Well, I had the throttle assembly and a/c compressor replaced, but NOW the check engine light comes on.

Yesterday, I was at work and it was 38 degrees out. I started the car and it was stuttering quite noticeably. It never did cut off, but the amber check engine light started to flash, until the car warmed up - then it was a steady orange light. My hubby put it on a code reader and it had several misfires, however, he just changed the spark plugs, etc. He cleared the code to see if it would happen again.

Today, the same thing happened, but the car wasn't cold. It was warmed up at my job, and I made it 2 miles from home before the light came on. I don't know what else it could be other than the ignition coil? And if so, wouldn't the car misfire all the time? Because the code reader was giving us 6 misfires, but it runs smooth once the car is warm.

I'm confused, please help.

 

monica, what you describe can actually be helped with the motor getting warm. If you have a coil that is cracked and getting some moisture inside of it, it can cause a cylinder or two to misfire, leading to the computer thinking other cylinders are misfiring and to the rough idle that you getting. The easy check is to look at the top of all the coils (total of 6 on your car) and see if you can spot a white line in the top of the coil. The crack will normally run around the edge of the coil where the clear top meets the colored plastic edge. Any coil with a crack should be replaced. After that, you may want to make sure that the coils are properly seated on the plugs. Also, was the gap on the plugs checked before installing the new plugs? If the gap wasn't set correctly, that can cause the car to run rough initially and then smooth out as things get warm.

 

Thanks for the great information, Thermo. My husband actually took all the spark plugs out, because he didn't check the gap setting when he did the tune up. He set them to the right setting and it runs like a new sewing machine. My baby girls is back in business!!!!

 

Monica,

Glad you got your engine purring again.

Thermo,

Nice call. The basics are often overlooked. Even by the pros.