check engine light help

[solarapower]

i have a 2000 v6 solara and my check engine light came on today. So i went to autozone to run the engine code and they told me that it was a misfire in cylinder 4 and it could be the spark plug wire, spark plug, or the coil pack. so i'm going to try to replace the parts. i tried searching the locaton of cylinder 4 but couldn' t find anything. Can someone tell me which cylinder is cylinder 4 ? thanks

[Chinky420]

on a v6, with a transverse mounted engine like ours (transverse = mounted sideways), the bank closest to the firewall is bank 1. the cylinder that is labelled number 1 is the passenger side one. bank 1 has cylinders 1, 3, and 5.
bank 2 has cylinders 2, 4, and 6.

cylinder 4 being the one in the middle, facing the radiator.

if you end up buying wires, there will only be three of them to a set.

if you end up buying plugs, there will be 6 of them to a set.

if you end up buying the coil packs. well, i don't know if they sell them individually or as a set, so i don't know about those, but i'm pretty sure there are only three coil packs (above cylinders 2, 4, and 6).

i may be mistaken on this last part about the coil packs, so if anyone knows for certain, please correct me.


otherwise, hope this helps.

[amabsolute]

try reseting your CEL first, a missfire could be a one time thing caused by a number of different reasons. imo

[Chinky420]

^^ to reset the CEL, if you didn't know, you just have to unhook the battery for about 10 minutes, then reconnect the battery afterwards.

if it's a persistant problem, it'll come back after less than 100 miles (usually around 30 -50 miles).

[solarapower]

thanks for all the help

[Sentinel]

If the CEL is a one time thing then it'll go off by itself after a few run cycles with no error.

With a 2000, if your ignition hasn't been replaced, its probably time to do it anyway.

[amabsolute]

try reseting your CEL first, a missfire could be a one time thing caused by a number of different reasons. imo

zbRYa

[1gSE]

Well it's not a wire. It probably isn't the coil pack either cuz that would cause a misfire on....I can't remember which cyl and I can't check...my car is somewhere on a boat in the atlantic lol. If resetting the ecu doesn't work, check the plug, move it to another cyl and see if it still misfires.

[Jay 3rd]

im having the same problem right nowi have a 99 solara SLE.. my check engine light is blinking and i pulled the codes and said Cyl. 4 and 5 are misfiring... so i went to buy spark plugs todays.. decided to get all 6 anyway cuz im sure the previous owner did not change them after 60K miles. now it says in the manual to use the double ground platinum tip.. the dude at autozone gave me single ground.. so im guessing return them? they ones they said i needed were the NGK platinum Laser which are $9.99/plug..
so if thats the case can i i just buy like 3 for now and the other 3 later on?
and thanx for the info on the location for the cyl. cuz like i said before i usually worked on my honda 4 banger, and this engine for the solara is intimidating how do i get to 1,3,5 ?cuz when i pop the hood the 3 right there in plain site im guessing are 2,4,and 6?

[1gSE]

Reach behind/under the intake manifod. #1 (passenger side) is easy, 3 and 5 you pretty much have to feel your way there (driver side) but both are easy to get to

[Jay 3rd]

so i found 5 i got my socket in there but no room to move... so a swivel is definitly needed.. should i buy the swivel socket its self or buy the swivel socket wrench? i been told either is good but rather hear from people that work on this engine all the time

[Jay 3rd]

ok so i tried and tried for spark plug 5.. i dont see how a swivel would work, and i dont see how u can do this without taking off the manifold. i was told use this , but space is the issue. http://www.autozone.com/autozone/access ... 29438_0_0_

thiss looks like it would work but i dont kno... gettin kinda frustrated with this one sparkplug

[Jay 3rd]

another question... the manual says use dual ground only.. but at every shop they said its fine using single ground... and i losing anything by using single ground?

[99BlackSandv6]

No, you're good to go using a high quality single ground spark plug.
Screw the man! Tellin' me I can't when I can!