Looks like it wasn't the coil pack... so what's wrong with my car?! Please help!
 

Hey guys,

I recently posted this thread because a coil pack had melted and caused the car to run terribly: https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/ev...-oem-ones.html

In it, I explained that the car ('06 Evo IX MR with 13k miles) started to sputter during boost. I later stopped to do a photoshoot of the car and it shut off after about 15 minutes of idling. I started it up and it ran TERRIBLY but I managed to drive it home (about 10-15 miles) at around 20mph.

This is what the coil pack looked like: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...psbheiirho.jpg

Today I received a set of replacement coil packs from an Evo 8. I swapped over the boots and gave it a shot. The car ran exactly the same but we noticed that the coil pack for cylinder 1 and 4 (the one on the driver side of the car) got extremely hot within a minute or so of the car running. We also found that the replacement coil is not providing any spark (we tried 2 of them but neither provided spark and both got hot).

Both spark plugs for those cylinders were saturated with gas.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...psbiugy7g0.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...psahlq1lvm.jpg

We did a compression test on cylinders 1 and 4 and it came out to around 135, which seems normal, if not mistaken.

Can anyone give any sort of advice? Is it possible that this part is acting up? I think I remember people saying that they go bad somewhat frequently when i was originally searching for information.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...pseshwvyah.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...psiwvcq8f5.jpg

Any and all help is VERY greatly appreciated! :)

If you think the CID box is going out or over powering the coils and causing them to over heat best test is to just take out the CID box.

The biggest problem with trying to use used part to see what is going wrong is well it is used. But if this was me first i would get myself some NGK BP8ES plugs and gap them down to .24. Pulll the CID box and drive the car see how it is.

Never mind on the plugs i did not see it was an 9. Not sure what copper plugs you can run on a 9 if you can...

I have found no copper plugs that can be used on the IX :-(

I'd ditch that ignition box. Sounds like something is shorting or the resistance is bad. Something is causing the coils to melt.
From my experience, when anyone has an ignition problem, it's typically:
Turbo timer
Aftermarket alarm
Aftermarket coil/ignition box/etc.
In that order.

Ah, I tried disconnecting the box and it just wouldn't start. I reconnected it just to see if it'd still start with it and it backfired pretty loudly. Scary stuff! :crap:

A local is selling another one of these boxes for just $150. I think I'm gonna pick that up and try it. If it doesn't work, looks like it's gonna have to go to the shop. :(

there are lot of issue with the hks dli box on the internet. it is not as simple as disconnecting it. you probably need to wire it back to oem. then test again. the backfire is just probably excess gas when you initially tried starting it. Also, if i remember it right coils from an 8 and 9 are not interchangeable.

Yeah as ^ said the coil packs are different between and VIII and IX. The IX ones have some red sleeve thing whereas the VIII ones are all black. So for starters I'd try swapping on good known VIII coils. And ditch the HKS Twin Power. That could be causing your issues so keep things simple and go from there!

Ditch the box.

I have an VIII coil on my IX. I just swapped boots. I think the part numbers matched, but it's been a while, so I'm not sure. I have no issues, though, after three years of using it.

Thanks for all the replies, everyone. :)

We picked up a used HKS box today from an Evo shop in Long Island today. We swapped it in and unfortunately, it was no better. My dad decided to clean up the plugs with the air compressor just for the hell of it and when he was going to plug the harness back in to the coil pack that feeds cylinder 1 & 4, he noticed that the center of the harness was looking a little rough and maybe even melted. So he put the plugs back, and tried cleaning up the harness a bit. No luck.

But then he just unplugged the harness for the HKS box and just plugged the stock harnesses into the coil packs. We tried starting it up and now it runs perfectly!! :D

The car does have a standalone AEM ecu. Is it safe to run the car without the HKS box?

Again though, thank you all so much for the help!!

Those boxes are pretty much always junk.

OEM for lyfe. LOL

ditch the box and get a set of OEM coils for your car

^agreed! go oem or just use spoolinup.

I was thinking of possibly going with Spoolinup! I was wondering if they're any good or not though. They look kinda bootleg and the price seems to be too good to be true compared to other similar setups haha

i have heard the "new coil" option is good, but i had a bad experience with the "used coil" setup. car ran like crap and i've read of a couple others that have had the same issue. if you get one, you may wanna go with new coils.