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Hey guys, it’s been a while since I have posted, but I have run into a bit of trouble and I was hoping someone could give me some advice. My 1999 V6 Camaro (stock 3.8, approx. 116,000 miles) started sputtering while driving the other day and is giving me a code PO300, which indicates a Random/ Multiple Cylinder Misfire. I went under my hood and decided to check the connections on my coils, and right off the bat, I found that the plug wire boots on the first coil (cylinders 6 & 3) were sitting up higher than they should be - in other words, they were not pushed all of the way down. This is very odd, because me and the car repair shop that I used last (the ones that I had a falling out with because their tow truck damaged the front end of my car when they towed it to the shop) had to be responsible. I know that I didn’t do it, so it had to have been them.
Anyway, so I pulled the boots off, and right away I see rust and corrosion on the electrodes. So I think, there’s the problem, but something inside of me was saying “if only it was that easy”. Well, I took the coil off and I clean the electrodes of all of the rust, clean out the plug wire boots with electronic cleaner spray and Q-tips, and coat everything with dielectric spark plug boot protector grease. Then, I put everything back together, and of course as I was expecting, I still have the same exact problem.
So then, I check to see if I am getting any spark from the coil, and it does not have any spark on either electrode. The middle coil (for cylinders 5 & 2) is sparking like it’s supposed to. I didn’t check the coil on the inside (cylinders 4 & 1), because if it wasn’t sparking, I don’t think that the car would be running at all. I even tried three spare coils that I have and even borrowed a coil off of my son’s 2000 Malibu to see if it could be that my coil had gone bad, but none of this worked. I also checked the voltage coming into the coil from the ignition module, and I was getting 25 volts (AC) on the right side terminal using a bolt on the fender well for ground. Now, this is what I don’t know - what is the voltage coming in to each coil from the ignition module supposed to be? I would think that it should be more than 25 volts. Is there not a possibility that if a misfire runs long enough, it can cause the ignition module to go bad? Also, does anyone know if there are any fuses or relays that could be the culprit?
Thanks in advance for any help.
Bruce
Anyway, so I pulled the boots off, and right away I see rust and corrosion on the electrodes. So I think, there’s the problem, but something inside of me was saying “if only it was that easy”. Well, I took the coil off and I clean the electrodes of all of the rust, clean out the plug wire boots with electronic cleaner spray and Q-tips, and coat everything with dielectric spark plug boot protector grease. Then, I put everything back together, and of course as I was expecting, I still have the same exact problem.
So then, I check to see if I am getting any spark from the coil, and it does not have any spark on either electrode. The middle coil (for cylinders 5 & 2) is sparking like it’s supposed to. I didn’t check the coil on the inside (cylinders 4 & 1), because if it wasn’t sparking, I don’t think that the car would be running at all. I even tried three spare coils that I have and even borrowed a coil off of my son’s 2000 Malibu to see if it could be that my coil had gone bad, but none of this worked. I also checked the voltage coming into the coil from the ignition module, and I was getting 25 volts (AC) on the right side terminal using a bolt on the fender well for ground. Now, this is what I don’t know - what is the voltage coming in to each coil from the ignition module supposed to be? I would think that it should be more than 25 volts. Is there not a possibility that if a misfire runs long enough, it can cause the ignition module to go bad? Also, does anyone know if there are any fuses or relays that could be the culprit?
Thanks in advance for any help.
Bruce
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