how to test for a intermitten missfire?

[staticbrainwash]

after my car heats, and half cools, i get what i think is an intermitten missfire.

anyone know how i can test for this to see which cyl. is having the problem?

aside from taking it in to see if it's throwing a code, i know there's another way.

 

[heavyD]

If it happens when your car is hot it could very well be your spark plug wires or plugs (main two culprits of misfire). Change them out and start from there.

 

[staticbrainwash]

yeah, thats where im starting. . .

if i had leaking spark plug seals in the valve cover, could that cause it too? or would that just make be burn oil?

 

[staticbrainwash]

im doing plugs and wires, and while im at it. im doing a fuel filter, and a VC gasket set.

i know there is a tool or something used to test for a missing cyl. come on. . . someone has to know what it is.

 

[trbotaln]

You need to hook your car up to a scope. It will show you both primary and secondary ignition patterns and it will also show you power balance between all of the cylinders. Scopes are expensive but most shops still use them.

 

[Snail Tuning]

there is an easy way to test this, but it has to be done when the car is having the problem.

carfully pull each plug wire when the car is having the problem. start on one side and work your way to the other. if when you pull the wire, there is no change, then that cylinder is your problem, and could be your plug, wire, coil, or transistsor pack.

also if you pull the plug and the car dies, then that cylinder is ok, because the engine is dependant on that cylinder to keep it running.

be carefully when doing this, as if you pull a good one, it will spark and can shock you really hard.

also my car had this problem, and it seemed to be the plugs on the transistor, and coil pack. and the sparkplugs would never really get a tight fit in the coil pack, so i spread the ends out and then pluged them back it.