Testing coil packs
dj1111
03-13-2025, 07:33 PM
I have a 2005 Grand Caravan SE with the 3.3L not flex engine. Has almost 190,000 miles. Has been a very dependable van. Lately I've been getting a reoccurring P0301 misfire cylinder 1. I've done a lot of testing and nothing has pointed to a cause yet. I was next going to replace the coil packs as it is a relatively simple and inexpensive repair. But before I do it I thought is the following possible...?
Cylinder 1 and 4 are paired with the waste spark system. To prove, or not, it is the coil pack could I switch plug wires at the coil for cylinder 1 and 4 to see if the misfire moves to cyl 4? I can purchase longer single plug wires from Rockauto for this test. The existing wires are too short to pull this off. Is there any risk of damaging anything?
Thanks.
Cylinder 1 and 4 are paired with the waste spark system. To prove, or not, it is the coil pack could I switch plug wires at the coil for cylinder 1 and 4 to see if the misfire moves to cyl 4? I can purchase longer single plug wires from Rockauto for this test. The existing wires are too short to pull this off. Is there any risk of damaging anything?
Thanks.
dj1111
03-27-2025, 12:40 PM
For any others looking to do this, I'll answer my own message. Yes this works. I ordered 2 longer wires from Rockauto and did this test. It worked fine and the engine ran great as usual. But the outcome was not what I wished for. Still got a misfire on cylinder 1. I'm doing another test now and will report back my findings.
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