Replacing ignition lead set

Re-united with the Jimny after another stint back in Bavaria and now time to replace the ignition cable system (4 x leads plus the 2 components that the leads attach to.). As you see from my description, I venture yet again into unknown territory, but watching a few Jimny youtube videos it seems a simple case of plug and play.

My questions:

• are there any lurking hidden unknowns I must look out for before doing this?
• Is it really a case of simply unplug the one set and replace with the second set?

Vielen Dank!

Unbolt plastic cover, unplug and unbolt coil packs, remove old ones, fit new ones.  No difficulty.  The cost is high if you buy new ones, though - you can get good used ones for about £40 a set, not necessarily from a Jimny (the Swift used the M13A engine too,).

Many thanks - yes the cost was high (I got a set in Germany that cost more than GBP40, a client just paid me haha), so on your thumbs up confirming my initial impression, I will do this either this week or Saturday. Looks simple... ... if it fails this will turn into a loooong thread!

Try to look into the spark plug recesses when you do it, just in case there is an oil leak or a plug with failed sealing.  It's quite common for the lower part of the HT connector and the ceramic part of the plug just above the nut to be brown (corona stain).  Long brown streaks up the ceramic plug insulator might mean the sealing has failed and compression is leaking, though. I had this on a set of NGKs years ago.

It looks like you can get Hella or Denso around £30 - £40, original Suzuki are very expensive.

A search shows up other brands, most of which I have never heard of and some not much cheaper than the Hella or Denso, so I would suggest going with a brand you know as some of the [not so] cheap ones might fail after a short period of time.

I bought Beru for my other car from GSF, they were a bargain, about 1/4 of the price of the other good brands (Bosch, etc) and since that car needed 6 coils/leads it was a massive saving, it's best to look round GSF, EuroCarPart and the other dealers to see what offers they have on. Beru is right up there with the best.

Robin

I think those prices are just for the HT leads.  The two coil packs themselves are very expensive and are more likely to give trouble than the leads.  Plus you can only fix two cylinders by changing just the leads!

£30 - £40 was for the coil pack with one lead moulded in. The lead to the other cylinder is usually not that expensive. Sure, you need two coil packs and two leads for a full set.

Robin

I bought a Ridex ignition cable set (4 cables) for GBP15 and 2 x Hella ignition coils for GBP48 (Total GBP63). I could get cheaper, but I did not recognise any names and I felt this is a once off purchase so I would buy the "best" I could recognise. Strangely the really expensive brand name versions were not available, whilst the cheaper sets were. My issue has been hesitation resulting in engine management light coming on when the weather is really cold, the vehicle is very cold and my first km of the trip is uphill. I dont know whether this will fix it but I will see.

Regarding the compression, thanks for the tip, I will look carefully, but without jinxing the vehicle, it runs really well and I never seem to have a speed issue. I travel at 70mph no issues, and certainly manage to overtake OK. I am used to driving bakkies not BMW sports models, so maybe my frame of reference is more the tractor version than the ferrari.

At 45mph (it has a mph dial, wish I could change to kmh) I get the slight wobbles which dissapear at 55mph. That will be the final big ticket item to address. All part of the fun!

Thats sounds like a good deal on the coils and leads. Both Hella and Ridex are decent brands and as you say fit it once then never look again.

I don't suppose you would have saved much by buying cheaper un-recognised brands.

Your wobble sounds as if it could be king pin bearings. Easy way to check, jack the wheel and test for [vertical] up and down movement. If it has up and down movement the king pin bearings need doing. If it is side to side, it is usally something else, possibly linkage or wheel bearings.

Also have a look at the large knuckle seal, is it leaking oil? When the king pin bearings go, the drive shaft oil seal also goes and this allows diff oil to flow in to the knuckle and leak past the [dust] seal.

See www.bigjimny.com/mediawiki/index.php/King_pin_bearing_change

It's not a difficult job and Martin keeps the bearings in stock in the BigJimny store. I suggest getting the full kit including shaft oil seal and large knuckle seal as these are often in a poor state.

Robin

In Germany (because there are 100 laws preventing you touching your vehicle in case you make a mess), you can hire fully equipped garages where you can do complex things like washing the car without being carted off by the cops. I have battled to find similar here where I could tackle such a job. I need a ramp!!

My facilities are pretty limited and are outside, so the weather is also an issue. I am having the aircon redone on Monday replacing the pump with one I imported from China. Waste of money I suppose, should have done the kingpins instead but tbh I forgot! There is sun predicted for the weekend so these leads and some underbody sealing is on the menu. Followed by a well earned run in the vehicle!

You don't need a fully equipped garage to do the kingpins, it can be done on the drive with a jack, axle stands & basic tools

I think the point is that the German authorities don't allow some work to be done at home because it brings down the neighbourhood to have some guy ripping the engine out of a Ford Taunus on his driveway.  In some German states it's not even legal to wash your car at home on a Sunday.

Some estates in the UK have covenants that prevent car maintenance on the driveway, but these are roundly ignored.