Hi folks,
It seems that The Time Hath Come. The S600 TT lost an entire cylinder bank last night. Check Engine light came on. I know what this feels like, because last year, I had to replace the voltage transformer when one side of it went kablooey. I let it cool down and started it up again. All 12 cylinders...at first. So far, so good. Then...the engine started running rough, as if a cylinder were misfiring. Then it got rougher. I gingerly limped it home this morning.
Got it on SDS soon as I got home. Yep, misfires, all right. This time, there were cylinders misfiring on both banks. Ah, well.
I have one of Clark's newly-remanufactured voltage transformer from v12icpack.com; this was installed last year. My spark plugs (NGK Iridium) and silicone boots (Beru OEM) were replaced a couple of years ago and have perhaps 8,000 to 9,000 miles on them.
Got both ignition coil packs off; it really isn't that hard to do. Did it without breaking the coolant circuit for the intercoolers, thanks to some bungee cords. All 24 silicone boots are intact, pliable like when they were new, and for the most part, still red. Not seeing any oil leaks, as I had also done the valve cover gaskets two years ago when I replaced the spark plugs.
The ignition packs appear to have been made in 2009. The car just clicked over 175,000 miles, so it looks like it would be right about time to have 'em replaced.
Got an order into Clark at v12icpack for both ignition coil packs (this is for the "exchange"), so I'll be sending him my cores back. The other way to do it would've been to go to MBOemParts.com and get a couple of new ones for $1,102 each (free shipping), and for brand new ones, that is a pretty good deal. Rock Auto is currently out of stock on the new NGK-brand ones (I'd trust NGK as well as Temic). But watching Clark's video about the new ignition coils that he's having made for his business, this may be an even better ignition coil, longevity-wise, than the factory ones.
TL;DW: apparently the inner ferromagnetic cores corrode on the surface, contributing to the failure rate. Clark has new ones, using a new design for the core. We will see if my rebuilt packs have the new coils on 'em.
EDIT: this is one of the times when it's probably a good idea to disconnect the battery first.
It seems that The Time Hath Come. The S600 TT lost an entire cylinder bank last night. Check Engine light came on. I know what this feels like, because last year, I had to replace the voltage transformer when one side of it went kablooey. I let it cool down and started it up again. All 12 cylinders...at first. So far, so good. Then...the engine started running rough, as if a cylinder were misfiring. Then it got rougher. I gingerly limped it home this morning.
Got it on SDS soon as I got home. Yep, misfires, all right. This time, there were cylinders misfiring on both banks. Ah, well.
I have one of Clark's newly-remanufactured voltage transformer from v12icpack.com; this was installed last year. My spark plugs (NGK Iridium) and silicone boots (Beru OEM) were replaced a couple of years ago and have perhaps 8,000 to 9,000 miles on them.
Got both ignition coil packs off; it really isn't that hard to do. Did it without breaking the coolant circuit for the intercoolers, thanks to some bungee cords. All 24 silicone boots are intact, pliable like when they were new, and for the most part, still red. Not seeing any oil leaks, as I had also done the valve cover gaskets two years ago when I replaced the spark plugs.
The ignition packs appear to have been made in 2009. The car just clicked over 175,000 miles, so it looks like it would be right about time to have 'em replaced.
Got an order into Clark at v12icpack for both ignition coil packs (this is for the "exchange"), so I'll be sending him my cores back. The other way to do it would've been to go to MBOemParts.com and get a couple of new ones for $1,102 each (free shipping), and for brand new ones, that is a pretty good deal. Rock Auto is currently out of stock on the new NGK-brand ones (I'd trust NGK as well as Temic). But watching Clark's video about the new ignition coils that he's having made for his business, this may be an even better ignition coil, longevity-wise, than the factory ones.
TL;DW: apparently the inner ferromagnetic cores corrode on the surface, contributing to the failure rate. Clark has new ones, using a new design for the core. We will see if my rebuilt packs have the new coils on 'em.
EDIT: this is one of the times when it's probably a good idea to disconnect the battery first.