stanged1970

Ok, my gf has had her car stall right after start up. We usually waited about 10 min and then it would start ok. It only did this 2 or 3 times. I changed the spark plugs and it hasnt done it since. I dont know if it's related to the current problem we're having, but just wanted to share some background.

We've had P0401 forever and since we live in a county that doesnt require emissions we didnt worry about it. We'll we just started having misfire problems. First it was only P0300. When I looked it up, it stated that an EGR problem could cause this. So I decided I was going to pull the intake and clean it up without doing the fix. Before doing that I was trying go through as much troubleshooting as I could without forking over any cash to the parts store. The car ended up spitting codes P0301-P0306 after a while which concerned me. When the misfire problems started they were all of a sudden. So that, to me, meant that it couldnt really be related to something that occurs gradually, i.e. EGR stuff. Even so, I did take the EGR valve off, cleaned it, checked it and it did work. I even left it off, plugged the intake port and ran the car. It was still idling rough still so that ruled out the EGR valve. I then checked the base timing. It seems to be fine. (The Haynes shows the timing backwards compared to what I have on this car. They show a red dot on the left, for 10 degress BTDC, and a white dot on the right, for TDC. All I have a four tick marks on the crank pully. Apparently, the three closely spaced tick marks are for 8,10 and 12 deg BTDC and then the fourth mark to the LEFT of all those are for TDC. Don't kow why what is. Just thought I'd share.) Anyway, I then proceeded to check fuel pressure. After depressurizing I took the pulse damper thing off of the fuel line near the regulator so I could attach the pressure gauge. My stupid kit didnt have the right adaptor so I did that for nothing. After that I assumed the pressure was ok with intentions of checking it after I got the right attachment. I checked for vacuum leaks and found non. I used the ol spray carb cleaner everywhere trick that works better for carbed cars. No surges in idle. FINALLY, right before calling it a night I decided to take the spark plugs off to check them. I didnt consider this before because I had just changed them about 1500mi ago. Well cyl #2 was a little brown around the cermic and had a bit of gunk, just a little and wasn't bad. SO, I decided to put the timing light the the coil leads and they flashed EXCEPT #2. I finally got somewhere. I swapped the coil with another cylinder and the misfire followed the coil. Cylinder 2 was firing, but it's original coil, which i moved to cyl #4 was not. There we go. I have a bad coil now. This is as far as I got. I'm going to buy a new coil, install it and see if that fixes everything.
The reason I'm writing a novel is because, from the stuff I've read the last few days, it seems as if a lot of people see the same set of codes, but no one has really posted any solutions. I've read that it could be clogged EGR ports, valve clearances, timing belt jumping, fuel pressure problems, bad injectors, bad coils, bad spark plugs, bad sensors, etc. That was a little overwhelming at first, so I decided to try the cheap stuff first. Although it very well could be any of those things, I'm really hoping it's this one bad coil. If it does fix my problem, it makes me wonder how 1 bad coil can cause the PCM to spit out misfire codes for all the other cylinders too.
Well, as soon as I replace that coil I will clear the codes, drive around a bit and followup here. Hopefully, this helps some people out there. Thanks.

phootbag

I'm assuming that post is full of useful information. I just don't have the energy to read it. Install an EGR pipe kit for the P0401 and you probably need a valve adjustment.

phootbag

Jesus. I read your post...

Replace the coil. Misfire monitors on that vehicle are inaccurate. It knows there is a misfire but not which cylinder, usually.

Sounds like you fixed the car.

stanged1970

Thanks for the feedback, but your reply is a good example of why I posted this. Most people just say, "This is what you need, do this." Then a few hundred dollars later people are still having trouble because, even though some of these common problem have common solutions, a lot of them don't. I could go through the trouble of either ripping the top side of my engine off to adjust valves that may or may not need adjusting or take it in and spend money on it, but it's better to give it some thought and take a more logical approach. The EGR fix isn't really worth it to me at $140 if the problem only really nags every few years and all you have to do is clean it out. You may be right, though, but I'm just passing on my experiences to save people the hassle. We'll see what a new coil does.

stanged1970

replaced that single faulty coil and after clearing codes none came back except egr one, p0401, which I expected due to clogged passages. I can live with that. no value adjustment necessary

phootbag

Your post is a good example of why few people deserve anything more than a quick guess, if that. You aren't willing to pay someone who knows how to interperet a data list to accurately diagnose your car but you expect people to tell you exactly what's wrong. Then you criticise someone who isn't getting paid that suggests a common cause of your symptom.

I should have been able to read between the lines of your first post to realize this but then again, who the hell could have?

stanged1970

I never once asked a question in my original post. I specifically said I was posting my experience just in case anyone else was having the same problems with their car. I came to the conclusion that one bad coil can make your car spit out codes that make the problem seem like more than it really is and based on everything I read on several forums about my specific problem I never found a definitive answer from anyone that mapped symptoms to solutions. If you think I was being shy or deceptive and trying to get suggestions from people who read between the lines then you're a little off. This is a forum. If I have a question I'll just ask it. BTW a big part of the forum appeal IS the fact that you may find info here that will save you from taking to the shop or is that off?

phootbag

Your first reply proves my point.

stanged1970

How's that? I still never asked any questions about my problems. I just shared my experiences. I don't know why you're all bent on this. Originally you suggested something for me to try after admitting to not even reading my post. Again, thanks for your suggestions about adjusting the valves, but I never had to do that. I never had to spend the time taking the top half of my engine apart just to adjust valves. This is where I was coming from.... when I first started having a problem with misfires on every cylinder, I realized it could have been a number of things. When I did a google search I saw that lot of other people were having the same symptoms, but I never found a forum with feedback from the people that were having problems. Those people only stated what they were going to try and then never said if it worked or not. What I did here was connect the symptoms my car was having, with what I tried and with what actually worked. THAT'S ALL. Again, since you don't seem to get it, I never asked any questions or made any requests for advice. Move on now, your hacky sack needs you.

phootbag

You are the one who doesn't "get it". My point is that you rely on google searches and forums. You will not pay anyone who knows what they are doing to diagnose your car. You critisize suggestions but aren't willing to pay for answers. You are typical. You are the norm. You posted here because you are proud of yourself not because you wanted to share an experience. That I don't care about. I only had a problem the moment you began to critisize a suggestion, a free suggestion. It doesn't matter if you asked a question or if I posted anything relevant to your topic. You critisize something which is free.

I did not read your post because a paragraph that lasts 1000 words is unreadable.