PHHHHTT
09-27-2015, 12:04 AM
I'm dealing with a 1997 Eagle Talon with the Chrysler 2.0 engine, with what I believe is the same engine that's in a Dodge Neon. It misfires on cylinders 3 & 4 but not like you expect. Instead of not firing these cylinders, it is firing these cylinders too often.
When it first started having problems, I used my OBII scanner and found misfire codes. I have swapped out the plugs, plug wires and coil pack (more than once) trying to fix it. I have a timing light that can give the engine rpm as the engine is running. The car also has a tach in the instrument cluster. With the engine idling, observing the tach reading and attaching the timing light to each plug wire one at a time, cylinders 1 & 2 will match the tach, but cylinders 3 & 4 will read anywhere from idle to over 2800 rpm and this reading will change practically every two seconds or less. One thing I noticed is cylinders 1 & 2 connect to the left side of the coil pack and cylinders 3 & 4 connect on the right side. Since the right side of the coil has the troubled cylinders, I swapped out the coil pack thinking would be just a bad coil. But it still does the same thing after 3 different coil packs
After pouring as much money and time into it as I cared to, I parked it. I wanted to try another ECU if I came across one, thinking this unit has a corrupted program. (What gave me this idea is I previously helped a friend's two sons with Mustangs, 2002 and a 2004, one with a 3.8 and the other with the 3.9. Within a few weeks of each other, both developed misfires. On the first one, we changed all the usual suspects and eventual took it to a former Ford mechanic who now runs his own shop. He reprogrammed the computer using the VIN to obtain the correct program and this resolved it. When the second Mustang did the same, we checked it out and decided to try reprogramming it before spending all the money as we did before. The mechanic did his thing and that took care of it.)
Well last week, I found another 1997 Eagle Talon at Pull-A-Part. This car has the same engine and was built a few months before mine. The price of the ECU was cheap enough that I thought I'd swap out the ECU's and try it again. Today, I went about doing this. Surprisingly, it started easily enough (using starting fluid) and idled like before. But once I connected the timing light and checked RPM's of each cylinder, it was doing exactly as before.
I'm not a professional mechanic and most of my experience is with Ford products. I not a big fan of this car but don't want to scrap it over something that most likely is not serious. Solving distributorless ignition system issues I have not had to confront often and this condition has me stymied big time.
If anyone has an idea on why my car is doing this and cares to comment about what may solve the problem, I'd appreciate it.
Thanks!
Randall T.
(PHHHHTT)
When it first started having problems, I used my OBII scanner and found misfire codes. I have swapped out the plugs, plug wires and coil pack (more than once) trying to fix it. I have a timing light that can give the engine rpm as the engine is running. The car also has a tach in the instrument cluster. With the engine idling, observing the tach reading and attaching the timing light to each plug wire one at a time, cylinders 1 & 2 will match the tach, but cylinders 3 & 4 will read anywhere from idle to over 2800 rpm and this reading will change practically every two seconds or less. One thing I noticed is cylinders 1 & 2 connect to the left side of the coil pack and cylinders 3 & 4 connect on the right side. Since the right side of the coil has the troubled cylinders, I swapped out the coil pack thinking would be just a bad coil. But it still does the same thing after 3 different coil packs
After pouring as much money and time into it as I cared to, I parked it. I wanted to try another ECU if I came across one, thinking this unit has a corrupted program. (What gave me this idea is I previously helped a friend's two sons with Mustangs, 2002 and a 2004, one with a 3.8 and the other with the 3.9. Within a few weeks of each other, both developed misfires. On the first one, we changed all the usual suspects and eventual took it to a former Ford mechanic who now runs his own shop. He reprogrammed the computer using the VIN to obtain the correct program and this resolved it. When the second Mustang did the same, we checked it out and decided to try reprogramming it before spending all the money as we did before. The mechanic did his thing and that took care of it.)
Well last week, I found another 1997 Eagle Talon at Pull-A-Part. This car has the same engine and was built a few months before mine. The price of the ECU was cheap enough that I thought I'd swap out the ECU's and try it again. Today, I went about doing this. Surprisingly, it started easily enough (using starting fluid) and idled like before. But once I connected the timing light and checked RPM's of each cylinder, it was doing exactly as before.
I'm not a professional mechanic and most of my experience is with Ford products. I not a big fan of this car but don't want to scrap it over something that most likely is not serious. Solving distributorless ignition system issues I have not had to confront often and this condition has me stymied big time.
If anyone has an idea on why my car is doing this and cares to comment about what may solve the problem, I'd appreciate it.
Thanks!
Randall T.
(PHHHHTT)