97 chevy venture van-misfire in plug 2 .HELP

[tantum75]

After getting screwed pretty bad off of craigslist.. I am scared to death of losing my money again. I am a single mom and dont know much bout cars. I AM looking at a van tomorrow but the lady told me that when she took it for a tune up they told her there was a misfire in plug 2. She said he did not offer any advice as to how to fix it,,She said she has never been stranded in the van and that it runs pretty good but sometimes you can hear a little hesitation at start up of car. I am looking at the car tomorrow at noon, your help is greatly appreciated

[lesterl]

If there is over 100k on the van and no tuneup has been done (plugs) I would suspect that would be the issue, on my 99 I had problems around 90k.

Plug #2 is the one on the front of the van on the passenger side, might have it idle and wiggle the plug wire.

It could also be a bad/ leaky/ stuck fuel injector, a bad intake gasket, a bad spark plug wire, a bad coil pack, a bad ICM, a bad Head Gasket, a cracked ring, etc.

Dont get me wrong, I love my van, I have had experience with several other brands and you WILL do repairs on all of them of such age and if any mileage.

For sure listen / look at the engine real good and ask many questions, might take it for a test drive to the local shop and have them peek at it, let them know you may purchase it and have them possibly do the work for repair.... maybe they can shoot you an idea.

Like I said if the mileage is up over 100k and no tune up, then I would suspect you need plugs. Could be several different things tho.

[tantum75]

she said she was told of the misfire in plug 2 after she had the tune-up,,so yes she has had a tune up...mechanic is closed tomorrow, would u suggest i just pass on it?

[lesterl]

Did she get a tune up on it because of the #2 miss? It still could be a bad wire, or coil, both of those are pretty notorious for missfire? Does it just miss at idle, or miss worse at idle and get better the faster the engine runs? If ya could get a second opinion on it it would be a good idea, but depends upon the mileage. Wonder what the tune up involved? I just put a coil on mine because of a miss, it has been erratic at best (doesnt miss when I try to troubleshoot.) But it hasnt acted up recently....

[tantum75]

i guess she had just taken it in for a reg tune up becuase there was a slight hesitation at start up of van. The van has 134,000 miles on it. after the tune up that she said she paid 300.00 for she was told there was a misfire in plug 2.

[lesterl]

Might look under the hood and see if the plug wires look new, I have had them come apart when older and cause missfires (the last missfire code I had was a #2 and it was a bad plug wire - the metal plug clip stayed with the plug.)

[tantum75]

Ok not to sound like a complete idiot,,lol,, Where are the plugs at under the hood, what do they typically look like and can i see them in open view under the hood? What would new ones look like? I would be a getting a really good deal on the van and could afford to put about three hundred into it if I had to... Also when checking the oil, how can I determine if their is antifreeze in it? Thanks sooooo much for your help

[ricebike]

pass on it...

or

let that mechanic who did that "tune up" recheck his work, by pulling the plugs and rechecking the gaps/ part numbers etc...

[Firehawk97]

Hey Tantum75, here is abit of advise if you are told your car has a misfire, never grab the wires and wiggle them while its running, you will get the SHOCK OF YOUR LIFE!!! If somebody jus tuned it up and there is a misfire something else is more then likely wrong. There are plenty of cheap good running cars out there.