Hi all,

I know there are a lot of posts concerning the misfire on cylinder 6 however none have seemed to help and I'm looking for suggestions.

I'm driving a 2002 dodge caravan sport 3.3L

I have a bad mis when starting from a dead stop but it clears up when i let off on the gas and runs smooth until i put the engine understrain. It runs great on the highway and on city streets unless I'm starting from a dead stop or climbing a big hill. If i put my van in drive, hold my foot on the brake and press the gas I can make it sputter and i can smell gas in my exhaust. I've also noticed the plenum isn't clean and dry inside, could this be a result of the misfire? I thought about changing the coil pack but this is getting expensive. I was going to record whats going on and post it online if this might help.

I've changed the fuel injector 6, I've changed the plenum gaskets, moved the new fuel injector to a different cylinder, changed all of the injectors o-rings top and bottom, I've changed the spark plugs and wires. I had a friend remove my catalytic converter and he said it was clean and not plugged up. I've also checked the wiring harness for all of the injectors right to the computer and have checked the wiring harness from the coil pack back to the computer as well. I pulled the spark plug for number 6 and I do have spark.....could this be a bad coil pack but just not enough power for cylinder 6 or something worse?

 

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When you say you've checked the injector harness does that mean you verified the injector is getting voltage from the PCM.

 

when i read up on testing the injector, it sounded like I need a specific tool. Can I check by disconnecting the harness off the injector and check the voltage with a multimeter? if so, what should the voltage be? i read a couple of different voltages 10vdc and 12vdc.

When i checked the wiring harness it was a resistance / continuity test to see if there were any shorts. I would assume if the wires were melted together the resistance would be off compared with the other connectors

 

Something interesting to add..... another friend suggested i spray a water from a spray bottle in the engine at night. if there's a short i should see arcing..... i soaked the engine and not a thing but when I took the van for a drive to see if the wetness affected anything it didn't then it dawned on me.... I never noticed the van sputter in reverse.... i put the van in reverse, stood on the brake and gave it gas..... it didnt sputter, nor did it sputter when i drove down my road in reverse ( live on a dead end street with no houses past mine...) does anyone know the van only sputters in drive? could it actually be a transmision problem that s causing engine troubles?

 

http://www.2carpros.com/articles/how...-fuel-injector

Why just in drive and not reverse??? I've read about this somewhere. I'll see what I can find. Transmission problem??? I've read of torque converters engaging and killing engines. Maybe a tranny expert (Hello MT, or 22M22) can give better details.

 

just an update... talked to a transmission shop.... it's not the transmission if it's throwing engine codes. I checked the voltage and it's reading 10.5v when cranking, and used a testing light and it's pulsing suggesting the pcm is turning the injector on and off. the light gets brighter when i rev the engine. I changed the coil pack.... i'm at a loss now.... any more suggestions? I think i'm going to have a computer diagnostic done... i'm hoping its not the computer but i can't throwing money at the problem unless someone else has another idea on what I can check

 

**UPDATE**

I got to ready yesterday and thought maybe it might help to clean the sensors.... I cleaned the throttle body ( terribly dirty on the inside) clean the IAC, map sensor, removed the egr and cleaned that as well.... One vacuum hole was plugged solid.... but i did notice I have oil inside my plenum.... I'm thinking it may be sucking oil up through the pcv valve which I think i'll replace today.... Cleaning teh sensors didn't seem to help, i still have the sputter from a dead stop... could it be the crank sensor?

 

**Update** the cause was the driver wire for fuel injector 6.... ran a new wire because i couldn't get enough of the wiring harness out to inspect it (down by the overflow bottle for the rad before it runs over teh transmission, working perfectly now, weird that it didn't show up in the continuity test or voltage test.....

 

What do you mean by "driver wire"? Do you have a photo?