In a message dated 99-01-23 18:06:44 EST, you write:
<< O.K. I misdiagnosed this... What I thought was a misfire is actually heavy
spark knock. It was very intermittent on a mild highway incline so I found
a steeper incline and I'm still nervous after what happened. I had the
cruise pegged at around 65 or 70 and about half way up the hill it started
to knock really badly... Before I could pull over the check engine light
(MIL) started to flash rapidly (limp-in mode?!) and the engine was running
incredibly rough --almost like it was going to stall at around 50 MPH! I
got over into the right lane, switched the O/D off and was able get up the
hill and off the highway... The check engine light stopped flashing as
soon as I got off and has not come back on since. Man, I thought I had
really screwed up my Kota!
I got back home and yanked every plug and checked the gaps as best I could
with these Bosch +4's... They have four ground electrodes so it's kind of
hard to check but they all looked consistent... The only thing I found was
a slightly higher carbon buildup on the plug in #3 cylinder and the #5
cylinder plug looked like it had never been fired (no carbon whatever).
All the others looked fine.
I checked all vacuum lines and wires and everything seems OK... I'm also
running the Magnecore 8.5mm wires which seem fine. This is the first V8
I've ever owned... With the V6's, straight 6's and 4 bangers I've worked
on it's been obvious as soon as you start the engine if one of the plug
wires is shot (or you connected them wrong)... Does a V8 still run smooth
with only 7 cylinders firing??
Is there an easy way to check if a plug wire is good or not? Any ideas on
what the heck is going on??? At a minimum I'm gonna' run out tomorrow and
get some dielectric grease 'cause I did not use it. Any other suggestions?
>>
Wow man I wish I knew what else to check!! I think I am going to wait to see
if the Bosch Platinum+4's are causing all this; cause I bought some and want
to install them bad, but will wait. To me, it seems like your Dak was runnin
fine before you put these plugs in, and since you went overything again, have
you tried putting your old plugs in and seeing how your Dak runs???? Did you
check the connections on the distributor cap, you might have pulled a wire off
when putting the plugs in??? I hope you get this sorted out fast, it sucks to
have your Dak running this poorly. Not sure what year your Dak is....but have
you tried doing a fault code test??
Kyle
93 Dakota 4x4 V6.....with some controversial +4's
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 20 2003 - 12:12:12 EDT