I previously talked about my Punto shaking and spewing and engine light at startup. Now, I had it checked on a computer. Turns out that the error is P0351 Ignition Coil A Primary/Secondary Circuit Malfunction.

What is there for me to do? Is there anyone here that has a similar experience?

What car is it? Mk2 8v?

Try changing the spark plugs, HT leads and coils and clearing the errors.

It could be the ECU that's failed though

Sparkplugs have been checked, they are good. HT leads and everything else sems unlikely, since the problem is only at startup and not even regularly. Error has been cleared but comes back immediately.

My best guess is to get hold of a set of proven coils and plug those in, give it a test. If the misfire goes away it's those, if not it's the ECU. But I doubt that, sicne the ECU would play up at other occasions aswell.

It is a mk2 8v, ofc.

SchumacherM said:

Sparkplugs have been checked, they are good. HT leads and everything else sems unlikely, since the problem is only at startup and not even regularly. Error has been cleared but comes back immediately.

My best guess is to get hold of a set of proven coils and plug those in, give it a test. If the misfire goes away it's those, if not it's the ECU. But I doubt that, sicne the ECU would play up at other occasions aswell.

It is a mk2 8v, ofc.

Click to expand...

what do you base this on?
witchcraft?
do as suggested which is also the cheaper alternative

It just doesn't seem to me that they would so randomly go crazy and not send proper signals...they aren't that cheap as well, they cost around the same as one coil (admittedly, I do need a pair of coils to be sure, but nevermind).

It just that the coils are much more likely to be at fault since they are a known issue than just some copper cables.

And I'm not sure the computer would recognise faulty leads as coil fault codes.

plugs and leads are under more strain at startup and will often find easier ways to go rather than trying to explode in the combustion chamber
it makes economic sense to change these and even possibly the coil because otherwise you are going to damage the ecu because the signal has to go somewhere ,equate it to shorting out the speaker leads on your hi fi rather than letter the woofers do the talking

So...I have changed both coils with (that's what the seller claims) proven used ones.

Now the car does start and run beautifully...except the problem still creeps up every now and then. It's much less frequent that the previous coils, but something is still afoot. Perhaps there is no other choice that to buy brand new HT leads and test all the coils in some way (perhaps just using the forum guide)

If all that fails...then my biggest nightmare, the ECU is at fault.