No worries, hopefully check it out this evening

Cheers!

 

- checked plug gap, it's around .039 like it should be.
- Tried a used plug (not the best one mind you), no change.
- Swapped coils with another cylinder, no change, misfire still on cylinder 6
- used a test light, and checked with another coil harness for a baseline, solid red on the voltage wire showing power is being delivered. (doesn't blink or flicker)


Going to swap plugs with another cylinder, that will be either late tonight or tomorrow as I ran out of time after work before I have to go play hockey.

 

Test lights are a no-no now. Too big a load, can fry the electronics.

As you can see from the workshop manual, most of the car's items are fed with batt+ and the electronics switches to ground, so you would need to suspect/check the -ve path more than the +ve.

 

My test light has a clamp for ground only - if that can fry the car's electronics, it can go on the street with a for sale sign in it.

 

To light up it draws power. Too much for modern electronics.

 

Could I possibly use a multimeter to check what the harness is doing?

 

Yes. Good choice

 

Would you know what I should set it to and what sort of numbers I should see? I'm not that savvy with those.

 

You want to be checking continuity / voltage drops. Workshop manual gives info.

 

Swapped plugs on cylinder 6 from another cylinder, confirmed gaps before reinstalling. Still has a misfire, still on cylinder 6. (confirmed with disconnecting coil harness)

Took her for a boot while waiting to see if any new codes pop up (I had cleared the previous P0356)

After a few clicks the check engine light comes back on, now it's P0356 and P0306.

Maybe it's the injector on that cylinder?

 

Ever have one of those moments, where you feel like an idiot, a classic case of too much focus on one thing instead of looking at the bigger picture for a solution?

Well I just had one of those moments, I laughed and also breathed a sigh of relief. Extra points if you see and know what this is. LOL

 

Jimmy Hoffa?

 

I decided to take focus off the coil, coil harness and spark plug to check out the injectors.

Found out injector for #6 cylinder was actually disconnected. It was probably disconnected when I bought it!!

 

Yowza! Yet you were getting only a P0356 code?

P0356 is for an ignition coil circuit fault, either in the wiring or the coil itself. If the PCM determines the coil can't fire, the fuel injector is also shut off to prevent raw fuel from reaching the cat. Dang, your PCM must have been an overachiever. Not only did it shut off the injector, it removed the connector, too.

I'm thoroughly confused why you weren't getting any codes for the injector circuit. Even if there was some logic that also shut off the coil in response (doubt it, just thinking out loud), the injector circuit was the primary fault and should have registered.

Was P0356 the only code? You didn't mention any others in this thread. I'd hate to activate the forum's Frying Pan Network. This requires moderator approval but I'm sure this will be readily granted.

Has everything returned to normal with that connector reinstalled?

 

P0356 was the absolute only code I was getting, even after letting the car run for extended periods of time. Trust me, I scratched my head too, but also how I couldn't have noticed that harness undone. But I was focusing so much on the coil and plug I guess I had tunnel vision.

Wasn't until I cleared the code after swapping the plugs to see if it was a plug issue and then I actually took her for a rip around the block instead of letting it idle (probably 10km worth) waiting for the check engine light to come back on - and it did. At that point I was checking to see if the problem moved to the cylinder I swapped the plug with.

It popped up with P0356 again but this time it also had P0306. That's when I was thinking that maybe it's something with the injector instead. As soon as I looked, I could see the injector harness disconnected for #6 injector.

Clicked it back in, fired up, purrin like a cat now. Probably have 100-150 kms on it now without a light again and it's running significantly better with absolutely no hesitation whatsoever.

 

Weird indeed. You'd expect P0306 (and injector issues are listed for that).

Still, good it's solved!

 

It is great to have it resolved, and thankfully it wasn't a bigger problem.

I sincerely appreciate all your guys' help while I worked on this.