Spanner light
Q This 2004 Vauxhall Corsa Z14XE automatic with 65,000 miles has been my wife’s car for a few years with no problems. About a week ago, the yellow ‘car with spanner ‘ light came on, but no problems were evident. It came and went at different intervals.
Two days ago, she came back from a shopping trip to say it was not running right and another light was now on. It was the engine management light. I checked it on my Maxiscan MS509 and fault P0353 Ignition coil 3 primary/secondary circuit malfunction, was showing and cleared, only to return on running the engine for 20 seconds.
I bought new coils (all four in one piece on this engine) and new spark plugs and all fitted. Fault light and misfire still there!
Thought I could use my Foxwell NT624 to clear it, but although initially the screen showed DTC on, when I went to next screen to clear it, foxwell showed no fault, even though light was on dashboard.
Went back to MS509 and that cleared it, but still came back after 20 seconds of engine running. Car starts easily, but misfire there.
I wanted to check the wires/plug into the ignition module but not sure how to do it on this set-up. I believe the ECU is on the nearside end of engine but have no diagram to check resistance of the wires from ECU to ignition module.
The only other issue that maybe relevant is leak of water when it rains behind the dashboard. It has recently got worse, resulting in a puddle on the offside of the car front to back. I also noticed that some of the pixels on the dash display were disappearing. Most of the water now removed and pixels now all OK. Is there a module under the dashboard that could cause this problem?
What steps would you recommend, assuming the HAAS made coils are new and OK, and NGK spark plugs are ones listed for this car by Euro Car Parts. Is it possible to check connections on coil 3 on this set-up?
Roger Gibbs
The fault code P0353 does indicate a fault in the Ignition coil C, primary/secondary circuit. This may though be in the ECU as opposed to the coil pack.
There are tests that you can carry out to check the signal from the ECU and these are details as follows by Autodata:
The first test is to check the supply voltage to the coil, this should be between 11V-12V and is checked using a multimeter between terminal F and earth. As the vehicle does run I would not suspect that you would find a fault in this area.
The next tests will determine if the coil is receiving a signal and should normally be done using an LED test light. Before starting this test the injector harness multi-plug should be disconnected to prevent excess fuel entering and damaging the catalytic convertor.
To test number one cylinder the test light should be set between terminals C (black-red wire) and F (black wire) and when the engine is cranked the light should flash evenly. For number two cylinder the light should be set between terminals B (black and white wire) and F (black wire), for number three cylinder the light should be set between A (blackyellow wire) and F (black wire) and for number four cylinder D (black and blue wire) and F (black wire).
If the signal is not present on any of the tests this would indicate that either the ECU is faulty or the cable between the ECU and the plug is faulty. Using an Ohm meter, the continuity between the ECU connector and coil plug should be tested first.
The terminal numbers on the engine control module are number 33 & 49 = C, 1 & 17 = A, 2 & 18 = B, 34 & 50 = D.
If the continuity of the cable proves good, then the ECU should be sent for testing. The ECU is located in the engine bay to the rear of the engine above the gearbox.
Although not ideal it is unlikely that the water leak you have behind the dash will be causing your present problem.