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In that you have 16 spark plugs and some are very difficult to replace, why not replace the bad one? Are the others you have looked at OK? If they’re original plugs, and not scheduled for replacement, keep ’em. 16 plugs will cost a fortune, but one will be cheap enough.
Do you need any further diagnosis? It may be the fault of the coil pack rather than the plug. If we were dealing with an older vehicle with a single coil, I would check the coil with my digital multimeter (Car guys call them DVOMs nowadays). On your HEMI, with coil packs and no ignition wires, I don’t know how to perform the test, but there’s a “shade tree” test that works fine and you don’t have to buy any new tools. Take the coil pack from number 3 cylinder and swap it with another cylinder. If your CEL (check engine light) comes on again, check the coil that came from number 3 cyl (look at the spark plugs under the suspect coil pack.) If you have a fouled plug again, you know the coil is bad.
I could be wrong, but I get the impression that you are a DIY and probably don’t want to buy a lot of expensive tools you will seldom use. If you can afford a code scanner (which you need to turn off the CEL and clear the stored codes) they’re a good investment and it’s nice to have your own. A decent digital multimeter will pay for itself too.Sounds like you’re right on top of things. Not everyone can diagnose and find the shortest route between point A and B. In your place, I would still swap the the coil pack from number 3 with a known “good” coil pack. If there’s anything wrong #3 coil pack, you’ll know real soon.
If you’re working on ignition parts, this is standard operating procedure if the engine is yours. If you were working on a valve train, such as the pushrod valve train in your HEMI, you wouldn’t want to swap any components around because once they’re broken in, they’re no longer identical and interchageable.
I hope to hear that everything is working out for you after you have completed the repairs.Did you know that the HEMI is not a hemi? Doesn’t have hemispherical combustion chambers. Real hemis became obsolete in the 1970s. The current HEMI has two spark plugs per cylinder. This suggests to me that, if one of the spark plugs is not firing, there would be only slightly reduced function. I have no hands-on experience with the Chrysler HEMI, so I could be wrong.
The sequence for diagnosis is the same in any event. Remove the covers that conceal the spark plugs. Get a look at the ignition wires running to the offending cylinder. Take the two plugs out and get a look at them. You can also take one or two plugs from another cylinder and look them for comparison.
If both plugs show evidence of misfire, the fault is probably not the plugs, but the circuitry responsible for firing them. Are the 2 plugs fired by a single coil? That could be the problem.
If one plug looks good and the other bad, check out the circuit for that plug, the ignition wire, the coil… I don’t know off hand if Eric has a video for checking out a coil, but maybe someone can suggest one for you.
(Chrysler came out with a pushrod hemi in the 1950s and a similar second pushrod hemi in the 1960s. The current HEMI uses capitol letters and it is a trademarked name. )http://www.google.com/search?q=HEMI+combustion+chamber&hl=en&prmd=imvns&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&biw=1680&bih=949&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi#um=1&hl=en&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=spark+plug+chart&pbx=1&oq=spark+plug+chart&aq=f&aqi=g1g-m2g-S6g-mS1&aql=&gs_sm=s&gs_upl=10762l20623l0l23258l16l16l0l2l2l0l194l1877l3.11l14l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=8cd9febe539bdb93&biw=1680&bih=949
Here’s some photos of faulty spark plugs to show you “what you’re looking for”. I still suggest you remove a couple of plugs from the functioning cylinders. That way you’ll learn what good plugs look like compared to “bad” ones. The photos usually show extreme conditions, so it’s helpfull to look at real plugs from from your engine.
As your HEMI has two plugs per cylinder, you will be able to compare the two against each other and if they look the same, you can compare them to plugs from an adjacent cylinder that that is known to be firing.
If they are simply not firing, you’ll see carbon fouling. If one is fouled and the other is OK the fault may be with the plug. If they’re both fouled, the fault is probably in the circuit and you’ll need to check the coil pack that fires them next.
If both are getting current from the coil pack and they’re carbon fouled, suspect the fuel injector as Eric suggests.
Eric’s suggestion to perform a balance test (disabling current to each cylinder, one a time, to find the the bad cylinder) is a good idea because the fellow at the parts store that scanned and read the code and told you it was number 3 cylinder, could easily be wrong.You have an ordinary gasoline engine Honda. When it was new, you could easily the estimated mpg. If you maintain the engine and the compression is still high AND the valves are adjusted, you could probably still get 32 per out of it if you’re doing legal speed down the freeway and it’s warmed up. If you commute about 7 miles to work, you won’t get your best mpg even if that 7 miles is straight down the freeway.
The EPA estimates have been an excellent indicator of mpg for decades, but if there’s an exception to that rule, it would the Prius (and any hybrid). Your mpg in a hybrid will vary greatly depending the kind of driving you do.Can you take the vehicle to the shop that sold the battery? They ought to be willing to test it and Interstate stands behind their batteries.
Costco often hasbig brand name sets for great prices. I have a 2 ton aluminum floor jack from Costco that was priced right. Costco has a return policy – you can return an item for any reason you like – and they can’t afford to sell sub-standard items. I bought a pressure washer from them a few years ago. It was a few months out of the one-year warranty when an O-ring went bad. Karcher wanted to sell me the whole part for $30. I took it back to Costco and told them that Karcher wouldn’t sell me the O-ring seperately. Full cash refund.
Amazon is another great place for tools.Almost twenty years ago, the Federal government required that all gasolines include proper additives for fuel injection. If you were around back then, you were able to notice improvements in some gasolines. For example, I had a 1988 GMC S15 2.5 with a single fuel injector. It would run fine on Chevron gasoline, but some other brands would cause knocking within a few miles. I would remove the air cleaner and look at the spray from the injector while the engine was running. The injector was not atomizing the fuel and I could see drops of fuel coming out of it. I would then fill up the tank with Chevron and the knocking would clear up in about 50 miles. I would then observe the spray from the injector and it would be normal again.
When the government required FI additives in all gasoline, I was able to run any gasoline without a problem. Can we conclude that the entire problem was caused by lack of FI additives? No > part of the problem was the design of the injector. I think injectors on American cars were prone to clogging. The VW Squareback and Fastback with Bosch FI and the Alfa Romeos with mechanical FI were available in the US in 1969 and they were not prone to clogged injectors.
Injector design has improved since the early 1990s and all gasoline has FI additive. Some gear heads believe that Premium fuel has a better additive package than Regular. I’ve never met one who can back that up with facts. Some people cling to the belief that Chevron with Techron is still better for FI systems than some other gasoline. Techron is merely Chevron’s copyrighted name for their additive package. It contains a type of naptha, a rather ordinary chemical that reasonable people might assume is available to other gasoline companies.
My point is that you can find plenty of gear heads who swear by some additive or a particular gasoline, but it’s very hard to find any who know the facts or have actually tested their beliefs.
Here’s what I do with my 2004 RSX . I run the recommended 97 octane regular and I buy it from several different companies. I use my trip meter to keep track of my mileage every time I fill up so I can see any drop in performance including a need for better gasoline. I’ve seen no evidence for superiority of any brand of gasoline. Also, I buy a six pack of Techron from Costco (because it’s very cheap there, as it should be!) and I add Techron a few times a year. I can’t observe any improvement in MPG after a Techron treatment, but I reckon an additve is good idea as long as I’m not spending much on it. If I have the choice of a $10 can of additive and a six pack of Guinness Extra Stout, I take the Guinness.Since I posted my reply, I have made a few Google seaches to refresh my knowledge of today’s gasoline additives and additive packages. I found a lot of bad advice from gear heads, DIYs and pros. I found a little healthy skepticism from people who meet the same description.
I think that, among the best advice on the internet, there’s my Guinness Rule of Thumb. You can modify it to fit your own favorite beverage, of course. You have to ask yourself if you actually need this cr*p as much as you need your favorite brew.
Also, remember the rule you ordinarily follow > If it ain’t broke, don”t fix it. If you have no drop in performance/mpg, the additive package in the gasoline you’re using is doing it’s job in all probability.Dreamer, How about posting a link to that video. I know a few troglodytes who long for cars of the early 1960s, before ECUs and unleaded gasoline and CAFE standards. Nowadays I remain interested in engines and cars because the goal is an efficient design that balances performance and economy.
Scotty Kilmer is the real deal. There are “How To” videos all over YouTube. Scotty’s are among the best. I believe Eric has raised the bar. Maybe you’re familiar with the “How To” shows on TV. The ganddaddy of them was “This Old House” with Bob Villa and Norm Abrams. The sponsors paid for tools and materials in hopes viewers would buy them, and Abrams especially was accused of shilling, but beginners and veterans alike learned from those shows. There are “How To” shows for auto and motorcycle enthusiasts that provide only the same information that came in the instructions with some aftermarket part.
The point is you have ask if Scotty Kilmer or Eric provide valuable info.Two Lane Blacktop is available from the Criterion Collection on DVD. Libraries all over the country may have this edition, but it may not be in stock if you “walk in”, so ask for it. The Criterion DVD is re-mastered so the video is exceptional. This may be the widest wide screen movie you have ever seen at 2.35 to 1. The process used permits excellent depth of field (action in the foreground, mid-ground and background are all in focus). The director uses these features to tell the story. It’s an OK film on a small TV, but if you have a bigger wide screen set, it’s a great one.