Misfire with codes and 02 censor code... :(

[Guardiannknight]

Ok, I went to a car show this past weekend and Sunday when I was coming back home I started getting a misfire when I would pull out and get on it near half throttle. Actually I think it started late Saturday night. I thought maybe I just got some bad gas somewhere. But, I took my car to Auto Zone and had them scan it, I'm showing 3 codes. I'm showing two P1336 codes, which is misfire and a P0133 code. :( I asked the guy if it was possible that bad gas would show up as a misfire on the scan tool, he said no, that it would have to be some part of the iginition system. So, I went and bought some new plugs. I installed them today, and I'm still getting the misfire when I get on it near about half throttle. I looked at the wires, they look to be in good shape. I have not checked the coil packs yet :( My question is, could the P0133 code for the 02 sensor in Bank 1 Sensor 1 be causing the misfire? I have had the P0133 code for a while now, and have not had a misfire, so I'm thinking now. Also, which 02 sensor is it pointing to? the driver side or pass side?

Hope someone can help me with some info on this. I was really hoping that it was the plugs, but it wasn't :( And all the plugs look pretty good except 3 and 5 where a little worse than the others. 3 was the worse as usual. I would say it's maybe the a coil pack, but since 3 and 5 are on seperate coils and the other plugs on those coils look ok, I'm thinking it's not the coil packs. I may end up having to just replace the wires and coils :( which right now I'm a little low on money so I don't see that happening. Another question, is it ok to drive the car if it misfires. I can pretty much control not getting the car to misfire, by not pushing to much on the throttle. It's not a daily driver, it's my weekend car. Any info would be great.

Thanks,
Jeff

[astroglyph]

Re: Misfire with codes and 02 censor code... :(

hey, how many miles on your car? id replace ur o2 sensors in your manifolds, cause that sounds like the problem to me, but if you think its the coil packs, swap them all, and see if anything changes, if not, then id definitly replace your oxygen sensors, dont worry about the one after ur cat tho, it doesnt do much except make sure ur cats in good shape, just change the two next to the manifold, is the problem still there before your car warms up? if it doesnt misfire when the car first starts, then its a sure sign that its the o2 sensors. you can get a pair of replacement NGK o2 sensors for like a hundred bucks.

[Guardiannknight]

Re: Misfire with codes and 02 sensor code... :(

Well, I have now changed my 02 sensors, changed my spark plugs, changed my wires, PCV, and fuel filter and I still get the misfire code and also the 02 sensor code. I'm think for the 02 sensor, it is the wires that go to where you hook up the 02 sensor on the drivers side, but from several people I have talked to, they say that would not cause a misfire, I may see lower gas mileage. So, even though I have new 02's I still have the code, but I'm not really caring about that code right now, since I've had it for about 1 1/2 years. The misfire problem is really getting to me. The only thing left, are the coil packs. I cannot think of anything else, that would cause it to misfire.

Strange part about all of this, well after I had my 02's replaced today with my fuel filter, I went to advance autos, and used their scan tool to look at the codes, well I erased the codes, but the two misfire codes would not go away. Well, after clearing them, I started the car up, and it was misfiring even worse, so I went to a gas station feeled up since I was running pretty low on fuel and added some octane booster just to make sure I'm getting the 93 octane that I should be getting, since I have a custom tune for 93 hot tune. Which I have had for close to 2 years now. But, I had to go to work and take a hour trainning class, so after that, i went back to advance autos, and checked the codes again, well this time, i did not have no 02 codes, but I did have the 2 misfire codes and a new misfire code for cylinder number 5. So I was thinking, hey it must be my wires....

So, I bought new wires, put them on, and guess what, it's still misfiring. So, i took it to the advance autos again, and checked the codes, well, the 2 misfire codes are still there, the misfire code for cylinder 5 is gone, and the 02 sensor code is back.... :( So, now all I can think of is the coil packs...

Also, I have noticed that the car only misfires when I press the gas pedal down about 1/8 to full throttle. It does it in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. It does it in 5th a little not to bad, sometimes not at all. However, when I have my AC on, it does it even worse in all the gears and also in 5th gear. I'm guessing where my engine is under load even more.

My service engine soon light is not flashing, it's jsut staying on. Even when the car shakes when I press the gas to much and it misfires, it does not flash, it only flashed once today, when I cleared the codes and was heading to the gas station to fill the car up.... Also, I would like to add, up until now, the service engine soon light has not flashed, it has just stayed on. Even when the misfire problem started.

Anyone else have any ideas on this???? Could use some help. I'm thinking coil packs, hope I'm right :( That's the only thing I can think of that is left...

[astroglyph]

Re: Misfire with codes and 02 sensor code... :(

why didnt you take the simple route and just swap coil packs man, theyre so easy to take off, just swap them around and see if the misfire changes cylinders, it'll take you like 10 minutes. i believe the bolts holding the coil packs on are 5.5 mm, so there, i just saved you even more time, they just lift off the ICM after you unbolt em. look for burn/off color marks on the connectors that plug into the coils, that'll tell you right away which coil it is if its bad, and if its not that apparent, just swap and that will tell you if its your coils.

[astroglyph]

Re: Misfire with codes and 02 sensor code... :(

btw, if its not your coils, it could be your ICM (ignition control module) that the coil packs sit on. Our cars are known to have water drip off of the cowl area and onto the coils and icm, frying them out. If its not your coils, go to advance or whatever auto parts store you go to, buy a new ICM, install it, (also very simple), and if that doesnt fix youre problem either, than, just take it off, put back the old ICM, and take the new one back to ur auto parts store, say you ended up not needing, and get your money back.

[Guardiannknight]

Re: Misfire with codes and 02 censor code... :(

The problem with the misfire, I have no clue which cylinders are misfiring. The codes are not showing up letting me know which cylinder or cylinders are misfiring. I was going the cheap route and tring the cheapest stuff first, if I'm going to install a new coil, i'm going to install all 3. From what I understand about the ICM, when it goes out, it goes out, and the car won't start. My car starts fine. Just when I start getting on it, it misfires. I really wish codes would come up letting me know which cylinder/cylinders are misfiring, that would of helped me a lot, but I'm just getting the P0133 code which pretty much like a univeral code saying, your misfiring, and it's in your ignition system somewhere. Oo So, I'm guessing coils should fix my problem, just have to wait a few weeks until I can get the money, every bill I could think of hit me all at once and my car parts isn't helping matters... :( Thanks for the reply.

[pdhockey31]

Re: Misfire with codes and 02 censor code... :(

i had the same problem with my '96...it may also be clogged injectors... i ran some fuel injector cleaner through and no more misfire. Its 5 dollars and its at least worth a try.

[Guardiannknight]

Re: Misfire with codes and 02 censor code... :(

Yeap, falled to put that in my post also, I have added Seafoam because I thought maybe I had gotten some water in the gas, and today, when I went to the gas station to feel up, I added octane boost, that also cleaned the injectors. :( I guess I will know in a few weeks when I change my coil packs if they are the problem... If not, then I'll be a little lost. As for the 02, I'll get it fixed one day. I don't drive my Camaro everyday, it's a week or day off from work car. So, I'm lucky to have a work car. Because I don't like driving the Camaro with it misfiring like it is... :(

[Guardiannknight]

Re: Misfire with codes and 02 censor code... :(

Well, the lastest in tring to solve my misfire problem. I went ahead and bought more new spark plugs. This time I bought the AC Delco Iridium plugs. I just replaced my Plat 4's with new Plat 4's justa few weeks ago. Well, when I changed the pretty much new Plat 4's with the new AC Delco plugs, every plug(all 6) had burn marks, meaning black and some blue, and the white area in the middle of the plug was reddish. They looked bad. So, after installing the new AC Delco plugs I test drove my car again. And yeap the misfire is still there. It's not as bad meaning, my car is actually some what driveable now, but still, if I try and get on it, it misfires like crazy.

So, I'm wondering, since all my plugs looked bad, would it be the ICM? Because I dought all my coil packs are bad... Would a bad ICM make all 6 of the plugs look like they did. Thanks for ideas and help you can give. :) Just tring to pin point the problem so I can stop spending so much money tring to fix the misfire problem...

[astroglyph]

Re: Misfire with codes and 02 censor code... :(

umm..if one cylinder is misfiring it doesnt just foul out one cylinder, you know what i mean? it throws off the whole motor, like with timing, itll cause ur engine to run like crap, and therefore, all your plugs will look like crap, have you swapped the coils yet? but yeah, if youve done that, then do what i said in my other post, pick up an icm, swap it in, and if its not that, than just take it back.

[Firebirdedgar]

Re: Misfire with codes and 02 censor code... :(

man thank god for all of you. my car is doing the same thing. misfiring under load. i checked the codes with my shop teacher's scanner and also checked which cylinder was misfiring. #2 look like the one to be bad. the thing is that idont know if it is the coils or the injectors because i did dump 20 gallons worth of injector cleaner in my tank when it only had like 8 so maybe something got loose and clogged my injector but at the same time my shop teacher sya to check the coils... well basically the whole ignition ssystem which ive been doing. replaced the spark plugs too. looks like im going to upgrade to msd or accel coils..

[ChronoGN]

Re: Misfire with codes and 02 censor code... :(

If you did all that and its still misfiring then I'd say its the coils too.

[Firehawk N Wv]

Re: Misfire with codes and 02 censor code... :(

Yea man go buy some MSD blaster coils if you have the money. Dont put stock ones back on. My car is also throwing the P0133 code for the 02 censor. It started throwing it shortly after my buddy and I put on my headers. I shortly after put new censors on and it cured it for a while then it came on again so Im jsut leaving it on til next week after my cam install and have it tuned out. If you have headers and its throwing it then its becuase the headers flow to fast for the 02's to keep up. Its no big deal besides the engine light being in your face.

[astroglyph]

Re: Misfire with codes and 02 censor code... :(

oem delco coils will last longer than msd or other aftermarkets, theres really no performance benefit either, so unless you just want em, theres not much of a point.

[Hib Halverson]

Re: Misfire with codes and 02 censor code... :(

You mentioned that you'd used your shop teacher's scan tester to read the codes.

Which codes were set?