Misfire that won't go away.

[wantmorepower]

Let me start off with a little back ground.

I have a '96 camaro M5 with the 231. No mods besides a CAI. My problem is I keep getting misfires. Had the vehicle scanned. Misfire #5 & #6. Change all of the plugs and wires. A few dozen cuss words and a few band-aids later and it still misfires. Have it scanned. Number 6 still miss firing. Change #6 plug again. It has a little carbon fouling on it all ready. (Only ran in the car like 20 miles or so.) Start it up and it is still miss firing. Drive it to auto zone to get it scanned again. Still number 6 miss firing. Now i change the coil pack to #6. I think that i am good to go. Wrong! Still miss firing at #6. I talked to the goof ball at the counter at auto zone and he suggested getting a new ignition module. New this will be $139 and i dont know if this will fix the problem for sure. Enough of the background and onto the begging for help. LOL.

First, does anyone have an idea or has anyone had similiar problems?

Second, is there any other culprit that would cause specific cylinder missire besides the typical plug/wire/coil malfunctions?

Lastly, is there a way to diagnose the ignition module to check if mine is bad before i plunk down hard earned dinero for a new one?

Any help that you might be able to give me qould be greatly appreciated. I am at my wits ends here. Thanks.

[wantmorepower]

Thanks for the help.

[Fusion]

I'm having the exact same problem as you with my car. Stupid cylinder #4. It has been causing me grief for a long time now. I changed plugs, wires, and coils...you know what I got? Absolutly nothing. Peice of crap. So anyways I go down to Auto Zone and ask them a few ?'s and to get the code scanned well stupid P0304 as usual. So the guy is talking to me about the Ignition Control Module or something. I'm like hmm now if I buy this thing are my problems gonna go away, well obviously no straight foward answer and I mean really couldn't expect one. I still have misfires on #4 and my problem hasn't been fixed to this day. I'm about ready to call it quits or something it's really just pissing me off. I was just about to have my mechanic look at it, but now I have $0 cause of the stupid water pump...Problem after Problem after Problem with my beloved car. Well I hope your endeavors work better than mine.

[wantmorepower]

I just called a junk yard and they will sell me an ignition module with three coil packs for $75. I think i will have to give that a try. As far as your water pump goes, you might want to go ahead and change that one yourself. Since it's not a ford it shouldn't be too much of a problem for a shade tree mechanic.

[Fusion]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by wantmorepower:
I just called a junk yard and they will sell me an ignition module with three coil packs for $75. I think i will have to give that a try. As far as your water pump goes, you might want to go ahead and change that one yourself. Since it's not a ford it shouldn't be too much of a problem for a shade tree mechanic.<hr></blockquote>

Yeah, I just got it done. Yesterday. My dad really wasn't to keen on the whole idea of doing it myself. O well. It's all fixed now.

[ November 26, 2002: Message edited by: Fusion ]</p>

[Cruzin]

Get your fuel injectors cleaned. Go to a dealer or one of those quick lube places that hook into the fuel line. Make sure they do it by hooking into the fuel line and not a vacume line because you want the cleaner to go through the injectors. I would almost bet the farm you have dirty injectors.

[Dojo2000]

wantmorepower, have you tried our handy-dandy Search feature yet? ;)

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Lastly, is there a way to diagnose the ignition module to check if mine is bad before i plunk down hard earned dinero for a new one?
<hr></blockquote>
I believe there may be instructions for that in our Haynes manual, I know they tell you how to check the coil packs. When I get a chance I'll look through mine and see if I can find it for you.

A common problem with the stock wires is the #6 wire arcs with the intake manifold and other wires.

Are you getting random misfires, constant misfires, or stumblingon accleration?

Have you checked the newly installed plug wires to see if they're sparking on things like manifolds bolts, intake manifold, & etc?

[ November 26, 2002: Message edited by: Dojo2000 ]</p>

[wantmorepower]

Yes dojo i have. Most point to just coil packs which i have all ready done. As far as doing the ignition module I will gladly change it as well if i could be pretty sure that it wold be the cure and not just a $139 shot in the dark.

I am going to get out the chilton this weekend myself (if i can find it... lol). If you find anything out feel free to post it.

As far as the misfiring goes it hasn't come up as a random misfire. Always number 6. This missfiring is constant upon any kind of acceleration except very light. It is particulary bad between 2000 and 3000 rpm. The car of course stumbles and throws SES.

I am not sure how to check if the #6 wire is arcing to the manifold or manifold bolts. I can't even see the wire, can only feel the wire and plug. If i get under the car I can make a visual with the #6 wire but i am kind of leary of getting under the car while the engine is running.

Is there a better way of checking for arcing than climbing under the running car?

Thanks for the suggestions dojo.

Of course I am still trying to figure it out. Cruzin, have you had a misfire problem that went away with a injector cleaning or was it just a bad idle or stumbling problem that was cured with the injector cleaning? Regarless I think I am going to call around today to see who can clean my injectors without cleaning out my bank account. Thanks cruzin.

I have found one thing out for sure through this. I miss driving my car.

[Dojo2000]

Sorry for the delayed reply but I'm home from school for Thanksgiving and having trouble logging onto the board. Haven't had a chance to look through my Haynes manual yet, but I'll get to it.

The method I use to look for arcing is to pop the hood at night in a very dark spot and look for small acrs of electricity while reving the engine. I did this a while ago before I changed my stock wires and the arcing #6 wire was easily visible on top of the intake manifold when I mashed on the gas. Then when I had a stumbling/misfire problem a few months ago I was finally able to fix it because I saw a wire arcing down near the pass. side exhaust manifold on a bolt. Its not an exact science but it might help you.

[ November 29, 2002: Message edited by: Dojo2000 ]</p>

[wantmorepower]

Well it's worth a shot anyway. I try that tonight. Thanks.

[Dojo2000]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>From Haynes Manual, p 5-3, 5-4
14. Disconnect the ignition module harness connector on V6 engines ... and check for battery voltage at the pink wire terminal from the ignition switch with the ignition key ON, engine NOT running. If no battery voltage is present, check and replace the ignition system fuse(s) and check for voltage again at the harness connector. Repair the circuit to the ignition system if necessary.
15. Next, check for a trigger signal from the ignition module (V6)... . On V6 engines, remove the coil pack from the ignition module to expose the module terminals. Connect a test light between each of the module terminals and have an assistant crack the engine over. ... This test checks the triggering circuit in the ignition module... . A blinking test light indicates the module ... ir triggering. The test light should blink quickly and constantly as each coil pack is triggered to fire by the switching signal from the ignition module... . Note: The triggering signal to each coil pack must be checked individually.
16. If there is no blinking light on V6 engines, the ignition module is most likely the problem but not always. ...
17. A slowly blinking light, at this point, indicates the PCM is not seeing a crank sensor signal. ... <hr></blockquote>

All those ... are were it talked about V8s, didn't think you need that.
This is all I could find on the ignition module. Hope it helps.

[ December 11, 2002: Message edited by: Dojo2000 ]</p>

[Cruzin]

Hey man sorry for the delay. I been busy with finals and ****. My father works at a Chevy dealer and when ever a car comes in with a misfire (random or one cylinder) the first thing they do is clean the injectors. 90% of the time this is what is wrong. Those holes are really small and doesn't take much to clog them. If that is not your problem it is a good idea to have them cleaned anyway. I hope i could help. L8R.

[LimitedE]

I had a re-occuring misfire in cylinder #4 for about 8 months. The car would fall on it's face during hard acceleration. After pouring over $800 into fixing the problem. I decided to see if heat was playing a factor. I bought some high temp 10mm wires and then bought the heat-proof sleeves for them. I haven't had any problems since.

Of course this could be stopping the wires from arching also.

[Dojo2000]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by LimitedE:
I had a re-occuring misfire in cylinder #4 for about 8 months. The car would fall on it's face during hard acceleration. After pouring over $800 into fixing the problem. I decided to see if heat was playing a factor. I bought some high temp 10mm wires and then bought the heat-proof sleeves for them. I haven't had any problems since.

Of course this could be stopping the wires from arching also.<hr></blockquote>

:eek: OMG thats a lot of money!

I didn't go through that much money, but if you want a good laugh you can read my story.
http://www.camarov6.com/cgi-bin/ulti...&f=16&t=000690

[LimitedE]

:eek: Thats nutz!