Is my ignition coil leaking?

[Langning]

My 2001 GT has been lately studdering on hard acceralations (ie. high speeding passing or go up hill/grade). Only once I got a cyclinder #6 misfire code; after cleared it, it never come up again. Meanwhile, I have the ScanGauge II scanner monitoring the KR value, when I push down the gas pedal, the KR value would spike to some crazy number; if I ease my foot slightly, the KR would go back to zero and my car would travel normally. The studdering only on uphill or acceralation higher than 70mpg.

I was listening to CarsTalk podcasts last night and one caller had a similar problem, the hosts Tom and Ray attributed the problem as a "High Speed Miss" and they sugguested the caller to check the coil pack...

This prompted me to look at my car's ignition coils this morning. I see dry "white paint" on 3/6 coil and the base. It is completely dry and I couldn't wipe it off. My question is this white paint-like stuff leaked from inside my 3/6 coil?

[richtazz]

First thing you need to check is the catalytic converter. There is a known issue on 01-02 Grand Prix's with the converters, and GM has extended the warranty to 7 years/120k miles. A clogged converter will cause a mis-fire (normally a random mis-fire code P0300) under load or at high RPM, and a lack of power also.

To answer your original question, normally when coils leak it will be a black tar-like sustance that stinks to high heaven. What you're showing appears to be some kind of marking a previous owner/mechanic applied. Since the code never came back, I doubt there is an issue with the coil.

[rickisrad]

Use a paint thinner or alchohol to remove the paint. Like RichTazz said it would be a black tar like substance if it were the coil.