2001 saturn ignition problems...(let me pick your brain)

[scum1]

As the title reads, my friend has a 2001 saturn sL1, and it has this problem where when you start it there is constant sparking and arching at the coil...now this saturn has two coils, 1st is plugs #4 #1, 2nd is #2 #3...the sparking is coming from the right coil, #2 and #3, so i first switched the coils to test that, and the sparking stayed on the coil to the right ( #2 #3)..so i dont think its a bad coil..the coils mount to the "ignition control module" per autozone diagram, so it could be that, theres two prongs that the coil attaches too and both coils sparked the same..my next guess was maybe bad plugs/ wires causing resistance and wanting to arc, or something to that effect, so i might try that. im gonna try the cheapest things first, but i wanted to see if anyone had some advice, maybe something im totally missing...basically the coil is just constantly sparking and arching..thanks in advance!!!

[79k30dually]

Sounds like the insulation on the plug wires can't contain the 30K volts the coil is producing. Which also means there is high resistance in the plugs and/or wires. I'd swap plugs, put 2&3 in 1&4 and see what happens. Look close at the plugs while they're out, if they are worn out change them, you'll need to anyway. You can measure resistance of the plug wires, they're all about the same length so the resistances should be close, usually 5k ohms per foot. Good luck, Ron

[scum1]

excellent, thank you for the relpy. Im going to give that a try today.

[68C15]

is this the ecotech 4 with the coil pack where the module mounts to the top with 3 screws?

[scum1]

her car had two coils attached to the top of the" ignition control module" or whatever..so i ended up replacing the plugs and wires..problem solved...thanks again!

[68C15]

good. much better system for the long run.