i have a 95 legacy with the 2.2 im having an issue with the engine misfiring if i leave the car sitting for more than a day or 2. if i drive the car daily the issue is not there. so say i leave it parked for 2 days or longer when i go to start it it will start and misfire for around 5 to 10 minutes until the engine warms up and the misfire will go away and drive perfectly until i park it again for 2 days or more. what could be causing this to happen?

Coolant or oil seeping into the cylinders over a period of time. Wouldn't be fuel as that would happen every day

How old are the old plug wires?

Moisture settling under the hood will cause old plug wires to arc.

How old are the old plug wires?

Moisture settling under the hood will cause old plug wires to arc.

wires are the same as when i got the car plugs are new and the coil is used but same symptoms with both coils. if it were wires would it not misfire every morning i start it due to moisture being there?

 

 

 

Coolant or oil seeping into the cylinders over a period of time. Wouldn't be fuel as that would happen every day

 i pulled the plugs out the other week but did not notice any coolant or oil on them i couldn't really see into the cylinders. i do not lose coolant often either it will stay full for months before needing a top up. the car leaks alot of oil and seeps coolant from somewhere the whole bottom of the engine is just oil sludged however it only consumes about 3/4 of a quart between oil changes.

Edited April 2, 20169 yr by sirtokesalot

 about 4 hours ago it turned into a constant misfire on cylinder 3. i have since put new wires on checked for spark witch it has checked for fuel witch it also has im thinking the cylinder might have lost compression but i do not have a compression tester to verify this. what could have happened? the car is sort of driveable but misfires bad at slower speeds i had to drive it home 14 miles with the check engine light blinking half the time if i kept it in 3rd driving at 45 to 50 it seemed to not misfire and the check engine light stayed constant its an automatic. only p0303 is coming up in the code reader. the happened after a hard acceleration from a stop up to highway speeds during the acceleration it began skipping.

Edited April 4, 20169 yr by sirtokesalot

Pull the spark plug out of cylinder 3 and see what it looks like. Compare it to the plug from cylinder 1. Change it if its fouled.

 

You could also switch the plug wire for number 3 with one from another cylinder and see if the misfire follows it.

Pull the spark plug out of cylinder 3 and see what it looks like. Compare it to the plug from cylinder 1. Change it if its fouled.

 

You could also switch the plug wire for number 3 with one from another cylinder and see if the misfire follows it.

 i put new wires on the car after this issue began i also started the car with the plug out / plugged into the coil and saw very good spark on cylinder 3's spark plug. the exhaust sounds like a dead spot is happening while idling. i can put a video clip up tomorrow morning.

Then its time to do a compression test.

verdict is in. drove it to my uncles house for compression check on cylinder 3. it has good compression i forgot what my uncle said it was but it was up in the high 100's. i pulled the left and right timing covers off and lined the crank up with the timing marks on the timing cover. both cams are way off from the timing marks at the top of the cover id say close to half way between being pointed left and top on the cam marks. is it safe to say it jumped timing and this is why its running as it does?

 

 please excuse my crude paint drawing this shows what ive got going on. left and right circles are the cams the center circle is the crank pully

 

Edited April 4, 20169 yr by sirtokesalot

You're looking at the wrong mark on the crank. Timit mark is on a tooth at the back of the sprocket.

Key notch in the sprocket will be straight down when its in the right spot.

 

If compression is good, could be a dead or clogged fuel injector.

Don't pull the injector out until you drain the fuel rails.

Unscrew the pressure regulator on the back end of the fuel rail and pull it away from the rail so the fuel can drain out.

Once the fuel is drained from the rail, then you can pull the injector out.

 

If you don't drain the rail first, all the fuel in the rail will dump into the manifold and can hydro-lock the engine when you try to start it after replacing the injector.

it turned out to be bad information i had thought cylinder 3 was the front right one turns out its actually the rear left side. the cylinder had no spark unfortunately i did not figure this out until i had already taken the whole engine apart and verified timing. put another coil on it and all is fine now.