Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting #5 cyl. intermittent misfire

Yesterday, I was on a delivery when my car started chugging and sputtering, running on only five cylinders. After a minute and a half it quit misbehaving, but immediately the "Check Engine" came on. I took it to AutoZone where they pulled a P0305 code: #5 cylinder misfire. When I took it in today, they examined it closely and found nothing wrong at all. The Autolite Double Platinum plugs are new since January, and they were the first things I checked. The coil pack and wires turned out okay, so that leaves the injector as the final suspect. But to have it malfuntion and then work right again? My grandfather and I think it may have clogged temporarily. What do you guys think?

I think coil pack, but that is just because I have had a few go out on me, and I like wild guessing.

($54.99 at autozone, and couldn't be easier to change.)

The trick is to catch it when it is missing:

Get a known good plug, and ground it to the chassis using heavy wire, or something similar.

Check for spark by attaching the wires (one at a time) to this plug, and having someone crank/start the car.

If one doesn't spark, then it is the wires, or coil pack.

Be very, very, very, very careful about having stuff around the engine when it is running. If you haven't done this before, get someone who has.