Thread: Misfiring

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Ok, here is what now seems to be on of my weekly issues. Yesterday drove my car to work *about 4 miles*... and drove it home, put it in the garage and went in to clean up and eat. Came back out to go to my other job about an hour later, hopped in and began on my way. After getting about a block away I noticed a slight misfire but it seemed kind of random. Got to work and changed the plugs before I drove home *work at a parts store*. Again car was fine for a few block and started this annoyance once again. Got it home opened the garage door and to my surprise there was antifreezee on the ground, not much just a puddle about 5 inchs around. O.k it was about 97* here yesterday so i figured maybe it just puked a little when i shut it off yesterday afternoon. Fiddled around changing cap/rotor and ignitino module, *didn't change the wires yet* to some stuff that I had laying around in boxes and took it for a test drive, no luck, still misfiring. Last night in the dark I was unable to determine the cause of the antifreeze leak but thismorning i noticed that it was coming from the freeze plug just above the starter *350*. Do you think the freeze plug leak is at all related to my misfiring, or did it just so happen that this leak and possibly a shakey plug wire happened at the same time?????

I realy don't think the freeze plug leak will cause an ignition problem. water on your starter solinoid souldn't make the differance it get wet every time it rains.You could check the conections of the wires on the starter. Probably just a plug wire, But stranger things have happened.

It seems strange that it doesn't misfire until the temp reaches about 170 or so, when the thermostat opens.... but theres always coolant in the block even before the stat opens correct? So that really shouldn't make a difference....

Yes the coolant IS in the block, but it dosen't expand until it gets hot and thats when it will leak.

By the way that seems to be the freeze blug that always leaks

HAHA, yea i've changed that freeze plug on one other small block, its a fun one. Well hopefully fixing that and changing the wires fixes it. Hopefully its nothing too serious.

Yea GOOD LUCK

Thanks!

I dont see any connection between the leak and the mis-firing, but a wire change will probably do it, if that's the only thing you havn't changed. On the leak, why not use one of the block sealers if it's a small leak? They work great and it's a whole lot easier than trying to reach a freeze plug with the engine in the car. You must have a couple brands at your store.

I'm not big on the whole idea of a chemical fix for a leak. I sell the crap at work all the time and usually the customer comes back complaining it didn't work.... go figure. I've changed a freeze plug in the same spot once before, just removed the starter and theres enough room. Thanks for the help tho, I really hope the wires do the trick, just funny that this happened at the same time, my first thought was a head gasket or cracked block/head..... but the oil is clean as well as the coolant, no white smoke or burning antifreeze smell either.... so we'll see. Ill probably fiddle with it tonight.

What brand of wires are you running?

*caugh* Accels.... *caugh*... haha, I know they aren't the greatest... BUT I am buying either MSD's or Taylors, along with an MDS dist. and and ignition.

The dreaded Accel bug hits again. Check the resistance of each wire and I believe you will find them to be at least 1k per foot. Taylor's are good wires and not quite as expensive as some of the majors.

1000 per foot is actually considered reasonable.,.. seeing that most OEM specifications are a limit of 3000 per foot.... but yes... accel wires tend to do that over time.... god knows how many times i've ran into that problem.... 90% of engine diags i do in the shop with accel wires on the car, turn out to be the wires...

Well the misfire was the wires. I put another set on I had around yesterday just until my msd's get here. I've had this problem with the wires once before, you think I would have learned by now. Junking the Accel HEI supercoil, distributor and the wires this weekend.