You are the first gilmmer of hope I have had on this Massey. You have no idea how much I hope you are right!

As far as the ICM, I had the original one tested and it was bad. Bought a new one, put it one and nothing changed. Took them BOTH back to the parts store, had them BOTH tested and BOTH are good. Had them test the old one 4 times to make sure. Then returned the new one. Both ends of the plug looked good, no burnt marks or anything. But I didn't put any dielectric grease on it when I put it back together.

Moving the coils or changing them did no good at all.

Also, can I just remove the wire harness from the PCM? Or will I have to do some sort of a special relearn or something?

 

My car had to relearn my driving after having the computer removed for 2 weeks but I dont think you will have any issues if it is only for a few.

IF the old module failed once but passed later you may have an intermittant issue with the module. It would not suprise me if the coil that was in the bad slot has an issue in side where the plug plugs in. thus causing issues every now and then but not all the time. I dont know if you have a pull-a-part type wrecking yard around you but I would pull an entire module/coil assy and see if your car works properly. Around here you can get the entire assy for around $25. This is all I can think of.

Massey

 

I would love to see what those cylinders looked like on a scope. It would be so easy to see if it was lean or if it just dropped spark. Even intermittant compression issues are easy to spot.

To bad you live so far away. I have a complete set (modual and coils) off my original 96 motor sitting in my garage.

 

LOL me too I have the set off the new engine I just installed in my car, and far as I know they are all good.

You can use the coils and module off just about any vin K 3.8L engine and a few of the SC engines as well. Just about any Series II engine will have the same ICM and coils.

Massey

 

I am going to the local pick and pull yard this weekend. I was going to pick up a cam position sensor and a complete fuel rail. I really don't think it is the ICM or coil, even though it acts like it, but I will grab a set of those too. After all, it cant hurt.

And I don't know where you guys live, but it would almost be worth the drive just to find out whats going on with this car. I have worked on cars all my life, this is my seventh F body, and Im even pretty good with the computer controlled power trains. But this one is kicking my butt!

 

Well I live in the Tacoma WA area... Nice long drive from Missouri...

Massey

 

Tacoma? Well, that is a little far!

And in case I haven't said it in a while I really do want to thank you (Massey) AND everybody else that has tried to help me with this little problem. I really do appreciate it. Like I said before, I really am pretty good at stuff like this but this one has me pulling my hair out. I really do think its is a small problem, I just cant find it. But thats ok, I'm not giving up on it yet. I'm either going to get it figured out or go bald!

 

Well, I got another update. I had my neighbor (Dodge dealer mechanic) talk to a Chevy guy in his shop to see if he had any ideas. The Chevy guy said it sounded like it was just carboned up. And to take it to the dealer and have them run a "top clean" on it. Now, like I told my neighbor, I wouldn't mind doing that if I knew that it would fix it. But I'm tired of just throwing money at it. So I just got back from the parts store with another can of Sea Foam. I'm going to run it through the vacuum line and see if that helps. I also got the digital compression gauge from work. I want to check it again. Any ideas on what vacuum line I should use? The brake booster line?

Also, I know that its bad to keep driving the car with the misfires, but I have to get to work. So, just how bad is it? What will happen? I am guessing it will burn up the cat? And if it does, cant I just remove it and go cat-less? I don't have to worry about emissions where I live.

 

Yet another update! Yesterday I ran a can of Sea Foam through the vacuum line and a can of MCCC through the intake. Which fouled out the plugs! I got another new set of plugs and a fuel filter. Put all that on. The car runs real good now, even idles nice. I went for a drive last night and so far, no misfires. But it was only about 20 miles, so I'm not getting my hopes up to much.

 

Examine the old plugs and see if there are any small cracks in the ceramic housings. Also check the resistance of the center electrode, they should all be about the same. If one has a higher resistance then the electrode is broken internally and there is your issue.

Massey