Every several hundred miles my check engine light comes on. It usually happens while cruzing down the highway at 70 mph. It did happen once while starting and the engine was running rough, like it was missfiring. On the highway the misfire is harder to notice.

When i check the code, I get 0201 ( "misfire or ingition circuit problem" from above sticky) The above sticky says i should get a secondary code to tell me which cylinder is misfiring. I checked the ignition coils per the how to sticky above and they all checked between 20 and 30 ohms. The sticky says they should be 0. Is that correct?

Do you think this is a bad coil or could it be somethig else?

Is there a way to tell shich cylinder is missing?

 

When was the last time you changed your spark plugs? And are they gapped right?

 

Should have mentioned, that was the first thing i did and i changed the knock sensor had that code the first time the cel came on.

 

How does the car act while idling? Can you hear/feel the misfire, like a rough idle, and also whth acceleration?

 

From the FSM
0201 Malfunction is detected when the ignition signal in the primary circuit is not entered during engine cranking or running
Possible Causes (Check Items)
Harness or connectors (ignition primary circuit is open or shorted)
Power transistor unit built into the ignition coil
Condensor
Crankshaft position sensor
Crankshaft position sensor circuit
FSM
Ignition coil check
Use multimeter set to mesure resistance (Ohms)
measure resistance between pins 1 and 2 (center and right pin)
Good coil should measure resistance (Not 0 ohms)
If 0 ohms is measured replace coil

 

This problem is very intermittent. happens once every 300-400 miles. the one time it happened while starting it did idle rough. I turned the care off then on again and then it ran fine. I think that every once and a while one of the ignition coils quits firing or has a bad contact. When it does happen it doesnt last very long.

 

I have just about convinced myself it is one of the ignition coils. I just wish I kenw which one. I guess I could change all 6? what do you guys think. Just change them all??

 

any body got any ideas?

 

I just changed mine today because i was experiencing sluggish acceleration and hesitation. I did my front 3 at autozone and the rear 3 on my own. At autozone the first 3 i bought where already seperated perfectly, So the other 3 i didn't even check.

I didn't start this thread i just wanted to ask you. Is it very important that the spark plugs be spaced perfectly?

 

As you know intermittent problems are difficult to diagnose. Choices are 1. To start replacing parts hoping you stumble on the right one or 2. Wait for the problem to become constant, (or more constant). As you can see from my post #5 there are many possible causes. Replacing all the coils is fairly expensive. You could buy a manual and a multimeter for less and start working through diagnostic flowsheets, though because the problem is intermittent everything might check out perfectly. On the other hand it might give you an idea of the problem. For instance the electrical test for the condensor could be very close to out of specs. indicating it could likely be the cause. Just some things to consider, before you start throwing monsy at it.

 

My cel came on again today, but this time there were two codes 201 and 605. Missfire on #4 cylinder. At least this gives me something to work with. Now I just need to remember where that is post about the firing order. If somebody knows just shout it out. thanks