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Random Ticking and Misfire

Only 1,200 miles after replacing all the coils and plugs the car developed a random ticking sound and misfire at idle. It would disappear even with the slightest increase in engine speed over idle. The ticking sound, which was coming from the #6 cylinder area, turned out to be sparking. I would see sparks at random near the ground bolt near #6 and also on other random areas on the RHS intake manifold. Here is a video clip. I was never able to capture the sparking on camera. I inspected all the grounds. They were in excellent condition. I even ran the car with the battery -ve directly connected to the alternator body. But it made no difference. I physically couldn't see anything wrong with the #6 coil or spark plug. I first replaced the spark plug, but that didn't do anything. So I decided to replace the #6 coil as well and that seems to have fixed the issue. I removed and refit the RHS intake manifold twice while troubleshooting. I've become quite good at it. Here are a lis...
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Bay Area Aston Group Beach Drive & Picnic

 
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DB9 Workshop Manual

I have a copy of Issue 7, September 2010, Aston Martin DB9 Workshop Manual in PDF form that I have uploaded here for reference. DB9 Workshop Manual    
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Coil Pack Service

On the plus side, after production moved to Germany, these V12s became very reliable, not having any major issues. But on the negative, they like to eat ignition coils faster than most cars. Likely due to the coils buried deep under the intake manifolds with absolutely no air circulation. And this, once every 30k mile service is a major pain in the butt. If everything goes perfect (very unlikely given how old these cars are now), it takes about 6 hrs to R&R the coils and spark plugs. I would budget about 3x that time if its your first time and you just want to take your time and enjoy freshening things up as you go. Most of the major parts can be readily purchased without the Aston tax directly from Ford, NGK etc.. But the intake gasket is quite unique. And not really worth modifying the v6 Mondeo ones. The PCV valves are also another issue. Although the valve itself is just a $2 Motorcraft part, the harness its glued into is not readily available. One would have to make something ...
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Intro to my 2009 DB9 6-Speed

I had been looking off and on for years. And for the last 2 years running up to the purchase, I think I searched online almost everyday. In the summer of 2019, I found an interior photo on a web image search, showing off the manual transmission of my soon-to-be car.  I clicked on the image, which led me to a dealer called Long Island Sports Cars. The link was broken, but I called and asked about it. They said they just got it and haven't even posted it for sale yet. I jumped on the next flight to New York and the rest is history.  I had specifically been looking for a 2009+ model year car with a manual transmission. Early V12s, pre 2009, going back all the way to DB7 had various oiling and machining issues that resulted in catastrophic engine failure. Throughout the years there have been minor revisions that worked on addressing these issues from oil pump to even dipstick length. Eventually production was moved to Cologne Germany for 2009 MY where the issues seem to have coinc...
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