This keep happening to me. The car starts and it runs really rough and runs really rich from the exhaust smell. I think a cylinder is not firing. Engine check light goes on. After a minute or so the car levels out and runs fine. The other night I could not get it to run smooth. Left it over night and the next moring it started up fine. There is no pattern and every time I bring it to the garage they can never get it to fail. The engine check code only indicates a miss fire but not the cause. Anyone have anything like this happen?? The plug wires and plugs are only a few months old. It's getting to be a real drag wondering if my car will run right or not everyday :(
Ongoing issue with my 2000 - Any ideas please
Sep 29, 2006
4 Replies
Scott,
Just because the wires and plugs are new doesn't mean they couldn't be defective. If a plug is indeed not firing, close inspection should reveal one that is fouled or looks different than the other 3. If so, that's the path you need to follow - plug, wire, connections, etc. Possibly even an injector could be leaking or dirty.
Had the same symptoms-- No start, crank ok--nostart, backfire, start, run rough for short time. And all was intermittent! Cause on my 99 was flakey cam positon sensor.
There is another cause for crank ok, no start that I also ran across on the same 99. A weak battery may put out enough current to crank just a bit slower than normal, and not have enough voltage under the starter load to operate the ECU properly. The ECU protests by not providing ignition pulses.
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