Botus
Senior Member
a USA electronics guy is now the foremost expert rebuilding designed to fail merc v12 coil packs.
last night spent 2 hours watching that guys videos of what goes wrong...
the iron core inside each of the 24 OEM coil sticks breakdowns with time (not mileage), often randomly with any of the 24 coil sticks dying around the 11 year mark, as this fails the windings short and can send voltage spikes round the system that often blows the brains out of the voltage transformer and or the whole banks coil pack. So one ageing coil stick starting to breakdown starts a chain of events introducing the possibility of three major issues
its quite an odd get up - rather than a coil on top of each plug with its own 12v power supply like the V8s get - the V12 mercs have "two coils sticks per cyl" that swap duties back and forth each spark. One spark its being a 180v main coil, then next spark its an emission clean up spark coming fractional late to the party as a 23v coil. To achieve the magic spark fest, each bank of 12 coil sticks are part of a complex electronic circuit broad making one banks (6 cyls) coil pack.
so the issue usually starts with an owner exercising the car, which makes life harder for any of the coils, and that often brings in a random one cyl coil stick failure. But that can blow the whole coils packs circuit board taking out all 6 cyl on one bank. And or blowing the brains in the separate voltage transformer - this VT is what gets the required 180v / 23v power supply change. Thus one stick starting to age, often ends up giving a two or three cyl misfire as the voltage transformer gets damaged.
However even with good coil packs the voltage transformer can get cooked to death from normal engine heat over time and bring down the whole set up in a costly disaster
Usual senario one coil stick ageing can bring down the whole lot, and even when the whole 12 stick coil pack on one bank is replaced, a damaged VT (caused as the first stick dies) often ends up killing the replacement coil pack and its a circle of expensive hell and head scratching..
so the fix is three opportunities for a mortgage
remove your voltage transformer (VT) today and exchange it for one of his upgraded longer lasting overhauled VT OEM boxes now with two fuses you can replace - to stop a complaining coil stick sending back a spike and blowing up the the Merc OEM $800 VT unit
then if brave and stupid you can buy a faulty coil stick on ebay and likely trash the whole bank trying to fit one new budget fake coil stick for a cyl you identify as playing up, OR swap out the whole group of coil sticks (made in house via china) with his upgraded coil pack where all sticks have been replaced and re-soldered carefully to the refreshed circuit board
alternate VT option replace the OEM VT and fit his upgraded remote located (for a cooler location) more sophisticated VT box, which I guess can cope in solid state with coil sticks throwing teddies and you don't need to play swapping fuses in the rain at the side of the road...
Allegedly the VT, both coil packs, and a set of 24 spark plugs - at circa £5k - should be swapped around the 70k miles and or every 7 year mark
www.v12icpack.com
last night spent 2 hours watching that guys videos of what goes wrong...
the iron core inside each of the 24 OEM coil sticks breakdowns with time (not mileage), often randomly with any of the 24 coil sticks dying around the 11 year mark, as this fails the windings short and can send voltage spikes round the system that often blows the brains out of the voltage transformer and or the whole banks coil pack. So one ageing coil stick starting to breakdown starts a chain of events introducing the possibility of three major issues
its quite an odd get up - rather than a coil on top of each plug with its own 12v power supply like the V8s get - the V12 mercs have "two coils sticks per cyl" that swap duties back and forth each spark. One spark its being a 180v main coil, then next spark its an emission clean up spark coming fractional late to the party as a 23v coil. To achieve the magic spark fest, each bank of 12 coil sticks are part of a complex electronic circuit broad making one banks (6 cyls) coil pack.
so the issue usually starts with an owner exercising the car, which makes life harder for any of the coils, and that often brings in a random one cyl coil stick failure. But that can blow the whole coils packs circuit board taking out all 6 cyl on one bank. And or blowing the brains in the separate voltage transformer - this VT is what gets the required 180v / 23v power supply change. Thus one stick starting to age, often ends up giving a two or three cyl misfire as the voltage transformer gets damaged.
However even with good coil packs the voltage transformer can get cooked to death from normal engine heat over time and bring down the whole set up in a costly disaster
Usual senario one coil stick ageing can bring down the whole lot, and even when the whole 12 stick coil pack on one bank is replaced, a damaged VT (caused as the first stick dies) often ends up killing the replacement coil pack and its a circle of expensive hell and head scratching..
so the fix is three opportunities for a mortgage
remove your voltage transformer (VT) today and exchange it for one of his upgraded longer lasting overhauled VT OEM boxes now with two fuses you can replace - to stop a complaining coil stick sending back a spike and blowing up the the Merc OEM $800 VT unit
then if brave and stupid you can buy a faulty coil stick on ebay and likely trash the whole bank trying to fit one new budget fake coil stick for a cyl you identify as playing up, OR swap out the whole group of coil sticks (made in house via china) with his upgraded coil pack where all sticks have been replaced and re-soldered carefully to the refreshed circuit board
alternate VT option replace the OEM VT and fit his upgraded remote located (for a cooler location) more sophisticated VT box, which I guess can cope in solid state with coil sticks throwing teddies and you don't need to play swapping fuses in the rain at the side of the road...
Allegedly the VT, both coil packs, and a set of 24 spark plugs - at circa £5k - should be swapped around the 70k miles and or every 7 year mark
V12icpack, Mercedes S600 ignition coil pack repair, ECU, misfires V12 engines - Home
V12icpack, Jamestown
www.v12icpack.com
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