good, especially when you have a CDI ignition for low RPM.. cold plugs foul like mad and misfire without a good ignition system at low RPM.. A majority of the ugliness you experienced was due to the coils being reversed.. Clean them and re-gap them.. they should run alot better.