'94 Stealth DOHC (sans turbo) With Miss

[bigj-dog]

Hi, friend has a '94 Stealth 3.0L DOHC AT with about 160,000 on it, noticed a miss a few weeks ago while driving to work. Misses some at idle, and much worse when under load. He can still drive it, but recently it's gotten just about impossible. He took it to a shop near work and they replaced one of the coil packs because according to their scope, that coil was dropping out occasionally. He claims it was better for a few days, but then back and worse, so they replaced the other 2 coil packs. Again, better for a few days then returned. He brought it back and then the mechanic said all of the coils were dropping out irregularly, so they put in a new ignition module. Again, better then returned, much worse. I'm guessing the car running better was in his mind. The next step they were going to try is a new ecm. In the meantime he called me. I asked about plugs and wires, he said he hadn't changed them since he had the car, which is 75,000 miles and 5 years. I'm going to put plugs and wires in this week while he's gone, (any recommendations on type?) and hopefully that'll take care of it, but can anyone give me more options to take a look at? I told him to hold off on the ECM for right now. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Girly VR-4]

a new ECU (or ECM) will cost over $1000. www.avproecm.com can rebuild it with a lifetime warranty for $250 give or take. Send it to them and they'll let you know if it's bad, and fix it.

I'd ABSOLUTELY change the plugs and wires. I'm willing to bet the rear plugs were NEVER changed.

[quackmandude]

more then likey it is theplugs and wires. u should change every 60k miles at the most. ngks are probably the best plugs and wires anywhere, but pricey. i actually have a friend with an 8sec transam...and he uses the 2 buck autolites and he swears by them. so its just personal preferance. anything will make the car run smoother then what it is already...o and chage the fuel filter and air fileter to.
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[bigj-dog]

That's what I'll do then. I'll post back after I get the plugs, wires, and filters changed. My friend has someone else do most of his maintenance, and only calls me in a pinch, so I don't know what has or hasn't been done for sure, but new filters never hurt anything. Thanks, cross your fingers.

[Stealthee]

Your friend is gettign ripped off by a mechanic who has no fucking clue what they are doing. They are guessing. Plugs and wires should have been the first thing changed.

As for the ECU being a 94 there is little chance that is the issue.

[bigj-dog]

Hey guys, finally got the car here. Put in NGK Iridium plugs and wires and filters and it seems to be all better. I barely drove it before, but I put around 50 miles on today and it ran great, no miss, no nothing, just a lack of a couple of turbos. The plugs in there were Champion R12J or R12C...., looking pretty tired. Thanks for the help everybody, I really appreciate it. Too bad he spent a grand on parts he didn't need.