Re: Bad Knock Problem was:Misfires -- STILL NEED HELP!

From: Jim, Donna, Erin, and Brian (leefam@wcc.net)
Date: Sat Jan 23 1999 - 23:18:38 EST


At 05:54 PM 1/23/1999 -0500, you wrote:
>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?
>
>Thanks!
>
>Tom

Check the distributor cap. Mine did pretty much the same thing yours was
doing. It ran better at higher rpms, but when it was in the 2000-2500
range, it would misfire, backifre, and basically run like crap.

Brian



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