Cylinder 1 Misfire

ericv1984

ericv1984

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Lacey, WA
When I was driving to go pick up my gf from work, the car was barely going, and for it to get higher in speeds I kept having to take my foot off the gas and then reapply my foot to the gas. Then the CEL came on. So, after picking her up, went to O'reilly and got it scanned, said "cylinder 1 misfire". I assumed that was just the spark plug so I asked the guy, he said start with the plugs, if not that then do the wires, if it's not that then the coil is bad so I hope it's just the plugs (which I bought). So does anyone know where the coil is located on a 1996 Sunfire SE 2.2L?

I'm starting to hate this car, after I fix one thing then something else goes bad.
 
Replaced all four plugs and wires, the car seemed to idle better and fixed my stalling problem but when I took it for a test drive, it took forever to get up to 35. When I came back home, on the main street in my neighborhood, it's a little uphill and it wouldn't go over 25. Does anyone know what could be wrong? Is it like the guy said at the auto parts store, the coil might need to be replaced?
 
Is the CEL still on? Does it still have the same code? Would appear that the coil would be the next step. After that I would start checking fuel pressure.
 
melsg5 said:
Is the CEL still on? Does it still have the same code? Would appear that the coil would be the next step. After that I would start checking fuel pressure.
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Yes and yes. The car was spuddering on the way to bring my gf to work, when we stopped at the light it died so I started it back up. Went to go and was only going about 20 mph, so I pulled over in a grocery store parking lot. Went to go park and it died again. Waited there for a few minutes, started it back up and went to drive it again, and was spuddering again so I pullled over in the college parking lot and had my gf's coworkers bf took me home.
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Gf's moms bf is coming to take a look at the car later, replace the downstream o2 sensor, replace the coil and also take a look at the cat. converter. Does anyone know what size the bolts are that hold the converter in?

Wanna know a head of time so I know what size bolt to bring with me.
 
The downstream o2 sensor does not control the engine. It monitors the cat effiency.
 
Zimgxp said:
The downstream o2 sensor does not control the engine. It monitors the cat effiency.
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You might want to take a look at this website then... http://www.obd-codes.com/p0301.

Anyway, the code just came back today. Had already replaced the plugs and wires, and today I bored out the cat converter cause it was plugged. Then the code came back on the drive home.
 
Have you ever done a compression test on the engine? If so what were the readings?
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Never done a compression test, nor did I know how but I just looked it up and it seems fairly easy. But what's gonna suck, is getting the coil off (cause of the coil location) in order to do it.
 
Took the car to the mechanic today to have him install the new coil, after that was installed, the car ran the same. So, later on I went back to the mechanic and he installed a new ignition module, then the car wouldn't even start. So then I went to the junkyard and bought a used ignition module off a 98 Sunfire, with that one installed the engine still wouldn't start.

So I left it at the mechanics and went home. Hopefully he can figure out the problem tomorrow.
 
Had him put the old ignition module back on, the car started but ran the same as when I brought the car in.

I think what's causing it is that my cat is plugged so I'm about to head to the mechanic and loosen the cat bolts a bit and see if the car has more power. If that's the case and I want to pull the cat off and replace it with a straight pipe, after I sell the car, if the new owners have to pass an emissions test to renew the registration, will it not pass emissions test with the cat taken off?
 
If the state has an emission test the cat has to be there.
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melsg5 said:
If the state has an emission test the cat has to be there.
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Ok thanks. In my county there is no emissions test. But in nearby counties there is.

Before picking up my car from the shop, we loosened the cat, drove it home that way and it drives much better with no CEL on. So, turns out all that hassle was just from a plugged cat.
 
Glad you found the cause!
 
Thanks. Just wish I hadn't taken it to the shop and spent a couple hundred for nothing.
 
Hey Eric

Did you ever find out what the problem was with your car? May be helpful with a problem I am having that sounds very similar. Thanks.
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