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Bad Misfire

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Old 12-11-2012, 01:09 PM
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Unhappy Bad Misfire

Hey guys, I've been having some issues with my car (2000 Trans Am WS6). Randomly driving home the other night I went to accelerate from a stop sign and the car started shaking and seemed like it lost like half its power. I knew it was a misfire but the surprising thing is when I pressed the gas a little more it just *sprung* out of it like nothing ever happened. Then it started doing it again and this time the SES light came on and started flashing. Long story short I've been trying not to drive my car much but if I have to (its my dd) it seems like it only has the problem when its cold or just starts to warm up. Once its hot the misfire goes away and all is well. I'm kinda stumped here (no I haven't got it scanned yet, plan on doing that Thursday) but do you guys have any ideas? I searched on here but couldn't find anything that related to my exact problem.

Btw its got new ACDelco iridium plugs and new MSD wires. The car also has headers but I checked the wires and they aren't burnt from what I could see and they are all tight.

Here's a quick vid.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xp0re...ature=youtu.be
Old 12-11-2012, 08:11 PM
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How old are your o2 sensors?
Old 12-11-2012, 09:47 PM
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Umm.. not sure actually, since I've owned the car (about 7 months I've never replaced them). Thinking about it that might be the problem, when the car is dead cold it doesn't misfire, when it starts to misfire it warms up and when its fully warm it quits misfiring again. O2s don't work until the car is warmed up right? Thanks for the reply
Old 12-11-2012, 09:56 PM
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check the coil packs aswell.. i had a similar issue
Old 12-11-2012, 10:17 PM
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Well after doing some more research, I don't think a bad o2 will cause a misfire so yea its probably a coil. My scanner will be in tomorrow so I'll let you guys know what I find.
Old 12-12-2012, 05:46 PM
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Ok, after hooking my scan tool up to the car I got two codes, P0300 and P0152. So I cleared the codes then started the car and waited for it to start misfiring again and when the SES light came on I shut the car off and read to see what code it was and it was a P0306... So I know its #6 cylinder that's causing the misfire. As far as the P0152, which is '02 Sensor Circuit High Voltage (Bank 2 Sensor 1)' Would a misfire on #6 cause that to misread or fail entirely?
Old 12-12-2012, 10:22 PM
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Originally Posted by av8er1555
Ok, after hooking my scan tool up to the car I got two codes, P0300 and P0152. So I cleared the codes then started the car and waited for it to start misfiring again and when the SES light came on I shut the car off and read to see what code it was and it was a P0306... So I know its #6 cylinder that's causing the misfire. As far as the P0152, which is '02 Sensor Circuit High Voltage (Bank 2 Sensor 1)' Would a misfire on #6 cause that to misread or fail entirely?
If you have a miss fire you could get that code because the O2 sensor is reading high levels of fuel. Because a cylinder is not firing correctly it will cause a rich condition and cause the voltages on that sensor to be above what its suppose to be and act as if the sensor is bad. In this case, ignore the 152 code. P0300 is a random mis fire on more then one cylinder. When was the last time you replaced the fuel filter?
Old 12-12-2012, 11:40 PM
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Originally Posted by av8er1555
Ok, after hooking my scan tool up to the car I got two codes, P0300 and P0152. So I cleared the codes then started the car and waited for it to start misfiring again and when the SES light came on I shut the car off and read to see what code it was and it was a P0306... So I know its #6 cylinder that's causing the misfire. As far as the P0152, which is '02 Sensor Circuit High Voltage (Bank 2 Sensor 1)' Would a misfire on #6 cause that to misread or fail entirely?
You need to replace that 02 sensor.....

When they start to fail....YES...they do cause misfires. They cause a rich condition which causes misfires, hesitation, stumbling and loss of power, then when you press the gas pedal and open the TB blade you lean it out and it takes off strong.

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Old 12-14-2012, 01:05 AM
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So I pulled all 8 spark plugs out and re gapped them to .040, put them back in and tested the coil packs with a multi meter. I put one of the prongs on first pin and the other prong on the other three to check resistance. Pins 2 and 3 on the good coils read around 120 ohms and the 4th pin read about 70 ohms. When I checked #6 pins 2 and 3 were at about 36 ohms and the 4th one was like 15... So I'm picking up a new coil tomorrow in the morning and I'll update you guys to see if it cures my problem. If not, I'll get a new O2 sensor.
Old 12-14-2012, 01:49 AM
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Originally Posted by av8er1555
So I pulled all 8 spark plugs out and re gapped them to .040, put them back in and tested the coil packs with a multi meter. I put one of the prongs on first pin and the other prong on the other three to check resistance. Pins 2 and 3 on the good coils read around 120 ohms and the 4th pin read about 70 ohms. When I checked #6 pins 2 and 3 were at about 36 ohms and the 4th one was like 15... So I'm picking up a new coil tomorrow in the morning and I'll update you guys to see if it cures my problem. If not, I'll get a new O2 sensor.
.050 is the best gap for any N/A LSx engine...from bone stock to 600 RWHP. No less than .050

.040 is more of a nitrous gap. Its not terrible, but its definitely not optimal for N/A engines.

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Old 12-14-2012, 12:52 PM
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Well the coil didn't fix the problem... So I guess I need to pick up an O2 sensor, just ACDelco?

And yea about the spark plug gap... do you think it'll be fine with the .040 gap? or do I need to purchase a nitrous kit lol jk.

Autozone carries Denso, I'll just get one of those.

Last edited by av8er1555; 12-14-2012 at 01:06 PM.
Old 12-14-2012, 09:29 PM
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Originally Posted by av8er1555
Well the coil didn't fix the problem... So I guess I need to pick up an O2 sensor, just ACDelco?

And yea about the spark plug gap... do you think it'll be fine with the .040 gap? or do I need to purchase a nitrous kit lol jk.

Autozone carries Denso, I'll just get one of those.

Hahaha....yea, a 250 DP shot will do it.

Go to rockauto.com or amazon.com
Get the Denso 02 sensors...they're the best. They sell for $35-$45 each at those sites. Densos are EXACTLY what you will get in the AC Delco box at any GM dealership. They use Denso 02 sensors as their own.

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Old 12-15-2012, 01:02 PM
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Update: Got the O2 sensor in and all is well I had no idea that a failing O2 could cause a car to run that bad lol. So thanks everyone for the help!
Old 12-15-2012, 08:22 PM
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Originally Posted by av8er1555
Update: Got the O2 sensor in and all is well I had no idea that a failing O2 could cause a car to run that bad lol. So thanks everyone for the help!
Good deal....yea, those were classic symptoms of bad 02 sensors........they can cause all kinds of weird ****.

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Old 01-01-2013, 04:22 PM
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was the miss just in #6? I have been fighting with my 5.3 (2004 avalanche) for a couple weeks now. miss fire in #6. i can watch it real time on my Diablo tuner. Ive swapped plugs, wires, coils, injectors, compression is around 170, got good pulses on the injectors, and good spark. I just did a intake manifold gasket today and the miss hasn't moved or changed. Im at a loss.
Old 01-04-2013, 08:33 AM
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I'm glad I came across this I just posted a thread yesterday about the same problem. Thanks



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