2001 LS V8 Long Crank + Misfire

I have two different issues going on with my LS and I don't believe they are related although I'm not sure. Car just turned 100,000 miles. I should also add I'm not very mechanically inclined although I'm slowly picking some of this stuff up.

A while back, the car started cranking for a bit longer than normal before it would start. After sitting for many hours (completely cold) it starts normal with no long crank (or within 10 minutes or so of shutting it off). I had it brought in to the local dealer and they couldn't locate the problem on regular diag and replaced the fuel filter to no avail. The problem continues and I can also smell gas when it cranks over long.

Then more recently, the car started running rough and now as soon as it warms up a little, it's really choppy during acceleration and idle. So I ran it on a friends tool and it came back misfire on #7. So when we got valve cover off, sure enough there was oil in the plug wells on #7 and #2. Ended up replacing all spark plugs and a couple of the coils where the oil was showing up. Didn't solve the issue and so I brought it into the dealer and they said the coil connecters/boots & valve cover gaskets need to be replaced and there was oil all over #3. Since they quoted me at $990 to have done at the dealer, we recently replaced the valve cover gaskets 6 of the boots and coil #3 and it didn't solve either issue. I also dumped in some injector cleaner which didn't do anything.

So I guess my question is do you think the problems is related? And if so, what could it be? Down $400 so far and still no resolution. :(

(PS- I also have to replace the clock spring as all my steering controls are messed up and the keyless entry isn't working, or heat in driver's seat)

thanks

Did the valve covers and gaskets fix the P0307 code?

How old is the battery, and have you checked the fuel pressure at the fuel rail?

The electrical system on these cars is quite sensitive, a battery that load tests fine may still cause driveability issues on the LS. Additionally, if the fuel pressure is not correct it could cause misfiring. A misfire doesn't mean the problem is spark related, it could also be air/fuel ratio related or compression related.

-Rod

Did the valve covers and gaskets fix the P0307 code?

How old is the battery, and have you checked the fuel pressure at the fuel rail?

The electrical system on these cars is quite sensitive, a battery that load tests fine may still cause driveability issues on the LS. Additionally, if the fuel pressure is not correct it could cause misfiring. A misfire doesn't mean the problem is spark related, it could also be air/fuel ratio related or compression related.

-Rod

I just scanned it myself this time (dealer scanned it last) and I'm still getting misfire in 3 and also it came up with 4 as well. They did check fuel pressure at the rail and it checked out.

Have you tried the old shell game,(switching places with known good coils and injectors ) ? Have you taken a compression check of the cyclinders ? Do these two cyclinders share a coil pack ?

The LS uses Coil on Plug, so each cylinder has its own coil. The shell game can be quite an effective diagnostic tool if the misfire codes remain consistent. Fortunately all the coils are pretty easy to get to on the LS.

-Rod

if valve cover guaskets r fixed replace coils n plugs to fix miss fire,the hard star is due to a fuel injector stuck open and its flooding your cylinder when you turn the car off thus making it hard to start when you try to start it later