Dealer swapped positions of two plugs and coils. Is this OK?

[RogerB]

My Stinger started jerking while accelerating a few weeks back. Took it in to the Dealer and they said with no Check Engine light there was nothing they could do. They won't even open the hood and check the spark plugs without a Check Engine light on. They say that KIA won't reimburse them for the work. They sold me 44K fuel additive. My car only has 3500 miles on it so thought a fuel cleaner was a strange solution but I tried it. Next day while driving the car juddered and shook badly and check engine light came on. On Monday I drove it back to the dealer and check engine light came on again. Service tech hook up the computer to my car and he said it showed that my number 3 spark plug was having issues. I have read previous posts in this forum with similar issues and it was stated that the Dealer replaced spark plugs and even the coils. So I thought with the bad spark plug my car would get the same fix. Not so, however. Dealer had the car for two days and then told me that KIA told them not to replace any parts but to swap the number 1 and 3 spark plug and coil with each other. I did not think it was OK to mess with the spark plug and coil positions. Can anyone confirm that swapping spark plug and coil positions is OK? Car is running somewhat better but still judders some under hard acceleration. I feel they are blowing me off. Thanks.

 

[MerlintheMad]

If it works they are justified. But their "bedside manners" are decidedly lacking. This is what pisses off customers. If you're still experiencing any lack of smoothness, then their "fix" was only half-assed. Hopefully they'll do the complete, right thing this next time.

 

[oddball]

That's a pretty normal procedure when you have ignition misfires. They're trying to tell whether it's the coil or the plug. By moving the coils, they'll know which is causing the problem. If the ECU throws P0303 again, then it's the plug. If it moves to P0301, then it's the coil.
Dealers don't like throwing parts at problems, so you just have to put up with the extended diagnostic time. It doesn't cost them anything to leave your car sitting in their lot.
There are issues with the stock spark plugs IF you're running higher boost than stock.
If it was me, I would've done a visual inspection of the plugs while the coils were out, just to make sure there's nothing obvious.
But the dealer will follow their specific procedures because that's how they get paid.

 

[RogerB]

That's a pretty normal procedure when you have ignition misfires. They're trying to tell whether it's the coil or the plug. By moving the coils, they'll know which is causing the problem. If the ECU throws P0303 again, then it's the plug. If it moves to P0301, then it's the coil.
Dealers don't like throwing parts at problems, so you just have to put up with the extended diagnostic time. It doesn't cost them anything to leave your car sitting in their lot.
There are issues with the stock spark plugs IF you're running higher boost than stock.
If it was me, I would've done a visual inspection of the plugs while the coils were out, just to make sure there's nothing obvious.
But the dealer will follow their specific procedures because that's how they get paid.

Thank you for reply. I spoke with the manager of service and he basically said what you wrote. They think the issue is position 3 but
are trying to pin point the issue. I need to bring it back in when the check engine light comes on again.

 

[turboAWD]

Just to be clear: there is NOTHING special (for the Stinger, and most cars - maybe there is some car out there where this is not true) about plugs / coils and their number or position. You can freely swap them around in any order you want. And it is part of a general bad-plug-coil diagnostic. I did something similar to diagnose a bad coil on my Legacy GT a few years back.

There is one thing that is important: the wire/plug from the ECU. You *HAVE* to plug the correct wire into the ignition coil going to the matching cylinder. If you mess that up, you'll run 10x worse than now or won't run at all, depending on how badly you messed up..