I've got a near stock 96 LT1 motor. I keep pulling the p0300 code every 100-150 miles. I have new MSD 8.5mm wires and AC-DELCO plugs gapped to 45. new MSD Blaster Coil as well.

I feel like its lacking a bit of power. I also have what is to be an exhaust leak. I can hear the ticking under acceleration only.

I'm about to go see if the ticking is just a loose bolt, once they are checked I will spay some starter fluid around my vacume lines to see if it could be a bad leak.

 

Also I'm rocking a clean 10 mpg

 

It's not an exhaust leak, it's actually a loose plug and the hole is probably stripped. Thus the cause of the misfire also. Check the tightness of the all the plugs and you'll find it.

 

Thats a negative ghost rider. I already checked all plugs and they are tight. I will go check them again just to be 100% sure. This was happening before and after I changed the plugs. Plus wouldn't it be p0306 (assuming cylinder 6) if it was stripped.

One cylinder wouldn't wouldnt cause a drop in mpg by 7. I also feel a bit of hesitation when accelerating. I'm thinking optispark

 

Did you pull the misfire count by individual cylinder, or are you just assuming that because it's P0300 its a "random" misfire? The individual misfire count often shows something different. That's why the "enhanced parameters" scan is a good idea.

One cylinder misfiring would dump a lot of unburned fuel and air into the exhaust. Since the O2 sensor can only "see" the oxygen, it assumes the engine is running lean, and increases the long term fuel corrections so that in addition to 1 cylinder misfiring, the three other cylinders in that bank are running extremely rich.

And.... an exhaust leak can cause the exact same problem - running rich - as the fast moving exhaust educts air into the system through the leak.

 

I have the p0300 only code. I ordered a set of exhaust manifold gaskets and I will be installing them after finals next week, I guess I should take care of the exhaust leak first, then see if the misfire code comes back

Thanks for your help!

 

But did you pull the misfire count by individual cylinder - simple question? That's not the same as "do you have any codes besides P0300".

 

I don't understand the difference. I pulled the code and it said "p0300 Random misfire"

 

Some scan tools are able to detect misfires in each cylinder. These tools will "look" at cylinders 1 through 8 and show which, if any, cylinder had a misfire(s). These scan tools have "enhanced parameter" capabilities.

The P0300 can be hard to track without the right equipment. You could wait until it's dark and spray around each plug and see if you see a light show.

 

UPDATE!

Two, count it two leaking gaskets.I'll have to post pics in the morning but they were bad. I hope to get it running Sunday so we'll see

 

Also check #5 and#7 spark plug wires (if they were re-installed in factory steel lume) has had alot of "burn" problems that close to the exhaust (96-97).