few questions about a #6 cyl misfire
 

Seems like since I found this forum my truck has been acting up. Or I am just paying more attention to it. Well got a flashing cel the other day for 0306 and 0300 misfires. It flashes for a few seconds then remains constant. I did some reading and it could be anything from a cracked block to a bad plug. I replaced the wires today with Sti and it still happened when I drove it right after. I will do the plugs tomorrow but they are only a few thousand miles old. Any other cheap fixes I could try? Also am I hurting anything by driving it? Thanks.

Look at plugs when thy come out. Hope they are not "steam cleaned" from a leaking head gasket. Could also be coil. COuld be bad insulation boot on wires, try idle in total darkness and look for arcs. Coolant loss should be checked frequently.

Thanks buzz. No coolant loss and no signs of bad hg that I can tell. Will report back tomorrow with condition of plugs.

Do you have the "waterfall" symptoms going on...the gurgling, wooshing sound from behind the dashboard (most noticable on accelleration)?
I had the exact same symptoms and code (0306) and I had a dropped sleeve/cracked block..which ever you prefer.

Savannah, what do you mean by steam cleaned? I'm not sure if you remember when I had a problem here recently with my truck sputtering on take off, but one of the things I checked was my plugs. They seamed fine however I'm not sure what they look like if damaged from a bad h.g. my problem ended up being a faulty wire on cylinder 4. But I did clean out the maf and changed the air filter and now she takes off great.

I think he means VERY clean from the presence of coolant (steam). I pulled the #6 plug and it looked fine. Same as all the others really. So today I changed all the plugs with Bosch platinums and within a mile the light came on and blinked within 2 miles. Its a 0300 and 0306. So I have no waterfall sounds, no coolant smells and no coolant consumption. Oil is clean. What else could it be? The only other things wrong with the truck are one of the cats is a rattler and the truck runs a tad hot at 205 degrees around town. Any other suggestions? Should I try a new coil? Im two towns away from Paul Grant and I have no problems throwing parts at this thing. Also, am I gonna make it worse by driving it? Its my DD in the winter.

When you are driving and the CEL is flashing - that means usually that the CATS are being ruined by misfires - ie raw gas going into the cats.

Don't drive it like that, unless you pull off the injector wire on the #6 cylinder.

Good to know, thanks. So by that rationale the light is triggered by the lack of spark? So I guess the coils are the next step? Never had a coil go bad before but first time for everything. I have had a car with a misfire before and it ran like ****. This thing is running great.

Do this! just about 2 weeks ago I had my no.6 wire go bad because the insulation was melted away from sitting up next to the SAI tubing. I only noticed it after I drove the car into the garage, opened the hood before turning my lights on and saw some arching and sparking. No.6 wire is a fairly easy wire to replace, btw. I'd also recommend, if this does turn out to be the case, to wrap your SAI piping in some heat tape/wrap.

I replaced all the wires.