NOVICE MECHANIC ALERT
Roughly two weeks ago I had an intermittent cylinder 6 misfire creep up. Started coasting to a stop at a stop light. Took it to my mechanic, pulled the plugs, tested compression (all good there) and tested the wires. Wires were good, plug 6 wasn't seated well. So plugs got replaced, and problem stopped. Cpde was P0306 repeating. Problem is on the FSM the possible causes were quite wide.
A day later, problem resurfaced, same thing, coasting to a stop. Drove it back to mechanic and we tested the block to ensure no exhaust was in the coolant. All good there (thank effing gawded it wasn't the head gasket... yet).
I diagnosed it to an engine harness (mine was looking ratty AF near the EGR pipe). Cleaned the MAF, deleted the EGR. Still misfiring, but idle smoothed out thanks to the MAF being cleaned and a OEM air filter being put in. PO had a s***ty Chines air filter in there.
Ordered a new engine harness courtesy of Cruiserparts.net. Spent 5 days swapping the harness for the old one, even found a surprise from the previous owner who had spliced in a kill switch in to the harness of all things. New harness was in place, and replaced the two throttle body coolant hoses, and PCV valve (cause why not I'm already in there and one was toast anyway and leaking on the #4 injector). Finally got it all back together... still misfiring.
Buddy who is a trained mechanic who helped me out on day 6 said "eff it, I think I can get the fuel rail off without taking off the upper intake manifold." We limp it to his shop and take out an injector stethoscope. Sure enough, #6 is stuck open. Luckily I had ordered the 4 hole injector kit from Cruiserparts. We got the rail off and replaced all 6 injectors with the new ones which fit like a glove. Sure enough.... problem solved. I even pulled the distributor cap and rotor to see if I was leaking there. Nope, all good.
Clue #1- #6 cylinder compression was high, indicating it was getting fuel but not enough spark
Clue #2- Gas was ejecting from the exhaust on to the ground, both felt and smelt if you put you hand down by it
Clue #3- Pull the injector and had more then a little fuel spill everywhere, including
So now i have a new fuel pump, new injectors and gaskets/o-rings, new PCV valve, 2 new small coolant hoses, and a cleaned MAF and deleted EGR. Its running smooth as hell now. No more stumbling idle, and a very prompt pick up. That and I have a bunch of spares to stash for the future. Will be having the old harness refreshed, along with the old injectors cleaned and fixed, will be stocking appropriate coolant hoses both big and small to carry in the truck, and even came out with a few FP regulator, new distributor cap and rotor, and new wires to also stash away.
Roughly two weeks ago I had an intermittent cylinder 6 misfire creep up. Started coasting to a stop at a stop light. Took it to my mechanic, pulled the plugs, tested compression (all good there) and tested the wires. Wires were good, plug 6 wasn't seated well. So plugs got replaced, and problem stopped. Cpde was P0306 repeating. Problem is on the FSM the possible causes were quite wide.
A day later, problem resurfaced, same thing, coasting to a stop. Drove it back to mechanic and we tested the block to ensure no exhaust was in the coolant. All good there (thank effing gawded it wasn't the head gasket... yet).
I diagnosed it to an engine harness (mine was looking ratty AF near the EGR pipe). Cleaned the MAF, deleted the EGR. Still misfiring, but idle smoothed out thanks to the MAF being cleaned and a OEM air filter being put in. PO had a s***ty Chines air filter in there.
Ordered a new engine harness courtesy of Cruiserparts.net. Spent 5 days swapping the harness for the old one, even found a surprise from the previous owner who had spliced in a kill switch in to the harness of all things. New harness was in place, and replaced the two throttle body coolant hoses, and PCV valve (cause why not I'm already in there and one was toast anyway and leaking on the #4 injector). Finally got it all back together... still misfiring.
Buddy who is a trained mechanic who helped me out on day 6 said "eff it, I think I can get the fuel rail off without taking off the upper intake manifold." We limp it to his shop and take out an injector stethoscope. Sure enough, #6 is stuck open. Luckily I had ordered the 4 hole injector kit from Cruiserparts. We got the rail off and replaced all 6 injectors with the new ones which fit like a glove. Sure enough.... problem solved. I even pulled the distributor cap and rotor to see if I was leaking there. Nope, all good.
Clue #1- #6 cylinder compression was high, indicating it was getting fuel but not enough spark
Clue #2- Gas was ejecting from the exhaust on to the ground, both felt and smelt if you put you hand down by it
Clue #3- Pull the injector and had more then a little fuel spill everywhere, including
So now i have a new fuel pump, new injectors and gaskets/o-rings, new PCV valve, 2 new small coolant hoses, and a cleaned MAF and deleted EGR. Its running smooth as hell now. No more stumbling idle, and a very prompt pick up. That and I have a bunch of spares to stash for the future. Will be having the old harness refreshed, along with the old injectors cleaned and fixed, will be stocking appropriate coolant hoses both big and small to carry in the truck, and even came out with a few FP regulator, new distributor cap and rotor, and new wires to also stash away.
