'98 Plymouth Voyager: engine miss

[u_say_go]

1998 Plymouth Voyager: 2.3 liter 105,000 miles. Recently started running really rough, especially when taking off from a stop, freeway cruising speed the engine runs great. Seems like an engine miss, like a fouled out spark plug but they look good.
A few days ago the van was left parked with almost no gas (wife), it sat for 2 days before filling it up, that's when I noticed the "miss", and the check engine light came on at this time. When taking off from a stop and the van is chuggin away, the C.E. light flashes.

any thoughts?

[70challenger]

obviously sounds like a misfire code and when the light falshes, that means that the problem is happening and the computer is seeing that. see if a buddy/ autozone can pull all the code(s) and report back.

[Prince Valiant]

Doesn't the 98 still go by the "key trick" too?

[u_say_go]

went to auto zone and used their scanner....code came back "cylinder 3 misfire", which made sense cuz that's exactly what is seemed like- a misfire.

Pulled the spark plug on cylinder 3 and it was horrible; caked with fuel and gunk. replaced all 4 plugs and it's still chuggin away and the check engine light is still on and still flashing. I pulled the boot on each plug and checked for a spark, seems like each wire is throwing a decent arc.

any other tips?

[theavenger333]

get some heet in the fuel tank and a fresh tank of fuel to start with. leavin a gas tank empty isn't good in cold, can get some condensation. how old is the exhaust/cat? PCV Valve?

[Prince Valiant]

Check the cranking compression if you've got a tester too....

[Sleeper Sierra]

replace the ignition wires. They are very common to be a problem on these engines.

[u_say_go]

I just got done testing the fuel pressure: reading should be between 43-53psi, I had 51psi.
I also checked the spark again: all I did was put a bolt into the plug wire boot and rested it against the intake, cranked the engine and there was an arc. Does this really mean anything though? Could the plug wires still be bad?
Earlier today I filled up with premium and ran 2 bottles of ISO Heat (red), the van was chugging really bad, misfire and the occasional slight backfire. Now tonight, it's running better, but not great.

again, thanks for your input everyone, I appreciate your help.

[Car Guy]

Using premium gas will only hurt it if anything, especially with the cold temperatures....

Give it a couple days and see if it clears up completely......






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[70challenger]

new wires should be a first. when cold, damp, rainy, wet conditions the plug wires will ark on differant places or when they get hot, they will have to much resistance to fire the plug. remember spark is lazy and wants to take the easiest path to ground.

[Car Guy]

remember spark is lazy and wants to take the easiest path to ground.

My shop teacher in high school used to say that 'spark' was similar to most of the students in attendance, but that was the extent of it because nobody was 'energized' about classwork.....:goof



One other thing you could try (to find out for sure if it's the wires) is getting the engine warm and lightly misting the wires with water from a spray bottle. If you do it in a dark area you might also be able to see the spark(s) jumping ground with your eyes.....:wooo








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