ok so im really needing some help. I have a 1997 Cavalier 4 door with a 2.2L. The car only has 77,000 miles and it and i have had it since new. The engine has always ran smooth without any problems. Recently I had replaced the plugs and also the plug wires. I drove it for about one hundred miles after the service and then it started to get cold over here in idaho then started to snow so i started driving my truck. I jumped in it one day the drive it around town and when it fired up it started running really rough, like it was miss firing or something like that., but it only lasted about ten seconds then it cleared up. Ever since that day when ever the engine i cold it runs like @!#$ but like i said over for a short time (seconds). This happened numerouse times (everytime) through out the months i didnt worry about it cause i never drove it but now im started to drive it again so i need to figure something out. Finally the other day i started it after sitting for about a month, it ran the worse i have ever experienced but for about 15 seconds and the check engine light came on. I scaned it and the code read as a miss fire in cylinder #3. So the wires on brand new, the plugs are brand new and it tookl this long for a code to pop up, and the miss firing only lasts about ten seconds. All the injectors are new as well. i am lost i need help please thanks................
maybe check the coil pack , could be the plug isnt gapped right, could be wire isnt on all the way..
heres what my gm manual reads for cylinder 3 misfire..
The powertrain control module (pcm) monitors both the crankshft position in order to detect engine missfire.
the pcm looks for the rabid decrease in the crankshaft speed associated with the engine missfire every 100 camshaft revolutions.
the pcm may require that several consecutive misfire conditions are detected before storeing this dtc and before illuminating the mil.
under misfire conditions ,the pcm may require more then one trip to set this dtc.
under a severe misfire,the pcm flashes the mil. A flashing mil indicates that there is a misfire that is capable of damaging the catalytic converter.the tourque converter clutch disables momentarily in order to determin if the misfire was due to a rough road condition (automatic transmission only)
conditions for setting the dtc
the misfire is greater then 12 counts.
the engine speed is somewhere between 469 rpm and 6,000 rpm.
battery voltage between 9 volts and 17 volts.
engine coolent between -7c(20 f) and 123 c (254 f)
the engine has been running more then 15 seconds.
the throttle position (tp) hasnt changed more then 8% in 1 second.
....
if need be, im bored and the manual is sitting next to me..I can give ya the whole right up for it..lol..just may take a little to type it up for ya...lol..
its a few small pages but has the walk through for checking on certain things and how to..as well as doing a did ya check this?then move on to step** or try this and then ***
Thanks man i really do appreciate your help and taking time to help me out on this. I pulled out # 3 plug and checked the gaping and it was off by 5 thousands. And the sad part about that was GM mechanic did this at my local dealership so they will be hearing form me. anyway that seems to have fixed the problem so again thatks man i needed your knowledge!!
Well i thought that would have fixed the problem but i was wrong! The reason why the car started fine that morning was because it was a warm day and the engine was not that cold. Well i dont know where to start now! I guess i will try the next thing on the list: Trail and Error
