I had a knock sensor and a small evap leak code. so i decided to fix the knock sensor myself because i have done it before. while i had it apart i decided to change out the spark plugs too. spark plugs 1 and 2 came out fine with no problems and i installed the new ones, plugs 3 and 4 though both had a tiny bit of oil on them.. so i changed em out and kept going, plugs 5 and 6 however were in a puddle of oil. like a lot of oil.. so i got as much of it out as possible and put in the plugs. eventually i plan on putting in new valve covers to fix this.. so i put everything back together and start it up. sounds terrible. it like burbling like a muscle car and smoking a whiteish maybe bluish smoke. i drive it around the block and the service engine soon light starts FLASHING at me. it feels awful, like it shakes when you drive and if you give it gas it doesnt accelerate much. maf and vacuum lines are all attached.. idk what it could be? please help i need my car. if its missing on 3 and 4 could this happen? thanks

 

Did you accidentally switch around the coil packs?

 

sounds like a fat misfire. make sure the coils are on correctly, and i suggest a catch can

 

well its pretty hard to switch up the coils cause they are the specific lengths lol but two out of the five did go on weird.. like there was no suction onto the plug. the only thing holding it on was the little bolt. the others felt like they were actually on without needing that bolt. im checking this first, then ill let you guys know the code when my friend gets here with the scanner.

 

Actually it is easy to swap two of the plug wires, don't remember what the common two to swap are. Also oil dropped into the cylinder, that will cause a lot of smoke, but it will clear up after a few miles.

 

i think one or more coilpacks are bad.. we took off coilpack number 4 but left the plug in and it kept running the same then we put coilpack 2 onto number 4 and left plug 2 without a pack and it started running differently but still bad so i think that means that one pack was bad.

 

Driver side first two are easy to swap, I did it when I rebuilt my motor.

 

thats what she said??

 

I would recheck cool pack positions , never dismiss the obvious

 

A video of the smoke would be very helpful.

 

I know how you feel this happen to me it sucks! One of your coils or more are done take it to a mechanic so he can tell you which exactly are the ones to be replaced.

 

thats what i just realized. i just checked and FOUR of the coilpacks are out . does anyone know how dificult replacing the valve covers is? i mean i had my motor stripped down to where it was only the block and the valve covers showing (all the intakes manifolds out, and fuel rail assembly) so im assuming just take out those bolts, replace it and the gasket, and put it back together? i cannot afford labor for this stuff. bill is already gonna be around 600 for just parts

 

Really easy to change valve covers. So your coils were fine until you worked on it? Now you think you have 4 bad coils? Very unlikely.

check the coil wire colors, each should have a black wire, a W/L and
1) Yellow/Red Stripe 3) L?/Red Stripe 5)PUrple/White stripe
2) Green/B 4) GreY 6) GreY/Red stripe

thats for 03, let me know if yours is differant.

And dont run it till you get it figured out, a lot of guys seem to burn their cats out after putting coils wrong lately.

 

thanks, that info is actually pretty helpful. but yeah i already got the covers off and it wasnt hard at all. but i found out the coilpacks are fine, its the resistors inside the boot on the coilpacks that went bad because of the oil. i guess so much oil got onto the resistors that it couldnt spark, causing it to work too hard and blowing them.. so im going to replace just the boots and resistor on those 4.

 

My Service Engine Soon (SES) Light came on yesterday while driving home from work. I did a little research this morning at work because I wanted to figure out what the problem was w/o putting more than fifty miles on the car. I don't want to transform a small problem into a big one..

Anyways, during lunch I went and conducted the manual retrieval process for the error code and got it on the second try (P0442 - EVAP). After reading how difficult this can be to perform correctly I was fairly impressed with how easily I managed to attain it; HOWEVER, after replacing the part (gas cap ~ $10 @ Autozone) I was unable to perform the manual reset on the ECU. I was getting so f*cking frustrated!

After about ten attempts, I decided to take the hit to my pride and go back into Autozone and simply ask the gentleman behind the counter to reset it with the diagnostic tool they have on hand (Yeah, I don't know what those things are called: not car-smart).

/rant :csb:

 

code is gone? it was just the gas cap?

 

Hey, Apocelypse, with respect, don't hijack this thread; start another. It's not only good manners, but it's likely to get you more and better replies.

 

sorry to bring this back up but im really about to give up on this car.. i replaced the valve covers and coilpacks and i start it up.. no ses light but it still sounds like a muscle car and doesnt rev smoothly, i take it for a test drive and floored it in second to see if it would even accelerate and at about 5,000 rpm i look back and see an explosion of sparks, literally looks like the car is on fire. i pulled over and checked the exhaust and i see chunks of what looks like my cats.. clogged cats could explain the performance and sound change, but then i run the scanner and it says both camshaft sensors are malfunctioniing? wtf.. can anyone please help! what would you reccomend?

 

Thats exactly how my z ran when 2 coilpacks where switched around

 

but do the actual coilpacks have a specific plug number they must go in or just the wires that go to the coilpacks.. all of my actual packs im sure have been switched back and forth by now but the wires still lead to the correct cylinders im pretty sure..