Super Bad Misfire & Engine Stalling 2004 Grand Caravan?
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Super Bad Misfire & Engine Stalling 2004 Grand Caravan?
Hi everybody! I have come here because I am having serious van problems and I don't know a single thing about cars except how to drive them 
Ok so a little history.... I bought a 2004 Dodge Grand Caravan this last February and it only had 70k miles on it. About 2 weeks after I bought it, it would start misfiring very lightly usually in the mornings when it was cold and it would smooth out and run fine after about 1-2 minutes of idling. About 2 months later the misfire started getting worse and very choppy but would still smooth out and drive fine after it idled. Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago it was misfiring really bad and I put it in reverse to see what would happen and it completely stalled and did not want to start again but it finally did and it again smoothed out and ran fine. This misfire only ever happened when the engine was basically cold although a hand full of times it did it when the engine was warmish.
So today I am driving it down the road and it start misfiring bad, like really really bad... I had to immediately pull in to a convenient store and sit there and wait for a ride because the van would immediately die out after starting it, was also making a horrible engine sound... it sounded like knocking to me but again, I don't know anything about engines.
So my friend manages to limp it home (about 4 blocks away from where I was sitting) and I called a tow truck to take it to a mechanic. They just called me and told me that apparently whomever changed the spark plugs last put in the wrong brand (can't remember what brand he said) but he didn't think that was the problem but I told him to change them all out anyways. He told me they did a compression check and all cylinders were fine except #6 which had no compression and he said that there was a broken intake valve spring which he is pretty sure that is the problem but he won't say for sure until they fix that and retest it.
So my question is, is a broken intake valve spring a fairly common problem and do you think that maybe it was like semi broke these past 5 or so months that it had the misfire when cold or maybe it was the spark plugs? Also, do you think I caused any bad engine problems by driving it like this for 5 months or from my friend limping it home today? Before this problem today the van never misfired while driving, only when starting it up and it always smoothed out and drove perfect so I wasn't driving it all over with a misfire.
Check engine light also comes on and goes off randomly and I had that checked before too and they could only see that a "random misfire" code was coming up and couldn't figure out what it was.
Thanks so much everybody! I am just really worried because this is my only vehicle now and with 2 kids I am hoping nothing is seriously wrong with it!
Ok so a little history.... I bought a 2004 Dodge Grand Caravan this last February and it only had 70k miles on it. About 2 weeks after I bought it, it would start misfiring very lightly usually in the mornings when it was cold and it would smooth out and run fine after about 1-2 minutes of idling. About 2 months later the misfire started getting worse and very choppy but would still smooth out and drive fine after it idled. Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago it was misfiring really bad and I put it in reverse to see what would happen and it completely stalled and did not want to start again but it finally did and it again smoothed out and ran fine. This misfire only ever happened when the engine was basically cold although a hand full of times it did it when the engine was warmish.
So today I am driving it down the road and it start misfiring bad, like really really bad... I had to immediately pull in to a convenient store and sit there and wait for a ride because the van would immediately die out after starting it, was also making a horrible engine sound... it sounded like knocking to me but again, I don't know anything about engines.
So my friend manages to limp it home (about 4 blocks away from where I was sitting) and I called a tow truck to take it to a mechanic. They just called me and told me that apparently whomever changed the spark plugs last put in the wrong brand (can't remember what brand he said) but he didn't think that was the problem but I told him to change them all out anyways. He told me they did a compression check and all cylinders were fine except #6 which had no compression and he said that there was a broken intake valve spring which he is pretty sure that is the problem but he won't say for sure until they fix that and retest it.
So my question is, is a broken intake valve spring a fairly common problem and do you think that maybe it was like semi broke these past 5 or so months that it had the misfire when cold or maybe it was the spark plugs? Also, do you think I caused any bad engine problems by driving it like this for 5 months or from my friend limping it home today? Before this problem today the van never misfired while driving, only when starting it up and it always smoothed out and drove perfect so I wasn't driving it all over with a misfire.
Check engine light also comes on and goes off randomly and I had that checked before too and they could only see that a "random misfire" code was coming up and couldn't figure out what it was.
Thanks so much everybody! I am just really worried because this is my only vehicle now and with 2 kids I am hoping nothing is seriously wrong with it!
Welcome to DF
Broken Valve springs are not a common problem with the minivans, But it can happen. I would remove the valve cover and inspect. Could be also be broken or missing push rods too.
Broken Valve springs are not a common problem with the minivans, But it can happen. I would remove the valve cover and inspect. Could be also be broken or missing push rods too.
