2008 Chevrolet Aveo Misfire uphill (Chevy Again)

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Jul 19, 2025
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There was a thread about this here:


I was not sure whether to reply there or just start a new thread.

Anyway, my neighbors car is a 2008 Chevy Aveo5 1.6L with 120k on the clock. It has had a misfire off and on, but I was never able to really look at it because he drives it too much. But, in recent months, it has become worse. It seems to happen only uphill at low RPM, just like others have posted about. The code is misfire cylinder 2

I found the spark plugs 3 and 4 were covered in oil due to a valve cover gasket leak. I cleaned everything out and it was fine again, for a while. The problem returned eventually. I thought it was odd that it would say misfire on 2. I did not know at the time that 2 and 3 shared the same coil.

I pulled the plugs and boy they are worn out. You could drive a bus through the gap. The actual metal was worn along with the tip. I swapped 2 and 3 to see if that would make a difference. It was good again (for a while), and the problem returned. When it misfired, you could actually smell the oil burning. So finally, I fixed the valve cover gasket leak and now there is no more oil pouring into the spark plug area.

With all of that done, the problem remains. I thought *maybe* the constant oil on the plug wires had caused them to fail, so I put new wires, same issue. At this point, I pulled all of the plugs for inspection and found #3 to be cracked in the ceramic (a big one), which was originally on #2, but the code is still for #2.

I ordered new plugs and a coil pack. It needs new plugs anyway and I see that many people have had coil issues. Here is the odd part. I moved the cracked plug to #4, #2 to #1 and went for a test drive. Still #2 is the misfire.

So my question is, can half of the coil go bad? I assumed that a twin fire coil was sort of one piece. I have never seen part of it fail, unless there is some internal crack or something that would cause half of it to not work properly.

As another test while we wait for parts, I switched the #2 and #3 wire. I did not realize it is a wasted spark system and we could do that. Went for a test drive, works fine until the hill, then misfire. What I was hoping for was a #3 misfire, but no codes popped up.

I hope the coil is bad and that solves the problem. I just wanted some input or theories for reference that other people might look up.


Note: I went for iridium plugs. But from what people have said here they prefer copper or platinum for longevity.
 
if the coil fails, you would get misfires on cyl 1-4 or 2-3 or all cylinders, in a wasted spark setup. if it's not the spark plug, there's an issue inside cylinder 2. most likely it's carboned up.

edit, if the coil is marginal, and cyl 2 has more compression than cyl 3 it could be that it just fails on cyl 2.
 
if the coil fails, you would get misfires on cyl 1-4 or 2-3 or all cylinders, in a wasted spark setup. if it's not the spark plug, there's an issue inside cylinder 2. most likely it's carboned up.

edit, if the coil is marginal, and cyl 2 has more compression than cyl 3 it could be that it just fails on cyl 2.

That is what I was thinking based on my old school thinking. Also, if it is a 2-3 twin fire system, how does it know #2 is the problem?

I changed the plugs just now and had a drive. Immediate feeling is great. The idle is more smooth and I can feel more advance timing because it really zips from a stop. I did the hill test, and it flew up the hill until the very end where it started to misfire again. Previously, you couldn't even make it up the hill without downshifting. I did not put in the coil pack yet because I just wanted to do one thing at a time to find the culprit.

I know that many people mention compression. It never occured to me that would be an issue because the car runs great otherwise. If the compression was low on a cylinder in a 4 cylinder car, it *should* be sluggish all the time.

Also,when it does the misfire (only uphill), you can smell the burning oil in the cabin. This is why I thought it was external (spark jumping to the engine) which is covered in oil from the previous valve cover gasket leak. Time for an engine wash too.

You can go 50MPH on a flat road at wide open throttle, but before you couldn't go 25MPH up a hill.

IMG_0259.webp
 
That is what I was thinking based on my old school thinking. Also, if it is a 2-3 twin fire system, how does it know #2 is the problem?

I changed the plugs just now and had a drive. Immediate feeling is great. The idle is more smooth and I can feel more advance timing because it really zips from a stop. I did the hill test, and it flew up the hill until the very end where it started to misfire again. Previously, you couldn't even make it up the hill without downshifting. I did not put in the coil pack yet because I just wanted to do one thing at a time to find the culprit.

I know that many people mention compression. It never occured to me that would be an issue because the car runs great otherwise. If the compression was low on a cylinder in a 4 cylinder car, it *should* be sluggish all the time.

Also,when it does the misfire (only uphill), you can smell the burning oil in the cabin. This is why I thought it was external (spark jumping to the engine) which is covered in oil from the previous valve cover gasket leak. Time for an engine wash too.

You can go 50MPH on a flat road at wide open throttle, but before you couldn't go 25MPH up a hill.

View attachment 290406

how does the car now it's cyl 2? the engine ecu detects the misfire through the oxygen sensor, so when the fault was detected, which cylinder just exhausted?

Compression is an issue as the more gas mixture there is in the cylinder, the more voltage you need for the spark to jump. 1000V will be plenty to jump the wasted spark, but the remaining 10-30000V is needed to spark the cylinder that's filled. so if cylinder 2 is performing better than cylinder 3 its possible you just get misfires there. Turbo cars need stronger coils or less gap for that reason. there doesn't need to be much of a difference if the coil is weakening.

I guss you could try reducing the gap slightly to see if it improves things, as a diagnostic help. but the new plugs kinda did that already, and the issue improved....

Worn or oiled plug leads are never usefull.
 
I had a Ford Fusion that would get a cylinder 3 misfire when going up hills. Root cause was a plugged up fuel filter.

I've had one plugged filter, id resulted in not revving under load past 5k rpm (peak torque on that engine) and reduced power but no misfires. That car had very powerful coils though and 2 plugs per cylinder so maybe it was above average tolerant to lean running. The throttle was cable operated, so it couldn't reduce the air supply like modern cars are able to.
 
I have seen a waste spark system fail to fire one cylinder and not it's twin. The problem was the coil. Doesn't make sense and I don't see how it is possible but it happens. Misfire detection is primarily preformed by the Crankshaft Position Sensor.

Suggest, buy some fuel system cleaner with PEA in it. Example: Techron or Gumout fuel sys cleaner. Dampen a rag with it and clean the throttle body, put the remainder in the fuel tank. Bad fuel injector might be cured with this but it would take time.

If the fuel pump/filter was a restricting fuel flow, you would not be able to zip up the hill after changing the plugs.
 
I had a Ford Fusion that would get a cylinder 3 misfire when going up hills. Root cause was a plugged up fuel filter.
Could that Fusion have had a weak/plugged/something injector on cylinder 3 which might have compounded the problem? Wondering about a possible explanation as to why just that cylinder would miss.
 
Could that Fusion have had a weak/plugged/something injector on cylinder 3 which might have compounded the problem? Wondering about a possible explanation as to why just that cylinder would miss.
No idea. It’s still on its original coils and going on 200K now. All that was changed was the fuel filter and it has been running fine since then. My sister drives it as her commutermobile.
 
On to the Coil:

Since the plugs did not fix much, I went ahead with the coil. I did find around the #2 post there were white marks which looks like escaping spark. Also some of the oil leak had sprayed over to the 2/3 post. Part of the plastic was missing from the top of the post. I thought for sure the new coil would fix it.

Put on the new coil with confidence, and SAME.

So I am at loss. Sure the intake/TB could be gummed up, but what is with the oil smell during misfire? I have seen intake manifolds that were just filled with oil from say a bad PCV. Going to pull the intake hose and have a look next.
 
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