BlueNdN

Hey everyone-

-99 3.8L Camaro 80,000 miles with the same missfire type problems as described in this thread. About six months of back and forth to the shop (tune ups, filter changes, plugs & wires) the problem slowly would come back. Finally my mechanic decided to heat the engine to driving temp. and then we discovers the coil packs were only producing 40-50% less than they should once engine temp was up. Replaced coil packs and problem has not returned in 8 months (knock on wood).
Hope this helps some people

HybridStorm

It seems to be a heat problem w/ not just one component. Plug wires seem to go first and the shops just tell us it's the fuel injector/filter...but it's not. Then the wires just worse, specially the back passenger's side wire, while the coil packs start suffering.

here's what fixed my problem:
DEI protect a boot <- very important!!!
new plugs N wires w/ high heat sheathing
New ignition coil packs
new fuel injector/filter <000 dunno if that helped anything but the guys at chevrolet thought that was the problem so i suppose it didn't help anything

and now she runs like a champ!! Just turned 100K and goes like it just rolled off the assembly.

abuhannibal

My '96 has had very similar symptoms so I am extremely glad to have found this thread. I have been having intermittent misfire problems with #5 - can anyone tell me which cylinder is #5, or point me to an image with a cylinder map for the '98 3800 engine?

Many thanks!

sillyaggie83

This month I had another engine put in my '96 Camaro, a 3.8 from a '97 with 50,000 miles on it. The lovely valve in the heater hose busted causing a head gasket to blow in the original engine. Great. I had this great idea to, instead of getting it repaired for $1700, get another engine put in it for $2100. My old engine had 132,000 miles on it anyways. Seemed smarter to spend a little more on a different engine with a 2yr warranty. So, all went well until they started up my car with the replacement engine. SES light flashing. Found a misfire on #4. Replaced the coils from one engine to the other. The light turned off. I drove my car 30 miles home from the mechanics, excited to have my car back after a month of thumbing it.

Unfortunately, I've had a misfire problem... again. I bought new coils, still misfires. I replaced the plugs and wires, still misfires. Same #4 cylinder. Could it be a fuel injector? I ran some fuel injector cleaner through a couple tanks of gas, really isn't any better.

It's manual and it misfires on the lower half of the gears. It runs smooth until it warms up, then the jerking starts. I can make it miss less, but I'm a little ticked that $2500 later, it still runs badly. Any ideas? I'm hoping it's something easily fixable.

Thanks,
Chris

PS - As far as the cylinders, the wires coil side, top to bottom or back to front are 1,4,5,2,3,6(most easily accessible). One at a time will help link them with the corresponding plug. Or 2,4,6 on passenger and 1,3,5 on driver.

viper03af

http://www.turbov6camaro.com/images/wires.JPG

hope this helps

mtv101

I have a 3.8L '97 Camaro and from what I have learned that there was a recall on the spark plug wires from way back when:

Campaign - Spark Plug Wires/Driveability Complaints
Number: 99057
Date: 11/01/99
Campaign - Spark Plug Wires/Driveability Complaints
Special Policy 99057 - Spark Plug Wire
Replacement # 99057

99057 -- Special Policy Adjustment -- Spark Plug Wire Replacement

1995-1998 Chevrolet Camaro and Pontiac Firebird Model Vehicles

Equipped with 3.8L Engine (RPO L36, VIN Code K)

Condition

Some owners of 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1998 model year Chevrolet Camaro and Pontiac Firebird vehicle equipped with 3.8L engine (RPO L36, VIN Code K) may experience driveability complaints such as rough idle, misfire and/or illumination of the Malfunction Indictor Lamp (MIL) (code P03-X-misfire). These conditions may be due to cracked spark plug boots, connector terminal corrosion or unseated terminals.


I didn t have problems with mine until around the 50k mileage mark and didnt know about the recall. I just replaced the sparkplug wires and it ran like a champ since then; up until now.

I am now getting a misfire in my #1. I had to replace the rear main oil seal this weekend so I had the opportunity to replace all my spark plugs(originals,134k mileage) in the process with Bosch Iridium plugs and the wires again. But I still have the misfire in #1. So I am about to go out and replace the coils to see if that will help. Just wanted people to know about the recall Chevy had with the plug wires.

Well I replaced my ignition coil for the #1 cyclinder and it didnt help. So now I am stuck.

Any suggestions (replaced sparkplugs, sparkplug wires and ignition coil)

Mrcoffey

My Camaro has had the same problem. I didn't think it was as bad as the other cases I've read, so I just changed the spark wires, and it seems to have fixed the problem.

jtblckmaro

Maybe I'm a newb for asking, but does this misfire affect 3.4L engines also?

MustangEater82

It shouldn't.

but 3.4Ls will can have misfires, make a thread about it I am sure we coudl figure out your problems.

2muchcoffeeman

I'm looking at buying a 2002 Camaro V6 with the 3.8. Was this problem cleared up by the final year of production?

MustangEater82

*UPDATE*

If you read up there you say I did the heat sheathing and msd wires and plugs.

at 38,200 miles


My car now has 52,000 miles
I was getting some knock and other things since I can log know with hptuners, I was suggest to try a colder range of plugs(autolite 605s, and it didn't fix my knock problem.

So last night I pulled my plugs, just to see, and figure couldn't hurt to swap plugs before race season(too hot in summer in FL)

and my plug boots were 100% fine, plugs looked good, and wires looked good from what I can see. Its only been 14,000 miles but they looked great and nearly brand new, not even dirty(well at the boots).

Car runs fine, no misfires detected with hptuners before or after.



not sure if it affects it but my car had been 100% outdoor car in FL, so its been exposed to more then the average heat.

MustangEater82

for the most part 99+ cars didn't have nearly the problem since they switched to tubular manifolds but it was still somewhat present. But, its an easy fix regardless. This would not be a reason to keep my from buying a car by far.

2muchcoffeeman

Good thing. Three years old, 20K miles, near-perfect condition (smoked in according to the ashtray residue, but dealers have been trading it around trying to sell it in an SUV marketplace).



Thanks!

derek83z28

whats the firing order for a v6 2.8l camaro. 1988

frusciante fan

my '98 was having misfire problems. rough idle, horrible mileage. took it to the shop and they said my injectors were sticking. they put some "cleaner" crap through the gas tank and it did nothing. so i took it back and told them to actually clean the injectors themselves. took them two times but no more misfire.