Need Help Quick!

[Arntt]

Let me start by saying I'm not the most knowledgable person when it comes to the engine! Yesterday, I started my car and it started missing and the rpm gauge would go up and down a little bit at below 1 rpm. My check engine light is blinking which means I need to fix this right away. I think that I should change the spark plugs and wires, but like I said I'm not that knowledgable in the engine area so I thought I would ask before I bought any parts after work today.

[doobiess]

well as anyone else would say we cant really tell but changing the plugs and wires wont fix it.. since those 2 being bad wont have the engine light go off..

So when you start was thier white smoke comming out the tailpipe and not just steam.. and did it have a unique smell to it...

Check the oil in your car when you pull out the dipstick does look like a little bit of white foam on top of where the oil is up to ?

If either one is true.. you either have a Lower intake manifold gasket or Head gasket needing replacing...
To diagnose you would need the engine pressure tested in each cylinder to see if any are leaking..
If this also is the case i would HIGHLY dont recomend you drive your car to that shop get it towed there.. would save you a ton of cash down the road... Also either job can be quite pricey to fix.

After that .. when the car is idling is the shaking really bad and out the tailpipe poping alot.. could be a coil going bad or ignition module.

But if you dont have white smoke or any foam on the dipstick i would say take it to a local shop and get them to scan your computer to find out what is causing it to turn on .. at least there you know which direction to go in

[voyager]

you need to get the trouble code scanned. doobie's right, plugs and wires won't fix it. any odd smells? anything wierd coming out the tailpipe at all? white smoke? black specks? hear any strange hissing under the hood with the motor running? .. could be alot of things. good luck!

[Arntt]

No, there is not a trace of any smoke or any smells. It just misses and the air coming out of the tailpipe kind of compares to I guess you could say machine gun fire but slower.:eek: Anyways there are no sounds or any of that.

[4kQuad]

Thats a good sign, but like other I suggest you get the code read, lots of autoparts stores will do it for free. Thinking you will buy the needed parts from them.

With out know what the codes are there is little that we can do.

[mikem220153]

A Flashing Check engine light indicates excessive misfires. A constant check engine light idicates emissions or tranny problems.

Most common causes of misfires are ignition or fuel delivery problems. Another cause could be poor compression on 1 or more cylinders.

Ignition problems could be:
Bad Spark plug
Bad Plug wire
Defective Coil.

A note about coils: Each coil on the 3100 services 2 cylinders. If you have the OEM coils installed, they will be numbered for which cylinders they service.

If the problem is fuel delivery related it could be:
A bad fuel injector
Bad injector harness
Bad fuel injector driver in the PCM (cars computer)

If it is a compression related problem then you could have bad rings in one or more cylinders, cracked head, bad valves.

The most common cause on the 3100 V6 is usually either a bad spark plug, bad plug wire, bad coil, or a bad fuel injector.

Start troubleshooting it by getting the codes read to determine which cylinder(s) are misfinng then troubleshoot it from there.

[Arntt]

took it to the dealership and it ended up being a clogged fuel injector. thanks for the help though.