I had the check engine light in combination with the emission system service required last week. As I learned from this forum, this is not very critical. Anyhow a first check at the AM dealer showed my V8V had some misfiring in 2 cylinders.

But he mentioned also this can be due to various reasons, and deleted the error messages. But today the same message in addition with EDC (or ECD) service required as well as traction control partially disabled (I am not sure if this is the correct message text, as the message was in German (I am from Switzerland)).

Anyhow I was more concerned as right after a message "please sloe down" with an RED warning sign showed up. I was not speeding at all. I was around 120 km/h (75 mph) in 5th gear.

And as I learned yellow warning lights are fine, but red ones are serious I went back to the AM dealer. He said I have to replace the ignition coils and sparks. My V8V has now 50.000 km (31.000 miles). And I should not drive with it anymore until it has been replaced.

Did someone of you had the same issues, same warning messages and/or had to replace the ignition coils and sparks?

Thanks, J

 

I've replaced coils twice on my car. Symptom was misfire when cold, low speed. Didn't get red triangle or CEL because misfire neural net ignores misses at idle when cold. It does sound like you need new coils or plugs. To figure out which, exchange the bad coils onto good cylinders and vice versa. See if the misfire codes follow the coils. If they do, need new coils, if they don't change plugs and do leak down test of cylinders.

 

Thanks. I let my AM mechanic take care of it. Well he would like to replace all the coils, but I said he should only replace the broken ones tho.

Also he mentioned I should put back in fuse 22 (sure I have removed ;-)) because for one this takes some power, and for two it does harm the engine, as the electronics does recognize it at something wrong and thus the engine is not running normally.

Any thoughts on this?

J

 

No offense, but your mechanic is full of crap. It does not harm the engine.

 

I've seen no evidence that it will harm your engine. It will set P1488 in the PCM but it will not light the CEL.

 

Ditto. No problems pulling the fuse, and even Bamford Mike (formerly of AM) said it's fine.

 

This is what I wanted to hear. Well not, that my mechanic is full of crap, but that removing fuse 22 does not harm the engine.

Thanks again guys. You know I am not very good in all this mechanical stuff, thus usually I trust the mechanic. Perhaps I should be a bit more doubtful.

If you don't mind, you can verify the following as well: The mentioned mechanic (the crappy one ) asked for 3000 to 4000 CHF (4000 to 5000 USD) to replace all 8 coils and sparks. Does is sound to be a reasonable price for you (considering that Switzerland is generally more expensive, and the CHF is quite strong these days)?

Or let me ask the question differently: How much would it be in the US? (just to get and idea).

And last but not least, he mentioned if I don't replace the coils the cat can be damaged, and then we talk about > 10.000 (!) CHF (13.000. USD). This can't be true, can it?

Thanks, J

 

I don't know what the costs of those repairs would be in the U.S. because, thankfully, my car has never needed them. I will mention though that your mechanic may not be bullsh1tting you. There seems to be a lot of lack of knowledge out there re: Astons, probably in part due to the fact they are produced in such low numbers and people aren't that experienced with them.

 

Chances are very good that "Not all the Coils" and "Not all the Spark Plugs" are bad. This is the best suggestion to come out of this discussion and will save you a lot of unnecessary expense: To figure out which, exchange the bad coils onto good cylinders and vice versa. See if the misfire codes follow the coils. If they do, need new coils, if they don't change plugs and do leak down test of cylinders.

 

Cats are not anywhere near $13,000 to replace. If he told you it would be that much be very wary, as he is trying to pull one on you. I can't verify that cats could be ruined by bad coils...perhaps by running too rich..but even aftermarket cats are $2500 from RSC and they are better quality than the stock ones. Install is an easy swap.

 

Ok. Thank you all very much.

Cheers, J

 

Full dealer price in US is $58.58 per coil or $468.64 US for the set of 8. You have to add labor and the cost of the plugs, I would guess it would cost $1200 US for the complete job and yes, you do not have to replace all the coils, I believe that is overkill. IMHO

 

Folks,

last Friday I got the 2 coils and sparks replaced. It was 1.900 CHF. But as it was covered by the guaranty I don't care too much .

Anyhow, during the weekend I took my V8V to Germany to give it try on the German highways (no speed limit ).

It runs really great, there are not much cars around which can keep up with the Vantage. After speeding a while the check engine came back on with the RED triangle and the "please slow down" warning. Funny part at this moment I was not on the highway, and around 100 km/h. The warning just showed up for 30 seconds. Then it was gone. Also there was no "message" stored in the BC (when you press the read button). Did anybody of you had this slow down message as well?

Later that day the "usual" check engine light and emission system service showed up. I am not concerned about this message anymore, as a lot of you guys have this message as well. But does it really show up every other day?

Cheers, J

 

My emissions light use to come every other month. Now I have RSC cats and since then I havent seen the light again.

 

I had 2 of my ignition coils replaced a couple of weeks ago. And it was fine. But today the check engine light back on again, also the "drive slowly" and "emission system.." message.

Thanks to my new ODB2 scanner , I was able to read and delete the error message on my own. It is again misfire in cylinder 4 and 7.

What are the error messages you guys had when your check engine light went on?

Cheers, J