I am at wits end. It took me 20 minutes each to get the coils out. My last ZX14r it wasn’t near this bad.
Now the two in the middle I can’t get enough hand leverage to pull them out and I gotta some paws.
Anyone else have this much trouble.
2023.

Finally got the last coil. Took about 1 hour and 20 minutes to finally get it loose. My hand and forearm looks like I’ve been fighting with a cat but I gotta it.

..."fighting with a cat!"

I had the coils out on my Gen1 a couple times and it was a bit of a struggle. Giving them a twist while pulling seemed to help. Removing the Gen2 coils will be interesting with all that junk under there. I recently deleted the evaporative emissions system. Next will be the PAIR valve and if possible, I'd like to get rid of the electronic idle speed control too. If there's some way to replace the electronic idle speed control with a manual one like the Gen1 has, I'd much prefer that.

I usually twist first, then with a robust flat blade screwdriver, push up under the L or 90° angel of the spark coil as I twist and go. Guess it's too late now for the cat scratch fever.

Hub has many decades of experience on me but I'd be careful about prying under the stick coil connector port, it could crack. Maybe give it it a little help with the screwdriver while relying mostly on pulling.

Correct, Rook. Gotta be careful on the pushing up on the 90°. It sure is sturdier than some BMW stock coil. I was waiting for the crack to happen but didn't occur. Have to have that feel for parts, I guess.

Have to have that feel for parts, I guess.

I was thinking the same thing, you can bend the rules a little if you have the experience. LOL that's why I'm the slowest wrench in the west, going by the rules as much as possible and still overcautious.

Just twist and pull and twist and pull till they finally popped out.
My 2019 only took about 10 minutes to get the coils out. Pulling the 2023 coils out it looked like a some light gummy substance over the coil. Almost like they glued them in. Don’t remember that on the last bike, but I might be wrong.

Some kind of sealant, no doubt. The only thing I noticed on my Gen1 stick coils was some white chunks between the ribs at the top, mostly outside the top, I think. Possibly aluminum corrosion. I started using a film of dialelectric grease over the ribbed part on top. They weren't hard to remove after that.