New to the fourm and 3.8 V-6 camaros, but not to auto maint.

It's my Mom's '96 3.8 and it has a misfire.
The plug wires were changed about 1.5 years ago (3 or 4000 miles only, she doesn't drive much), so I'm doubting that.
I've read about the coil packs going bad but the diagnostic code (that autozone read for me) says only #6 is misfiring.
I don't know how old the plugs are but the car has 59K on it so they may be originals (my Dad passed away so I dunno).

I plan to lay a new set of plugs in there (figure to go with OEM Delcos) but at a quick glance at a warm motor this eve, I couldn't see the plugs under the exhaust manifold (and it was a little toasty to go feeling around).


What is the prefered method for changing the plugs on this car? Do I need to take the wheel off, jack it up and go from under etc?
Hoping to get some insight to save time on the process.

Thanks...

 

Get yourself a drop light. You can get to all 6 of them pretty easily from the top. I just changed a set on the neighbor kid's 95 Firebird. Took me all of about 20 minutes.

 

Be sure you "read" that spark plug before you toss it.

3.8L's are known for intake manifold gasket issues, just like the 3.4L was, so be forewarned...2,000 miles a year isn't healthy for a vehicle as it is.

As for changing the plugs, the 3.8L is a 90 degree v6 and like the LT1 of that year, the cylinder heads point quite a bit towards the shock towers, making plug access difficult. You may indeed have to get to them from underneath.

Sidewaysz6.0 mentions the 95 model...unless it was a California car, it's a 3.4L, which is a gentler animal to maintain altogether. Much easier to access the engine in that case.

 

It's most definitely a 3.8 and a '96. It's an RS with T-Tops and a factory ground effects pkg on it too. I couldnt believe my Dad traded the Rolls Silver Shadow for it about 5 years ago... The car is so clean it still has that new car smell from the leather...
Will be doing the work on Thursday. I'll see what I can get at from the top but I'm pretty sure there is not enough clearence by the firewall to get at the back two. I'll be brining my floor jack and stands with me too.

Thanks for the replies so far.

 

If you are misfiring on just one cylinder the coils are good. Probably a bad plug or wire. Whichever plugs you choose, keep in mind that with the DIS ignition system, 3 plugs fire from the center electrode to the ground electrode, and he other 3 fire backwards from ground electrode to center electrode, which means that if you use platinum or irridium plugs both the ground and the center electrode need to be tipped, otherwise 3 of the plugs will wear out fairly quickly while the other 3 will go for the life of the car.

 

Yea i had to freaking take it to the dealership to change the dam spark plugs!!! ( i had no other way to git under it myself.)[:@]

 

I'm just dumbfounded how this works. If the spark plug is getting grounded to the block, how is it possible to have a center ground electrode?

 

I plan on getting the factory recommend copper plugs as I don't like Platinums.

I had a set in my '89 Ford Van (302 HO) and they burned a hole through the top of one of the pistons! Compression went to zero in that cylinder after about 75,000 miles on those plugs and they were the recommended plugs for that application. Never will use them again.

 

Copper has been tested by time.

 

These coils have two towers and fire two plugs at one time, one plug is fired on the compression stroke of one cylinder while the other is fired during the exhaust stroke of a mated cylinder and accomplishes nothing (waste spark). Because both ends of the coil fire a spark at the same time, one coil tower has to fires a positive spark, while the other tower has to fire a negative spark. Because elctrons can only flow in one direction, negative to positive, and a spark is pure electron flow, one of the plugs will fire from the center electrode to ground, while the other one will fire from the ground electrode to the center electrode. The electrode initiating the spark will loose more material and erode faster compared to the one receiving the spark. To make things a little more confusing, most schematics use the conventional way to show current flow, wich is from positive to negative, but it the opposite of what really happens. However, for most practical purposes it really makes no difference which system you use as long as you are consistent.