In this entry, a short enumeration of the cases of the 6th cylinder failures. At this moment, the car has mileage of 400.000 km. The average speed is around 70 km/h.
Group misfires (symptoms: vibration, white smoke in the exhaust) occur in idle, after longer idling, or when starting the movement. Number of events: 10+. Characteristic conditions:
a. idle for the warmed-up engine; idling for 30+ minutes;
b. possibly – transition process from idle to increased RPM/load;
c. the outside temperature is not decisive (identical crashes have happened both in winter with 0 °C outside temperature and in summer with a temperature of 30 °C).
d. if the engine is restarted immediately as the vibration is felt, it restores correct functionality. If the engine is allowed to vibrate for 2+ minutes, even restarting will not help. After restarting, all cylinders are agonising. Then, only readaptation of the engine helps.
In the DME error message memory, the error messages regarding misfires of several cylinders and incorrect amounts of air are recorded. Usually, cylinder No.6 is mentioned in the list, but it’s not always identified as the first one.
Second group of crashes: without any symptoms (can be both in idle and on the go), the Check Engine is lit up, in NBT, the inscription regarding Drivetrain problems appears. Number of events: 4+. More detailed:
a. EML and inscription regarding Drivetrain problems without any symptoms previously;
b. the engine works on 5 cylinders, with increased vibration;
c. reduced power of the engine (the turbo is turned off);
d. after restarting the engine, normal performance is restored, typically – EML goes out.
In the DME error message memory, the error message regarding Combustion time is recorded, and as a consequence, the turbo is switched off.
You will ask – what was at fault in all these cases? The answer: ignition coil for cylinder No.6. Due to an abnormal thermal mode, this element serves a limited time.
During this time, I have replaced around 5 ignition coils for cylinder No.6.
If someone desires, he can provoke the problems of cylinder No.6 by himself. Just leave your car in idle for 30+ minutes. It is possible that the perfect environment temperature is not even +30 °C or more (because the electrical fan will work actively), but exactly in a lower temperature: around 0 .. +10 °C.
Remark: no, I did not hurry up to replace the ignition coil after the first crash. Seeing in what thermal mode this ignition coil is working, when the car is idling for a longer time, it is clear – you can not expect anything good. I replaced the ignition coil only after:
a. crash in idle started to repeat more often (for example, after idling only for 5 .. 10 minutes);
b. the quality of the idle got worse; misfires in Expert mode/Rough run data can be seen (unfortunately, misfire counters will not give any usable information, because this DME is not able to correctly recognise the misfires in idle).
