Coil pack swap

[Matt B]

Few days ago one of my coils went bad. Thanks Steve for your technical and mental support [emoji106]

I have a couple of GM D545 coils on my shelf and my guts say to swap all 4.

What do you think? Keep the working 3 OEM coils or swap them?

[dredgeguy]

Swap them all out, you know how old the OEM ones are, if one fails, the others are not far behind. And while you have the plenum off, rebuild the starter, clean the valley and check that the drain hole is open and even drill it out so it is larger.

[Matt B]

Thanks, Charlie. What do I need for the starter and who will ship it overseas for me?

[dredgeguy]

One of our Wazoo members got the rebuild kit but my understanding there were 3 in the USA and he got another 7 from Japan. I believe there are only 4 or so pieces. What we are doing is getting you the part numbers so you can see if available in Germany, if not then on to plan B. Will get back to you soon.

[dandt67]

Matt
As mentioned it is good preventative maintenance to refurbish the starter solenoid while you have the coil pack out. The contacts and plunger in the solenoid corrode/burn with high current during starting. Take the solenoid apart (have seen photos either on this forum or the other) and clean the two contacts and plunger contact face till shiny. If they are badly pitted then they should be replaced. One of our members gathered the information on the assembly as follows:

- Nippon Denso Starter Assembly (Made in Japan)
128000-5430 Old number
128000-8281 New number
- Plunger - Denso 053660-7140 (difficult to find)
- Contacts are readily available since they are used on Toyota and Honda
- Gasket - Denso 18052007

If needed you should be able to find the parts through a starter rebuild shop locally.

[Matt B]

Thanks, very helpful! Let me first pull the starter and check the status quo. Maybe it's not bad at all. It hasn't failed a single time so far and pulls strong.

As far as local starter rebuild shops are concerned... this is Germany. We build crap cars that look shiny but are designed as a huge puzzle of "Believe-me-it-WILL-fail" parts - which are made to be replaced as a unit at the highest possible cost.
I assume that rebuilding a starter in my country means melting it and turning it into beer cans. Which isn't a bad thing at all but doesn't make your car run again.

So, I might get back at some point and ask for support from overseas

[nelson007]

Matt,
My son is coming to Augsburg and Munich around the end of November if you need any additional parts.
Nelson

[Matt B]

Thanks, Nelson, much appreciated! I'll get back on that if needed!