Weak Spark From One Coil (Waste Spark Coil Assembly)

The vehicle being tested is a 2006 Suzuki Forenza, but the techniques shown in this video can be applied to ALL waste spark ignition systems. For more on "control testing" watch the following videos:
• No Spark Diagnostics "...
• No Spark Diagnostics "...
ScannerDanner Tools:
www.scannerdanner.com/tools.html
www.amazon.com/shop/scannerda...
For more information on this topic, I have written a “field manual” called Engine Performance Diagnostics which is available at www.scannerdanner.com as an eBook or paper book.
Want even more diagnostic training? Whether you are a DIY trying to fix your own car, someone looking to become an auto technician, or a current auto technician that wants to get more into diagnostics, subscribe to ScannerDanner Premium www.scannerdanner.com/join-sc... There is a 14 day free trial.
On ScannerDanner Premium I will bring you right into my classroom at Rosedale Technical College. You will find page for page lectures taken right from my book as well as exclusive classroom type case studies. What is so special about these classroom case studies? I pull live problem vehicles directly into my classroom and we troubleshoot them in real time, using and applying the theory and testing procedures we learn during the classroom lectures. There is no better on-line training of how to troubleshoot automotive electrical and electronics systems anywhere!
Disclaimer:
Due to factors beyond the control of ScannerDanner LLC, it cannot guarantee against unauthorized modifications of this information, or improper use of this information. ScannerDanner LLC assumes no liability for property damage or injury incurred as a result of any of the information contained in this video. ScannerDanner LLC recommends safe practices when working with power tools, automotive lifts, lifting tools, jack stands, electrical equipment, blunt instruments, chemicals, lubricants, or any other tools or equipment seen or implied in this video. Due to factors beyond the control of ScannerDanner LLC, no information contained in this video shall create any express or implied warranty or guarantee of any particular result. Any injury, damage or loss that may result from improper use of these tools, equipment, or the information contained in this video is the sole responsibility of the user and not ScannerDanner LLC.

[@oldskoolfunk71]

I just fixed a misfire yesterday, the #1 spark plug well was filled with oil. You are the man Paul, your knowledge is Boss status Thank you and your brother for your time and the amount of energy you guys spend in bringing us great content.

[@amybarr5054]

The UK really needs more techs/teachers like you dude. Pick up so much from all your videos thanks for posting.

[@fascistpedant758]

LOL man! Four shops to find a bad coil?!? Thanks for the vid.

[@misterhandy5121]

Holy Cow Batman , I am surprised you didn't pull out the Pico lol I would have lost if i bet on it , great job once again Paul and great job caleb !!! thanks Danner !!! Keep teaching and we will follow !!!! People if you are not yet a member, Do yourself a favor, go sign up for ScannerDanner Premium , you will love it!!!! Paul For President!!!

[@ScannerDanner]

Thank so much man

[@arthurfricchione8119]

Paul, another good video.Thanks to all three of you for taking the time to teach us DIYers. Much appreciated. Wish I lived closer would love to work in your brother's shop. Thanks guys Artie 👍👍👍

[@rp5029]

Your attention to detail is second to none. Much respect and thanks for another great video.

[@CaptainNero]

Experience pays off. Thank you for the excellent video and explanation.

[@NGAAutoTV]

Your videos never get old or boring. There is always something to learn! Great case study in this one!

[@lembochiproductions6957]

I sure miss the days where I was sitting in class studying automotive technology even your videos bring back those memories where I took in whatever I can learn and even doing the hands on work made the classes I took fun. Even watching your videos and watching EricTheCarGuy and such sure helps me learn a lot.

[@billyyoder8171]

Thank you Dos Danners' and Caleb. Good job. Have a blessed and safe week.

[@roadkill5333]

That was TRES DANNERS!! Caleb gets to claim royalty also!! Although, he's not as pretty as Danner and Paul!! Lol

[@abonourabonour1006]

You are the best. since I knew your channel I spend with it my best time. learning from you makes me happy thank you

[@peterotieno5365]

Peter from kenya great lesson learned your my number one youtube teacher.I pray GOD give more more days so that we can still learn more from you .God bles you, Caleb and your family.

[@elchuy323la]

Hola Danner Bros.. thanks for the great info you give us...its amazing how much info you have in your . human pcm../brain /

[@MeFixingEverything]

In the summer I fixed my AC with your videos. Thanks again. Best wishes from East Europe.

[@jmc6940]

Great video, thank you for sharing. This is extremely high quality content that only 1 % of technician truly know and understand. You would be hard pressed to find a shop anywhere that could do it and teach it this good.

[@ScannerDanner]

Thanks so much Justin

[@arm2644]

Thank you for illuminating my path. That is exactly the symptoms of my coil pack and the misfire on my car that is triggering the "Depollution system Faulty" because the misfire due a week coil pack is not burning the fuel/air mixture as it should. Thanks

[@timothyball3144]

Paul, you spark test method showed me a bad pack on a Ranger one time, then the bad new one a few weeks later. Returned it to NAPA and bought OEM. Thank You! Yes, loose sparks make boom. Had a tractor flooding. Pulled the plugs and cranked to clear the fuel out. The second crank sparked and lit the fuel. No one hurt, nothing damaged, but there were a few exciting moments!

[@josedejesusvelazquez6863]

I would say, this was a beautifully executed and documented diagnosis, good for you Danner and Caleb of course. Best regards from Tijuana 🇲🇽👍👍👍

[@BasicPoke]

Really good info and insight, thanks. Keep up the good work helping us learn how things work. Trying to determine whether a motorcycle has a weak spark, and this was helpful.

[@weldingjunkie]

Paul I’m sure I don’t need to tell you but your brother is just a straight up good guy. We need more people like him. Reminds me of me and mine. We are 2 years apart. I love the fact that we get videos out of it even if he’s being modest. Thanks for sharing ... Jay

[@jnobody8918]

Hi Paul, thanks for this very helpful video. I had a Ford Fiësta here in The Netherlands that over the months started misfired during accelerating. You're video did put me in the direction of a leaking/shorting waste spark ignition coilpack. Exchanged it and the car runs now better than it did during the last few years. Thank you very much it was very helpful and I learned quite a lot of this !!!!

[@ScannerDanner]

Glad it helped

[@wyattoneable]

200,000 subs looks good on you Paul. Your passion for teaching and finding faults is infectious . I always attack my own projects with renewed vigor after watching your videos.

[@ScannerDanner]

Thanks Wyatt!

[@bigdaddymak1439]

Great job Paul as usual! Caleb just remember Honda doesn't have a clear flood mode!! Great work both of you!! God bless!

[@spelunkerd]

What a great channel. That explanation for fuel fouled plugs is brilliant.

[@crazyDIYguy]

Love his style of teaching/explaining. Awesome 👍😎

[@donniejohnson7499]

Paul Danner and brother. I sure enjoy watching y'all work together. I agree seen bad coil wires take out ignition coils. would be so cool to work with y'all. but disabled. awesome video.

[@laohantun7404]

Thanks mate.....depth of knowledge you have is amazing.....God bless you even more...

[@macknumber9]

This is a great way to find an idle issue that isn't smooth. You don't have to have a misfire code...it takes a decent amount of misfires to trip a code. You can simply and quickly test the gap that each coil can produce and find the relationship between them. If they are way off replace the coil because the power balance of the engine is way off. Learned a lot from this video.

[@tonistarks2874]

Bro, I'm diagnosing a car in the shop and it's showing the same problem.thank you so much for explaining the spark plug to the fuel injector dumping gas.thats what I needed to know and it did cross my mind in the beginning on a coil pack problem n spark plugs change😁👍🏽

[@ScannerDanner]

Glad it helped

[@fire7765]

Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience.

[@1977jelliott]

When you see a cylinder 1 and 4 misfire code and you are instantly steps ahead in the reasoning for the vehicle having had the cat convertor replacement..... Great vid, Paul.

[@luismarty1685]

Thanks Paul. Repetition is the best teacher.😁

[@bouncingsoul777]

I just found this guys videos. He does some excellent stuff. Just subscribed 👍

[@ScannerDanner]

Thank you and welcome!

[@JohnSmith-xx1lx]

The beginning was a hands down winner thumbs up! 🤠

[@stephenmarshall5302]

cant be easy for danner to have a brother that is scanner danner in terms of being compared, he handles it really well and has the respect of all of us out there. really enjoy all the videos not just for the content but the chat and passion that comes through. long may the videos continue 👍🤜

[@ScannerDanner]

Danner is actually smarter than me and he knows it, that's how :-) I can't Express enough how much I love being at my brothers shop now. I love him so much man.

[@wysetech2000]

James is a pretty smart guy himself. I really enjoyed his video's.

[@macknumber9]

@@ScannerDanner how old are you guys? Just out of curiosity

[@ScannerDanner]

@@macknumber9 my brother is 50 and I'm 49 🙂

[@SmittySmithsonite]

I never had one explode on me ... but I did get mad one time working on my '79 Mercury Capri 4-banger turbo (ignition problem) when I was 20, and put the handle of my hammer right through the top of the battery in anger. The acid splashed up all over me, my face, and got in my eyes. Luckily it was winter - just grabbed a handful of snow and rubbed the crap out of my face and eyes - got it before it even started burning, thankfully! Cat-like reflexes at that age! My clothes, however didn't fare so well, as you can imagine, LOL! When they came out of the wash, they looked like I stood in front of 10 shotguns loaded with #8 at close range. Mom wasn't too happy about that one ... 🤣 Learned a valuable lesson (a couple, actually) that day!! Great lesson, Paul, great filming, Caleb, and always great to see Danner - still so happy for you guys about that shop there! The Lord never ceases to amaze. 😎🍻

[@alaautotonics4403]

thanks for these amazing videos and info !!! God bless you bro

[@toppledgod]

There's always something to learn with Danner, I was absolutely convinced that ANY spark was a good spark, I wouldn't have even entertained a present but weak spark as being a problem. The thing that changed my mind is the draw of the gest light weakening the spark further and enhancing the misfire. Further to this and something that was either unnoticed or not mentioned in the video was that when the spark gap of the weak coil was being tested the draw of the spark weakend the sister spark and enhanced the misfire pro ing the theory. Again good work Paul.

[@ScannerDanner]

That is correct, when you have an open on one side of a waste spark system it will affect the companion cylinder as well. Thank you!

[@jatinduggal584]

Thanks for very detailed tech video

[@EliTheOBDTech]

Mr. ScannerDanner good video content as always.

[@bartscave]

Caleb! Again, you need to edit some of these like a laurel and hardy spoof film! You’re doing an awesome job!

[@ScannerDanner]

he really is! I'm super proud of him

[@David-yh5po]

Thanks for the great info.

[@bokhalomuj6890]

the best teacher everything shows very well :)

[@dougs317]

Very helpful info. Thank you

[@nancylewis7142]

Thanks a lot, for all this information, SD

[@LUISREY1995]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge !! 🙏

[@scuba422123]

good to see both you bros together!

[@MechanicTechnicianRepair]

Exselete diagnostic amigo. Nice video

[@navigatorx1013]

Good demo and explanation.

[@islam_peace786]

Thanks sir for such a great video again.

[@johnbladykas4454]

Every video is better than the last but they are all great

[@manuelamaya826]

Congratulations from Colombia, Thanks for all videos, You are very much teacher, dont not atachment the tester in the batery in the future.

[@15205golfer]

very smart man, Mr. Danner

[@tonypond8196]

sweet video , some nice testing methods here .

[@sundayhonour5915]

Thank you sir. May God bless you richly

[@yaseenhashim8538]

thanks scannerdanne really awesome

[@allanhongemail]

great video as always.

[@seaox2109]

I love how honest and humble you are! I need a scanner to troubleshoot drive ability issues. Would you recommend the Launch, Autel, or an OTC? Thank you!

[@ScannerDanner]

Not a fan of the launch but to be fair I've only seen the ones listed for $500 and under. Those are garbage.

[@ivandrago2557]

Again you really do so much effort, deserve at least 1 milion subscribers. Can you make video about gasoline direct injection injector waveform. Thanks for everything

[@ScannerDanner]

I have some GDI injection operation and testing available on SD Premium, but I am sure down the road you'll see some case studies here on GDI systems too

[@ivandrago2557]

@@ScannerDanner Thanks on Euro cars all new one have gdi systems. I looked on the internet and there aren't a lot of information, if I undrestood they are not classic power or ground side switches. They switch each other and voltage is much higher

[@rplayer9969]

As usual, a great video.

[@JOHNPHUFNAGEL]

Hey Paul the funny thing about waste spark systems is when you get bit, its a double whammy! compared to a regular coil. I was working on my daughters car checking spark at the coils and it had leaking wires and I didn't know it.. LOL I couldn't get away fast enough before I got hit about 20 times, and my dumb ass did it twice!!

[@ricardogutierrez3367]

Thanks Boss for the information

[@amrodawod1776]

Work more than wonderful

[@konstantinusstoyanov9749]

You guys are great, thanks

[@davidmoss9471]

Danner diagostics must definately be sinking in. Sat at home supping a cold one whilst enjoying the show. You throw the amp clamp on it and even though it was inverted i saw the pattern real quick and said to myself "that ramp isnt right, it shouldnt look like that" :) I hear those famous words in my head "you're done, throw a coil in it"

[@attilakohbor3360]

Great , thanks Paul .

[@terrancegrant1664]

You two are funny! Keep up the good work.

[@Pablo_Automotive]

Thank family Danner ☺🔧👌👍

[@paulelscey2465]

Great video. As are all your video's I have watched so far very informative and very useful to me as iam in the trade .I have to ask I was always told you should not pull ht leads of while engine is running as you can get a nasty shock is this not the case as you pulled them of with out get a shock.

[@sparkyobrian1383]

this, is a GREAT video , lol. and good info too :D

[@CarNRadio1]

Great video as allways.

[@fredflintstone8048]

"Let me talk for a minute"?? I defy anyone to try and stop our brother Paul from talking... Just kidding. I for one am grateful for his talking. I've learned a lot. :-)

[@patrickl6866]

Another good video, as usual. By the way, I believe the reason yo were only seeing the bad coil trace rather than an alternating good/bad is that the shorted coil had a faster current ramp, therefore tripped the trigger level before the other (good) coil trace could trip it every time.

[@ScannerDanner]

Best explanation yet but they still alternate and that trigger level was set to a point where both crossed it. Unless there is an internal clock on the sampling that has a delay before it actually draws the waveform??

[@patrickl6866]

@@ScannerDanner . That's a good question. My answer assumes it was set up for a single trigger and it catches the 1st one that crosses the trigger level in time (which is the bad coil due to it hitting the current level quicker/steeper ramp).

[@bobdelaplage690]

Thanks brother!

[@cocinandolamecanica]

very good job colleague !! I admire your videos and the effort you make to teach everyone ... especially those parts changers technicians. Greetings from Quebec Canada !! and greetings from my channel in Spanish "cocinando la mecánica " 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

[@neutrodyne]

Thanks for a very detailed video. When you first checked the coil and found you had a weak spark my first thought was what about the spark plug or spark plug wire on the other end of the coil. Since pulling one wire out of the coil and checking the spark you still have another spark plug and wire in its secondary circuit. Couldn't you have simply grounded one side of the coil and then checked the spark on the other end of the coil? If you had a good spark at that time then you would know the problem is in the plugs and wires. If the spark was still weak them you would know that it was a bad coil or a bad coil drive circuit. What are your thoughts on my logic?

[@user-io3hw7hx7q]

Awesome outstanding job have a great time thanks

[@ScannerDanner]

My new FB friend :-)

[@hanfootball1367]

You're guys awesome

[@benjaminlevi7792]

Good info thank you

[@rbbbjl1]

Bit of a control freak, Paul! Your still a good teacher!

[@ScannerDanner]

Why because I want my brother in the shot when he's talking? Lol whatever

[@markferraro5250]

nice video thanks SD

[@gauges-n-gasoline]

Nice 👍🏼 great video

[@Watchyn_Yarwood]

In my much younger days, I was trying to jump start a fork lift and blew up the battery in my face. Like you, my ears rang for a couple of days.

[@ScannerDanner]

Scary stuff man for sure

[@JaredHIll13]

I want that job so bad... Id have to move from Iowa tho ☹. The dealer i tech at promised futher training and after a year still nothin, i havent even got a GM tech number to sign into the comp. system..... So I learn from these vids and SDs book (better info anyways) By the way Paul the old timer in the bay next to me thinks ur book is excellent and hes been in the field since the early 70s. Ive even impressed him a few times with your diag methods🤙

[@ScannerDanner]

Awesome! Thank you

[@roadkill5333]

Even Warren, over at "WESTERN TRUCK AND TRACTOR REPAIR" KZbin channel, gives praise to your book and your instruction!! And he is a mobile diesel and farm equipment repair guy!! Ain't too many lessons in your books, describing how to pull a 150lb belly pan, out of a D8 dozier, in order to get the hydraulic hose out, while laying on your back in the Forrest, watching for bears!!

[@tnamen1307]

@@ScannerDanner Sir, my i20 1.2 petrol has exactly the same coil pack layout as in 7.27 time. One coil pack has cylinder number 1 and 4, and the other has 2 and 3. Each coil pack is controlled by 2 wires each which means each secondary circuits are controlled by individual primary coil circuit. Now, there's less spark coming from the one high tower of first coil pack and same is happening in the second coil pack too. I checked for resistances reading of the secondary and primary circuit individually in both of the coil packs. They gave same readings about 14k in secondary circuits when tested with multimeter from one tower to another of the same coil pack. I wonder why such less spark is produced on one tower within the same coil pack where the 2 towers are controlled by the same primary coil circuit???? If one is showing less spark, why the same less spark is not produced in the other tower of the same coil? Please do really help me find solutions!! Have been struggling to find solutions but not succeed yet......Awaiting your utmost service.. thanks.

[@throttlebottle5906]

one thing to add, on the double spark plug shared coils. bad plugs and wires can cause weak spark when testing, since it's using the other wire and plug as the ground path on other post. so bad wire end or high resistance from broken down wire can cause it to look weak when testing. I resistance test the plug wires first or use a known good wire and plug for the other side temporarily

[@ScannerDanner]

Think about this my friend, you are correct to a point, but an open plug or wire would NOT cause the spark to be weak on both sides of the coil! You would have to have BOTH plugs and or wires open for this to happen and that doesn't ever happen. This was a valid test and the only variable here was the dwell time issue I mentioned.

[@James-fs4rn]

👍 thanks for sharing!

[@dastanprobg2071]

Hello from Kazakhstan, I wish all people have same passion as you for the thing they are doing.

[@georgebonney90]

Thank u gentlemen 👍

[@feeneysmechanical6215]

Great video Paul and James. I see Clark has left the shop. Did Nick ever come back?

[@ScannerDanner]

No, but Danner just hired a guy so he should be good for a little while

[@rajushaikh9045]

Thank u for sharing your knowledge pls share about oscilloscope hantek, do you have?

[@ScannerDanner]

sorry, I do not have a hantek scope

[@mandycole21]

Well another great video as always and I've got a question on that waveform at the top of it will it always have a tail like that or was that mainly bc of it showing as open signal???

[@ScannerDanner]

sometimes that tail can be induced by having the amp clamp too close to the coil housing. I believe that is why we were seeing the large tails but a large tail can also indicate an open plug or wire

[@mightymagnum8811]

I have a question. When carrying out such spark gap jumping tests, (on let's say a perfectly good coil), when the gap is increased until the spark no longer jumps, doesn't that immediately cause coil damage which had not been there before? Surely even just one spark that finds no easy part to ground is going to bore a channel through the coils internal insulation to reach the opposite end of the coil winding internally, and thereby initiate a channel of weak insulation which will eventually come back as a damaged coil customer, once some other factor put the ignition coil insulation under high load. I do this jump test myself, but I always try not to provide a gap larger than 10mm, lest when I do, the spark can't jump the gap and coil insulation is immediately damaged with even just one spark that can't reach ground. I realise the damage might not be apparent immediately, but I can't see how damage is not occurring. That enegy has to be going somewhere, so the only place I know of is a direct internal short, breaking down the internal insulation? This is only my assumption, so the question is, can anyone give a scientific answer as to why even just one internal shorted spark doesn't do damage? Thanks

[@sam2007yes]

Hi,Thanks for posting such a wonderful and educative video,i have 2007 Ford Explorer giving code code P302 Cylinder 2 misfire,checked found no spark in 2nd ignition coil.Pl suggest should i change the ignition coil.

[@ScannerDanner]

Check it for control first. These coils will short out and take out the computer driver for that coil. Easiest way is to swap coils and see if there is now spark on the circuit that it is currently missing on.

[@user-mg2vl5wb1f]

Thank you for best friends

[@Bige4u]

Surprising... the underhood layout of that 2006 Suzuki Forenza is strikingly similar to the 2009 Chevrolet Aveo ecotec engine and bay, but the aveo has a coil on plug cassette that runs down the center of the cylinder head instead of externally.

[@paulfiebke3909]

Good seen this one, how is your grandbaby doing? May God bless you and your family most of all may God bless America 🇺🇸

[@ScannerDanner]

she is doing great Paul, thank you!

[@Waldee84]

Good job Paul. Appreciate your effort. It's not in vain. Oh, and apologies accepted. 😉

[@tyford9571]

First, I want to say thank you for posting so many videos on youtube. I watch them often. Sometimes, just for fun and educational purposes. I have troubleshoot question now. I own a 1996 Ford Thunderbird LX 4.6L. Could you give me some direction on PO308 And PO301 codes? I also have a PO174 code, but I suspect it is related to the misfire codes. I replaced spark plugs, plug wires and coils are on the way. I used a spark tester on the tower 8, no spark. Then I switched the wire to another tower, there was spark. when I put another wire on tower 8, no spark again. I ruled out the new wires. But what else could cause the one tower 8 on the coil to not spark at all? Is the new coil sure to fix it? Before I finish here, I want you to know the parts were old that is the biggest reason for replacing all of them. Thanks to you, I'm on my way to not just throwing parts at a problem. Your teachings are well worth the time, and when I get my finances in order, I look forward to buying your book and subscribing to your paid channel. Thank a lot SD!

[@ScannerDanner]

This one you should watch kzbin.info/www/bejne/r2XVZoKZfbNogsk it has a bad coil driver in the ECM

[@mikesabin8568]

Looking for a tech as well. Its an epidemic

[@mikechiodetti4482]

You live dangerously with the test light under the spark plug wire insulator! I've been bitten enough to NOT mess with coil spark! I've seen Eric O do the same thing. Nice Job! Be Careful!

[@ScannerDanner]

It won't kill you. Just keep your distance if you have a pacemaker like my buddy Pete