coil packs hard to replace?

[justinwebb]

my 91 olds cutlass ciera had been running really bad the past few times it has been raining...has had slow acceleration and has been missing so i have come to believe its the coil packs....now are these hard to do yourself or should i take it in to get replaced?

[jsgold]

If it is a 2.5 it will be a battle. You will have very little room to work with and you have to remove coil packs and ignition module together, along with crank sensor. You can do it yourself but takes time. May not be as bad if you have a 6 cyl. Ususally, on any of these though, if a coil pack fails you should have a dead cylinder. Module may be failing if it is hard start when raining. Could be other things too, though, so please advise engine size. Also, are you getting any check engine lights?

[justinwebb]

i have a 3.3 V6 and no check engine lights

[jsgold]

I have not worked on 3.3's but they still have the same set up as most GM 6 cyinder engines. I would suggest trying to d/c other things such as your mass air sensor, which is expensive, but can be cleaned. this causes a lot of trouble for people as well. Suggest cleaning it, and AIC and then d/c plugs and wires. Check you vaccuum lines and even your inlet hose to your filter assy for cracks or leaks. If you still have a miss would try to verify whether all cylinders firing or not. If you have a bad coil would be a bad miss and would not be firing on one or two cylinders. You have three coils, and they sit on top of your ignition pack. Don't know where yours is, but if you can reach it you can change it. Suggest removing the whole thing, not just a coil. Usually you have to remove the ignition module and then remove the small bolts from the coils. Take the module to NAPA, Advance, Autozone as most will check for free in case it is getting weak. You can check the coils with an ohm meter, but you need a service manual or Haynes/Chilton repair book to see how. Generally, if one is bad you should replace all. Module is 80-90 bucks, and coils 20-25 each as a rule. You don't want to do this again and best to have all new parts.... Get a manual though, it will show you the parts I mentioned.