3.8 Misfire, electrecution, etc.

[lil' jon]

Okay so my brother has a 98 bird with close to 100,000 miles. It's had a misfiring problem on and off for about a year now. Somedays it'll work fine, others it sounds like it's only running on 5 or less. He scanned it and got a cylinder 3 and 6 misfire. So I changed the first coil pack for him. That didn't fix it. Then he realized that #6 sparkplug wire was partially melted by the exhaust manifold. So he replaced that. That didn't fix it. So then he replaced #3 and #6 spark plugs. I'm still waiting to hear the results of that. But, I'm kinda skeptical that that will fix it either. My reason being that he just read in the chiltons manual that to test the computer you should tap on it with your finger while the engine is running. He did that and got a nice high voltage shock from a coil pack haha. Is that normal? I really wouldn't be surprised if the computer itself is the source of the misfire, because it got pretty wet during the spring thaw. Is it possible that whenever he "gets on it" (which is when the misfire usually first starts) sparks are just jumping from the coil packs to something metal and not getting to the plugs? Thanks for any help in advance. :]

[lookout4theyeti]

Re: 3.8 Misfire, electrecution, etc.

One way to test coils, is to pull one plug wire off at a time off the coils, and start the car. If it makes a sparking noise, then you know its good. Im not sure if thats what you did or not, but it kind of sounds like it.

You should get the ignition module tested. Autozone will do it for free if you take it in to them.

Hope that helps, not sure if I read your post right...

[Shodown]

Re: 3.8 Misfire, electrecution, etc.

Yeaaaaah, the PCM isnt supposed to spark, I'd have that checked out lol. If thats not the problem, then it could be the ICM (ignition control module). These 3.8's have had some problems with those causing misfires as well.

Edit* Sorry yetti, I just noticed you said the exact same thing about the ICM :o

[ZO6vette037]

Re: 3.8 Misfire, electrecution, etc.

I had almost the same problem with mine a while back but I only had #5 misfire. The enige had 82,000 miles and no matter what I did I was still getting the misfire code. It ended up being the fuel injector. I would check that.

[lil' jon]

Re: 3.8 Misfire, electrecution, etc.

no the pcm wasn't sparking it was either the icm or the coil packs as my brother described it. p.s. yeti sorry about ur "sebring" haha. people have made that mistake with mine too. you gotta admit it does resemble one from the side. :(

[auto666]

Re: 3.8 Misfire, electrecution, etc.

I had almost the same problem with mine a while back but I only had #5 misfire. The enige had 82,000 miles and no matter what I did I was still getting the misfire code. It ended up being the fuel injector. I would check that.

did you have a 3.4

[firechicken3800]

Re: 3.8 Misfire, electrecution, etc.

i had this sort of a problem before. i was sure it was my 1st coil (#6 and 3 coil) causing the misfire, but i had to replace all my coils to solve the problem. i read on another forum somewhere that if when coil goes bad, most likely all of them are. try replacing the other 2 coils, see what that does for you. you could be suprised, i was with mine. anyways, good luck on finding out the problem.

[ZO6vette037]

Re: 3.8 Misfire, electrecution, etc.

did you have a 3.4

Nope it was the 3.8

[lil' jon]

Re: 3.8 Misfire, electrecution, etc.

Well as for the bad fuel injector theory I don't think that's the case because the fuel injectors were rebuilt ~6 months ago in an attempt to solve the problem. It did run better after but it didn't solve the problem. It seems like the entire ignition system is just really messed up.

[kristen]

Re: 3.8 Misfire, electrecution, etc.

might as well just do all the coils, fresh wires and new plugs. i hate it when people just do one wire, or 2 plugs. just do them all at once. not that much money. and then you don't have to remember what is new.

[lil' jon]

Re: 3.8 Misfire, electrecution, etc.

okay so the car now has ALL new wires ALL new plugs and ALL new coil packs. Car runs mint. thanks everybody, that one was a real brain buster :D

[Shodown]

Re: 3.8 Misfire, electrecution, etc.

Glad you got it fixed man :tup:

[Linas]

Re: 3.8 Misfire, electrecution, etc.

Hi,

I have the same problem with my 2001 V6 firebird. I noticed that this problem usually happens in a humid weather, when it is raining or snowing. Some water gets through the hole, which is directly above 1st ignition coil (3rd and 6th cylinders) and I get the engine vibrating. The SES light is on and when I connected to computer, the error was 3rd cylinder misfire. What I am planning to do, is to seal and prevent water gettin on to engine and also to change spark wire and plugs, because I think I still have the factory ones.

I would like to know what spark wire and plugs are the best to use for V6? What do you recomend?

Also I have one problem, which I am not sure is related to mentioned above. Sometimes I get them temperature gauge showing nothing, the arrow doesn't rise. And the cooling fans are working all the time at full speed, even if I start a cold engine. I thought that it is related with SES light. But it happens even if there is no SES light on. I solve this problem by disconnecting the battery for some time and then it gets everyting to normal. I don't have the idea, why it keeps repeating from time to time.

[lookout4theyeti]

Re: 3.8 Misfire, electrecution, etc.

I would like to know what spark wire and plugs are the best to use for V6? What do you recomend?

Welcome to the Board,

I recommend getting the stock iridium ac delco plugs. For wires either get stock, or if you want something with a little less resistance you can get accel (i think makes performance wires for our car) as well as bosch or msd. Coils dont really make a difference. Most people cant tell a stock coil from an msd coil, so I say just go for the stock coils and save some money.