Help Please

[Mr2000]

Ummm well she is Misfiring

So here's what I did:

I did the Mapwhack - To no avail

I ran injector cleaner through - Nothin

Then I left for training and have been gone for the last month. Today was the first day in a while that I drove the car, and of course same issue.

Well a little bit earlier today my check engine came on, well I was next to a advanced auto parts store and I had my code read... Well she was missing in cylinders 1,3,4.

Well they don't have my spark plugs in stock and I have them on order, but just to check if that was the problem I bought 4 cheapo champions to throw in there till tuesday.

We pulled the old plugs out, and every single one was shot, I mean I've never seen plugs that bad. So I was a little happy thinking that it was obviously the issue. We threw the new plugs in and for a while it was idling much much better, still a little miss on early acceleration but much better than it was.

Well.... As I was driving back to the Barracks, BAM! all of the sudden I start missing like nutz. The idol was shaking the car bad and it actually died once. So I managed to get it to the parking lot at the barracks and now I am furious trying to figure out what I need to do. I plan to take it to a shop tomorrow anyway to get it looked at but if anyone here has some ideas to atleast better educate me, plz let me know!!!!

(PS: I bought the car about 3000 miles ago, have done 1 oil change so far, never had an issue till a few weeks ago before I left for training.)

[My_yella_s2k]

What year is it?
whats the miles?
mods?

if you didnt put plat. plugs in... do not run the car without them.
There expensive and Platnium for a reason... the cheaper ones dont have the correct electrodes and other particles which Im forgetting.

How did the old plugs look? white? black? oil soaked?
what do they smell like? gas? oil? burnt?

You would prob. want to run a compression test.. the #'s shouldnt drop 10% from each cylinder.
if thats ok, then possible leakdown test next....

I doubt its going to be a valve adjustment.

[bimdub]

Ummm well she is Misfiring

So here's what I did:

I did the Mapwhack - To no avail

I ran injector cleaner through - Nothin

Then I left for training and have been gone for the last month. Today was the first day in a while that I drove the car, and of course same issue.

Well a little bit earlier today my check engine came on, well I was next to a advanced auto parts store and I had my code read... Well she was missing in cylinders 1,3,4.

Well they don't have my spark plugs in stock and I have them on order, but just to check if that was the problem I bought 4 cheapo champions to throw in there till tuesday.

We pulled the old plugs out, and every single one was shot, I mean I've never seen plugs that bad. So I was a little happy thinking that it was obviously the issue. We threw the new plugs in and for a while it was idling much much better, still a little miss on early acceleration but much better than it was.

Well.... As I was driving back to the Barracks, BAM! all of the sudden I start missing like nutz. The idol was shaking the car bad and it actually died once. So I managed to get it to the parking lot at the barracks and now I am furious trying to figure out what I need to do. I plan to take it to a shop tomorrow anyway to get it looked at but if anyone here has some ideas to atleast better educate me, plz let me know!!!!

(PS: I bought the car about 3000 miles ago, have done 1 oil change so far, never had an issue till a few weeks ago before I left for training.)

pull the plugs again.....see if they tell you anything.....repiv will probably post here soon enough to guide you along.....but it sounds like you plugs might tell us more information....

[Mr2000]

Umm okay well what I saw from the plugs, they were burnt to a crisp. There was a black flaky lining that looked burned and caked on at the bottom of the threads (the sparky end) The tip itself looked like ash, whiteish.

[Mr2000]

Oh it's a 2001 with appx 77000, no mods

[smac2K]

Moved to XVipers Den....he'll see it this way...:thumbsup:

[Mr2000]

Moved to XVipers Den....he'll see it this way...:thumbsup:
Well Thank you =D

[repiv]

It would be interesting to know, besides how they looked, what the gap was on the old plugs. What were the new plugs you put in and what gap were they? The black flaky stuff around the rim where the center electrode originates from is "fairly" normal. All plugs pulled from these cars that I've seen, look like this to some extent or another. Now, the white tip might be a sign if it was pure white with no light brownish tinge to it. This would indicate a very lean burn, which could be an indication of inadequate fuel or fuel pressure. Injector cleaner, if used rarely and after high miles, won't work immediately or may not work at all. The injectors may require stronger medicine. Injector cleaning doesn't just "clean" them, it should also provide some lubrication for them.
You'd have to check fuel pressure to know if that is a contributing factor.
Then there's the coilpacks. You might try rotating them one or two positions over and see if the misfires follow to an unaffected cylinder.
At 77K miles, some problem areas can arise if maintenance was neglected during the car's lifetime. If bad gas or low octane gas was used during some period of the car's life, it's also possible that the primary O2 sensor could be an issue.
Misfires on this engine is quite a common phenomenon and yet, is one of the most difficult to figure out and cure as it can be caused by a multitude of things. Only be a process of elimination, can this be resolved and the journey can be lengthy and frustrating.

[Mr2000]

I'll get some pics tomorrow morning if I can and post them of the old plugs, that should help I think. Also the car is no longer driveable since it's missing so bad that it dies unless I continuously add throttle so I may just get it towed to a shop in the morning (AAA free towing =D!!)