What new ignition coils to go with?

First thing I would do is swap the coil from that cylinder to another one to see if the code follows it. If it does, replace just it - they're simple to replace if others go bad. If it doesn't, the coil isn't your problem.

 

IMHO; if your car is high mileage - do the entire set (4).
You got a random misfire code first - ECU didn't know which cylinder it was. Now ECU thinks it's on cylinder #1. If money is tight, you can just replace the one; but the fact is that the other 3 has been firing1000x a minute for years. What is the odds that another one is about to go.
FWIW; do them all and be done with it, not much more expensive and you can avoid some more downtime if/when another one fails.

Hope this helps....

 

There have been times in my life when I've followed that conventional wisdom (just change all the X's at once, what are the odds another one's about to go?) and other times when I haven't followed it for one reason or another.

Of course there's nothing to learn from the times I've followed it (changing all the X's at once, you never find out how long it was going to be until the next one).

There are some data points from the times I haven't followed it. For example, I changed one wheel bearing on a previous car at 160,000 miles, and the next one was needed three years and 50,000 miles after that, and I never needed either of the other two. Likewise, I replaced one TPMS sensor on this car, not quite two years ago, still waiting to need the next one.

While it's understood of course that all four have seen the same years and miles and were designed with the same mean time to failure, it's also true that the MTTF is just the center peak of a bell curve (more likely, a skewy bell curve with a longer tail on one side) and the curve can be very spread out.

So there can be arguments both for the "change all the X's at once" approach and the "change the bad one" approach. One point in favor of "change the bad one" is it could be long enough before you need the next one that something else happens to the car first and you never spend that money. (And you can afford to spend more on a better quality part for the one you change.)

Another is that by replacing the things individually the first time, you are now no longer looking at a bunch of MTTF curves all lined up together for next time. You have spread them out.

 

All or one, IDK, I'm just a cheap guy. Still, the OP doesn't even know if the coil is the problem - he's just throwing parts at it. Confirm it's a coil first, then which one, and go from there.

 

Forgot to mention that if money is tight, your usually going for the cheapest option; in most cases a counterfeit part that has a much shorter MTTF curve. If you go the OEM route, you can usually get the entire set for the price of one, again your taking chances.
There are no guarantees in life, but you can manage the odds to a certain degree......

 

Your correct, it could be a head-gasket or chewed wire problem the OP missed - We've only got what he stated....

 

20+ year old cars. If they live to wear out a cheap coil, we should be so lucky. OP, I pick up another parts car tomorrow with known-good coils (it was running when it got in the wreck), and I've already got more spares than I need. LMK if you want some cheap used coils.

 

Or an injector or fuel pressure or any number of things. He hasn't even told us the code number. He makes it sound like the first code he saw was the same as the second, only with a cylinder specified, but we don't know. All we know is that he researched. And he's kinda new here so not even sure that he knows much. I'd play it safe and tell him to swap coils around first, before anything else.

 

If this was a third gen there'd be a good possibility it was a failed head gasket. Coolant level is stable?

Besides the codes, does the engine sound rough in any way, in particular at start up? In short, can you hear evidence of misfire?

 

Cheap Amazon coils don't last. Fine for cars you won't own long and/or have easy access for serial coil replacement.

 

Well, too late. Picked up the parts car I bought yesterday - dang if it didn't have a set of coils in an original box in the trunk. New looking box, but the coils inside are the used ones. Still, that suggest strongly that the owner had recently replaced the coils and decided, probably because not all were failing, that he'd keep them for spares. So now, I got those plus the ones in the car plus some known-goods from the last parts car.

BTW, if anyone needs parts off this car, lmk fast. I don't have room to store it and will be scrapping it fast.

 

Ron, same question I posted on the other thread: brake actuator needed.

 

Hey Boner, I'm scavenging the "brake booster" for one of my cars. I'm referring to the part that's under the brake fluid reservoir and down behind the engine. Is that what you need? I have another one of them, and there's a decent chance it's good, but it did come out of a flood car. I'd give that one to you.

But, lo and behold, I bought another parts car today - so I'll have another one. Just a bit of work digging that part out.

 

Gotta be careful in Gen 1, where "brake actuator", "brake booster (master cylinder portion)", and "brake booster (power supply portion)" are three different parts, found in three different places.



(Once the broken migration to this new PriusChat server gets fixed up, that 'broken image' ought to show up in place. Until that happens, you can view it here.)

 

Thanks, Chap. I need from an old thread you contributed to that there was confusion. From that pic, I have the power supply component off the old flood car that anyone can have. IIRC, the diagnostics on one of my other cars pointed to that part to replace, so I'm going to take it off this parts car I have to fix it. But, I bought another parts car yesterday, and it should have all these parts.

Trombone, I see the pic of the actuator - it looks pretty easy to take off, since I'm taking the inverter off already. But, it's going to be a few days now, because I bought this other car and have to go get it in Colorado.

 

The part is “Brake assembly, actuator”, part no. 44050-47020. Actually, mine is working OK now, but I’m having the booster/accumulator replaced (at considerable expen$e) and am trying to source a NOS part for this discontinued item, which I figure I might as well replace as long as the other work is being done. On second thought, as long as mine is working, there may be no advantage to subbing a used part for another used part (mine). I have a possible lead on a NOS piece, so I’m gonna hold off on your kind offer for now, Ron. Many thanks for your response!