Hi,
New the the forum. My 98 2.0L, has an intermittant miss. Plugs were changed about 6 months ago. New head gasket and timing belt about 3 months ago. Check Engine light is on. When driving, there is a slight backfire, but only occasionally. When idleing, you can hear a slight miss. Any suggestions?

Thanx

 

Have the check engine light read and see what's going on. More than likely, it will point you in the right direction of where to start looking. Other sources of misfire from the 420A engine is the ignition wires and oil leaks from the valve cover spark plug tube seals. Pull the ignition wires one by one looking inside the boot for arc traces. Then look down the spark plug tube and see if there any oil leaking down there. If there is, you'll need to change the valve cover gasket and possible your oil soaked wires. Good Luck!

Joel, CA

 

Also pulling each wire out one at a time and having the other 3 in until you find the one that the sound doesn't change (Obviously doing this while the vehicle is running) will at least tell you which cylinder is the problem.

 

I forgot to mention, I changed out the valve cover gasket 6 months ago. At that time there was a pool of oil in the tubes. I pulled all the plugs they seem to be burning clean. What I did not do was check the tubes for arc path. That seems a good place to look. I thought about removing one wire at a time but the miss is not consistant, car idles nice then,,,pffft, a little miss. It is more noticeable when driving. I will let you know when I check the wires again for arc path. This makes sense being that there was oil in there for a while.

I'll let you know how I make out.
Thanx for the suggestions.

 

Even without a visible trace- replace them anyway if they're fairly old or have a lot of mileage on them. As i said, they are a very common source of misfire on the 420A engine. Please report your findings.

Joel, CA

 

Ordered wires. Let you know when they come in.

 

Put wires on...car runs fine. Miss is Gone...got a little extra oopmh too.


Thanx