beertracker

My Camaro V6 has started running rough. It seems as though the engine is missing on a cylinder. This occurs at idle and normal driving speeds. The engine has 79000 miles, fuel filter and air filter have been changed recently. I bought the car used at 50,000 miles and it came with platinum spark plugs which have 4 ground terminals each. I don't know many miles these plugs are good for? No error codes are reported.

I plan to remove each spark plug wire individually and see if the engine runs any worse. This way I can isolate the problem to a specific cylinder.

I noticed each spark plug wire has a metal housing that fits over the spark plug. What is this? Is it individual coils for each spark plug? Do these ever go bad. I suppose a ohm meter would tell me if I have a bad spark plug wire?

Any ideas on this problem?

Thanks,
BT

eseibel67

iTrader: (10)

The metal around the plug is a heat shield.

Before you check your cylinders individually, unplug your MAF sensor and see what happens.

It's always best to check the easy stuff first in case you get lucky.

baalic

iTrader: (8)

if these are the bosch plat 4 plugs, I would replace them... Ac Delco Irridiums seem to work great in the v6's. The plat 4's seem to foul out a lot more then they should. Most people only recomend them on 4 bangers and such... I would check all your wires. Make sure there is no damage to any of the wires, and make sure your 3 coils are still good. You should have 3 coil packs. Im pretty sure they arn't all one coil....I'll have to double check mine again. The 3800 engines seem to be pretty decent engines providing you take care of them. Mine has about 80k on it, 20k of those miles mine and I've never had a single problem and get 30 mpg with an average speed of 105 mph on the highway... 33 at normal highway speeds...

birdmaro

iTrader: (45)

check ur coils

SparkyJJO

iTrader: (11)

Those plugs are 'meh' at best. As mentioned, the AC Delco iridiums are much better. I also found the Autolite double platinum plugs seem to work well too and are cheaper than the AC Delcos.

Check the coils as well, and plug wires. First time I had a miss on mine was from a rusted plug wire connection in the boot. Check coil packs too, my 2-5 pack partially cooked its 5 output so it would run bad.

beertracker

Problem solved. I replaced the Bosch + 4 ground platinum terminal plugs with AC Delcom Iridium. It runs better now. Three of the old plugs were finger tight; they backed out lose. The center electrode was wore down even with the insulator. Here is the real culprit; one plug was coated in heavy carbon and reeked of gasoline. The same plug had stripped threads on the screw on cap electrode so it wasn't making good contact and the plug wasn't firing good. I suppose the injector is carboned up also. Hopefully some fuel injector cleaner will take care of this. The wires looked ok and I didn't mess with the coil packs.

How do you test coil packs?

Thanks to all who responded.

BT

doublea87

iTrader: (16)

easiest way to test coil packs is by swaping them with a known good one. or just with another pack, keeping track of where they stated at. if you have a running issue on a cyl. you know of already then the problem will move with the bad coil. keep wires exactly where they came off of.

nascarnut08

I would try a bottle of AMSOIL PI. It'll clean all that stuff out. Also, which plug was fouled?

adolfo217

can anyone help me out, so i got a 1998 camaro v6 3.8 its been running rough and has a ticking noise that wont go away for about 6 months, ive replaced catalyc converter ,mass air flow sensor, oxygen sensors, heads have been rebuilt , i had new lifters installed time chain and tensioner , crankshaft bearings , motor has been rebuilt twice and it just wont run right ,i hav put too much money on it to give up on it so any help ?

runtwrestlin

iTrader: (3)

As my dad told me before my swap, "It sounds like you're missing...two cylinders."

Glad you found the problem man! I had to replace a coil pack on my V6. It may help to put tape on the spark plug wires and number them, that way you won't have to do any guess work if you're like me and confuse yourself.