Wife’s van getting misfire codes

[markba633csi]

327!

 

[C-Bag]

Anybody here missing their old 283s?

I miss my old air cooled pre ‘67 VW’s. I only gave them up in ‘85 because I couldn’t get German parts anymore. Simple transportation that just worked is what I miss the most. No complicated cooling system, simple electrical, no alternator just simple generator.

 

[great white]

Anybody here missing their old 283s?

Nope. 289 though, hipo version with solid lifters…clackity clackity clackity….whoosh!

 

[wachuko]

Well, the wife’s 2014 town and country minivan is getting the “infamous” #2 cylinder misfire codes.

Its a pentastar 3.6L and they have a few known issues that cause #2 misfire codes.

One issue is a cracked cylinder head.

Supposedly, they fixed that mid 2013 and mine is late 2014. They even extended the warranty out to 100k on 2011-2013, but mine falls outside that. I did a compression test and a leak-down test and it passed both with flying colors. So (fingers crossed) the head seems to be good. Van has 198,000 kms (approx 123,000 miles) on it so I would expect a head crack to show up a long time ago if it was going to go.

The other thing these engines do is kill cam followers (ie:rockers). They are roller followers and have needle bearings in the roller. These bearings get beat up and fail over time, usually resulting in misfires and a “tick” noise. When they go, they tend to take out the cam lobe they are on (its just how its designed).

But, we get the misfire, I check it out and clear the code and it takes a week or two for it to return. Theres also no “lifter tick” noise that is typical of a follower failure, so I’m hoping I’m going to catch it before it eats the cam lobe.

The van is at the bodyshop for a bit of corrosion repair and a repaint, so I don’t have it here to work on until about end next week.


But….watching the news and I see the UAW has walked out. Seems they’re pretty far apart on offers/demands too.

My local dealer had the followers (ie:rockers) and lash adjusters (ie: lifters) in stock. I figured I’d just head down and buy enough of each to cover the entire bank thats getting the misfires because if the strike drags on and the dealer runs out of the parts I need, it may be a while before I can get the parts to fix the van. Thats unlikely, but you never know…

Having the van down for a prolonged period isn’t an option for us. She’s driving her Mini Cooper right now, but when winter hits she will need the van (the Mini is NOT a good winter car), so its got to be fixed in short order. Can’t have it down for months waiting on parts.

I’ll likely just replace all the followers on the affected bank. Mostly because if one is going the others probably aren’t far behind and its a big job on a DOHC engine. They also redesigned the rollers/bearings in the followers so it’s worth swapping them out for that reason too. The lash adjusters will be replaced as needed as they usually don’t fail or its just one or two that either seize up or collapse.

I confirmed with the parts manager that if I didn’t need them, I could return them as long as I don’t open the packages.

Parts failures, Autoworker strikes, parts revisions, winter, etc etc.

It seemed so much simpler fixing cars when I was younger. Take it apart, parts store hands you the stuff over counter and you’re done.

Now, it seems like everything everywhere affects how you do anything…seriously, having to take into account a uaw strike that may mean tou can’t get oarts. How the world has changed…

I had to schedule an appointment for my Jeep Gladiator today for the same issue…. And mine only has 10,000 miles

Check Engine - misfire cylinder #5

 

[FOMOGO]

Same here, along with 410 FE Merc, and 239 flat head. That being said, modern ignition and fuel injection on classic engines can make for the best of both worlds in my experience. Really hard to beat the old straight six's for easy to work on. Mike

Anybody here missing their old 283s?

Nope. 289 though, hipo version with solid lifters…clackity clackity clackity….whoosh!

 

[C-Bag]

Really hard to beat the old straight six's for easy to work on.

before we got married my girlfriend had a 70 Maverick with a 200 six. Simple, incredibly cheap and best of all bulletproof. I’m sure that things still running somewhere.

 

[lordbeezer]

289..roller cam 302. 351w.

 

[great white]

Well, looks like I caught the problem just in time:



I realize not everyone will understand what they’re looking at, so I’ll elaborate a bit.

you’re looking at the cam lobes for the #2 cylinder exhaust cam. If you look closely at the top of the lobe, you can see where the metal is no longer shiny and polished.

The rocker arm that rides on those lobes is a roller rocker. It has a roller with needle bearings onside it to minimize friction. Basically, it “rolls” instead of riding solely on an oil film as a non roller rocker would.

These needle bearings have been known to fail and the roller on the rocker arm can either seize up or not roll in certain potions. This causes it to “skuff” the high point of the cam lobe. Left long enough, this will wear the lobe and eventually ruin it.

Heres a pic off the internet of one left too long:



Thats an extreme case, but if you ignore the engine light long enough you’ll be spending a grand or so on new cams to go with your new rocker arms.

This mechanical failure will throw your cylinder misfire code because when the needle bearing fails, you don’t get enough lift on the valave and the ecm sees it as a power loss, which it assumes is a misfire.

Moral of the story is don’t ignore the engine light.

The car may still be running, but you need to find out why its on right away. In most cases I will pull over and stop, or if nothing appears wrong, limp it home right away and investigate.

So I need to yank the cams next and replace parts. I’m going to replace all the rockers and all the lash adjusters. Doesn’t make sense to me to pull the cams and leave old parts in there that may also fail in short order.

 

[wachuko]

Holy grind Batman!

 

[mattthemuppet2]

wowzas, good job you caught it in time!