I got the set of injectors that seemed to be the problem, and installed them. It still only runs on four. Obviously that wasn’t it. One shop I spoke to said that their OBD 1 scanner probably wouldn’t show us what’s wrong.
Here is a link to the earlier thread: http://community.cartalk.com/discussion/comment/2961214#Comment_2961214 In addition to what is shown on that post, I have now changed all six injectors as well the three plugs on the back side. I had the intake manifold off to expose them and the injection rail. The three coils in the coil pack of three shoot their waste sparks as well as the ones that the engine is still running on. I don’t think the coils are the problem. The plug wires all check good with the ohm meter.
I chose to start over as I began to think that others might think this wasnt’t a real problem, just a riddle. Poor choice of title.
Are you still having trouble getting the flash code? Grab out your analog multimeter. Set it to 10VDC
The diagnostic connector is where the fuse box under the driver’s dash is. Attach the positive lead to terminal 1 (top left as you’re looking at it from the seat), and the negative lead to terminal 12 (bottom right). Flip the key to on, and read the needle blips. The pulses are the code. Here’s the decoder ring:
Take a close look at the spark plug boots, I have found holes burned through the boot near the top of the spark plug. The spark jumps to the spark plug tube.
You can rear fault codes with an analog volt meter;
Connect an analog voltmeter to the ground and self diagnosis output pin of the diagnostic connector.
Set the ignition switch to “ON”.
Note the pattern of pulses displayed on the voltmeter. If the voltmeter indicates a steady 12 VDC the ECU has failed.
Example; code 13
The needle will deflect one time for approximately 0.5 second. This will represent one unit of ten. There will be approximately a one second delay and then the needle will deflect three times for approximately 0.2 seconds with 0.1 second delay between deflections. This will represent three units of one.
@Nevada_545 As usual, you nailed it. It seems totally odd to me, but that appears to be the fix. I took the front plug wire for the cylinder that wasn’t contributing out of its well because it was far easier than the rear ones. I couldn’t really see anything that would make me think it arcing, but I wrapped really well with electrical tape and stuck it back in the well. Lo and behold, it started firing on that cylinder. On Tuesday, when my favorite mom & pop parts store is open, I’ll get a new set of wires and fix all of them, even the ones that aren’t broken.
You might consider a new set of plugs and properly gap them. An older misfiring plug or one that has an excessive gap can lead to burning holes through plug boots and so on.
In a nutshell, the plugs may be the root cause of the problem.
