Is there a program available to determine which engine cylinder is not firing on a '94 Camaro Z28 (ODB1)? Or, can this only be determined by removing each plug and wire individually and testing to see if it fires?

I have had problems with spark plug wires burning after installing headers. I wrapped some of the wires in thermal tape and used heat sleeves several months ago, but I think another one may have burned.

 

The absolutely simplest and cheapest way to see which one isn't firing is to remove the plug wires one at a time. You don't need to remove the plugs.

When you pull a working plug wire, the miss will get worse. You won't notice a change when you pull the dead wire.

 

An engine scope will easily detect a misfiring plug regardless if the engine is OBDI, OBDII, or OBDXX. The scope looks at the waveform of the current flowing through all the ignition wires at once. The one with a different waveform is the culprit. Problem is that with advent of scanners, many shops abandoned scopes.

 

Won't a code scanner tell you what cylinder is missing? Or is that only on OBD II cars?


x01660

 

OBDI cars are not required to detect misfires, and although some cars could have easily done it, the manufacturers chose not to do it. In most cases the Crank Position Sensor , among other purposes, is used to detect unexpected variations in crankshaft speed rotation. Programming in the computer uses that data to determine which cylinder is misfiring. OBDII became mandatory in 1996, and Chevy had to change the front cover to accept a Crank Position Sensor, just for the purpose of detecting misfires.

 

Infrared reader aimed at the exhaust manifold/header port for each cylinder. Expect 400-600 degrees. Cold exhaust port=dead cylinder.