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Help me diagnose an intermittent missfire?

My 1996 Bravada has a missfire, it runs fine when cold, the miss starts when the engine is fully warmed up--but not every time. Once the engine is warm, the miss comes and goes as though by the flip of a switch. It feels like a regular, recurring miss on one cylinder, sometimes two. Sometimes the miss will go away when I blip the throttle, sometimes it gets worse when I do that.

Scanned codes are rear heated O2 sensor inactivity (the one after the cat) and Intermittent Missfire. I replaced the O2 sensor, cleared codes and the code came right back. Backprobe of the O2 sensor harness shows voltage in proper range, and definitely not inactive. The sensor wire swept between .2 and .9 volts 6 times in 20 seconds, which (as far as I understand) is what it's supposed to do.

Trying to chase down the miss, I've replaced the spark plugs, plug wires, rotor (cap is 1 year old and appears to be new) and coil. Also I used a soda-can to block off EGR, none of these made any difference. Any idea what else to test?

Update:

I have also replaced the fuel filter, and have used Heet water remover. No difference, been having the same problem over multiple tanks of gas.

4 Answers

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  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    Tough one. Probably not the reason but put some dry gas in just incase there is any water in the fuel. Check the fuel filter but my gut tells me its electronic. Look inside the distributor cap and see if there are any lines that look like pencil lines on the inside. If so replace. Good luck.

  • 1 decade ago

    Check all the O2 sensors, their harnesses, especially the connectors. I have read that some of those connectors are not as "water tight" as they should be. That allows moisture in and results corrosion build-up. High resistance in the circuit. Some even require a new harness or connectors.

    Just what I have read.

    Best wishes.

  • 1 decade ago

    look in the wiring for the coil or the distributor if its shorting out it can cause a misfire int the corresponding cylinder

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    did you check you injectors? Maybe its bad fuel causing the misfire

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