Hi guys,
The 2.2 in my '93 Cavalier has an intermittent misfire issue that has me very perplexed. It always seems to happen below 35 mph. It will happen hot or cold, normally at part throttle under load, Happens at idle, but not nearly as often. If you baby or stand on it hard it seems to run fine. A little history on the engine. Replaced the ign. module several months back, new plugs, original wires, new fuel filter 114k miles, good compression. Recently ran a bottle of Lucas fuel system cleaner through it too. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
? is the ecm showing any codes at all.Could be any number of things from a cracked vacumm line or a worn gasket sucking in air.Since it has low miles I tend to think its a minor issue.I will think on it and do some research on the ride u have in my crap load of books etc and online chiltons and see if I find anything to help u out.
Thought of something not that it's related but,have u ever changed the transmission fluid.In automatics they have a TCC torque convertor clutch switch which is a electrical component mounted in the transm.IF the fluid has never been changed LATELY it could be very well sticking and causing the car to idle IRRATIC and so forth.The easiest way to see if this is the problem is to disconnect the switch and if it clears up walaa problem solved.U would then need to replace the switch and do a fluid and filter change to prevent frying the new switch with worn out trans fluid.This is a long shot but,typical symptoms are idle issues almost cutting off coming to a stop or going from reverse to drive.Something to consider and came to mind after I posted my first post.I do not know the exact location of the tcc switch ,u may want to ask some of those 2nd gen owners or check a manual,my haynes does not show it.I check my chiltons if I find it tho.
Ron,
Thanks for all your input! There are no codes on the ECM and the TCC switch was disconnected by the previous owner. A mechanic friend suggested checking the coil terminals for corrosion, but they are very clean. Any other ideas? Thanks.
well i got a 95 cavi 2.2 and i am having the similar problem... i replaced the whole ignigtion system...one day i started pulling wires to see what cylinder and pulled number 1 and it didnt change but still had spark...and 2 thru 4 were pulled one at a time and the car wouldnt even run....mine seems to happen if it wet out...or a lot of moisture in the air
Christopher,
Nice to know I'm not the only one having this type of problem. I hope we both find the answer here. It may not help, but I will probably go ahead and change the plug wires anyway since they are the 114k originals. In my case It dosen't seem to matter weather it's dry or damp out. When idling or revving it in park it it runs fine. It's under load at low to intermediate RPM when the intermittent miss occurs. Seldom, but occaissionaly at idle. Thanks for the input and good luck!
I don't know if this will help but on my '93 2.2 I had an odd missfire on the overrun i.e. not accelerating or decelerating, most noticeable idling through town speed limits.
There were no codes and my garage diagnosed the fault down to the Crankshaft Position sensor, a new one was fitted and the fault was cleared.s been running fine now.
Alont
have you tried replacing your fuel filter? might have loosened up some crud when you ran the cleaner through.
my 93 was doing the same thing for a while.....Im a GM tech so I checked the obvious stuff and ran a scope on it,Found nothing....recently I decided to replace the headgasket because it has some leakage at the normal corner and I noticed it when I bought the car.....Well, as to my suprise, there was a small section at the #2 cylinder that was dripping into the cylinder.......The old coolant simply ate the gasket away........Now it has no problems........
P&P Tuning
420.5whp / 359.8wtq
Guys,
Thanks for the input!
Crank position sensor is a possiblity. Fuel filter has been replaced. Head gasket was replaced not long ago and theres no evidence of any further problems. I recieved another idea from a mecanic friend today. He said it might be a cracked coil. He suggested misting the coils with water and starting it to check for arcing.
