2005 Dodge Grand Caravan, 3.8L, 201k miles - Occasional fishbite misfire when cold. Eventually started fishbite misfiring all the time. No codes set. My records showed the iridium plugs and wires had 83k on them and one boot had what appeared to be some carbon tracking in it. New plugs and wires fixed it right up.
2013 Chevrolet Cruze with 1.4L turbo, 165k miles - Son's car. He diagnosed it as a a failing clutch causing it to buck and jerk when shifting. Car was also was setting faults for loss of communication with stability control system. Only code releated to misfire was P0300. OEM plugs had less than 10k miles on them. Decided to pull coil pack and look at boots and plugs. Found two "posts" were broken off the coil pack (where the boots slip over) and the two mating contact springs were corroded and rusty. $85 and 1 week later, I had a new OEM coil pack from Rockauto and problem was fixed. It also resolved the loss of communication with stability control system.
2008 Chevrolet Cobalt, 2.2L, 185k miles - Daughter calls from work and says car ran fine in morning but now it is bucking and jerking and has a flashing engine light and can she drive home? I told her to try. She makes it home and I go for a spin. Smells like it is running really rich. Pull GM codes with Autel MaxiAP AP200 and find P0300. Check generic OBD2 codes and (oddly) find that it reports only a more specific P0304 cylinder 4 misfire. Pull beauty cover from top of engine so I can inspect coils and plugs and out of the corner of my eye, I see a strand of copper wire exposed in the wiring harness. End result is that it looks like a rodent chewed through 2 wires. A bit of time and couple inches of solder later, it's back in business.
2013 Chevrolet Cruze with 1.4L turbo, 165k miles - Son's car. He diagnosed it as a a failing clutch causing it to buck and jerk when shifting. Car was also was setting faults for loss of communication with stability control system. Only code releated to misfire was P0300. OEM plugs had less than 10k miles on them. Decided to pull coil pack and look at boots and plugs. Found two "posts" were broken off the coil pack (where the boots slip over) and the two mating contact springs were corroded and rusty. $85 and 1 week later, I had a new OEM coil pack from Rockauto and problem was fixed. It also resolved the loss of communication with stability control system.
2008 Chevrolet Cobalt, 2.2L, 185k miles - Daughter calls from work and says car ran fine in morning but now it is bucking and jerking and has a flashing engine light and can she drive home? I told her to try. She makes it home and I go for a spin. Smells like it is running really rich. Pull GM codes with Autel MaxiAP AP200 and find P0300. Check generic OBD2 codes and (oddly) find that it reports only a more specific P0304 cylinder 4 misfire. Pull beauty cover from top of engine so I can inspect coils and plugs and out of the corner of my eye, I see a strand of copper wire exposed in the wiring harness. End result is that it looks like a rodent chewed through 2 wires. A bit of time and couple inches of solder later, it's back in business.
