[capezig2]

Just back from sea, and time to take care of a few issues on my wife’s Commander.
(2010 2WD Sport, 3.7 V6, 239,000 miles.)
First, the engine misses/hesitates running down the road for the first five minutes of the day. No check engine light, no codes. After that it’s good all day

Research seemed to indicate the most likely culprit was ignition, so I changed out the 10,000 mile old OEM Matching NGK spark plugs, the 80,000 mile old plug wires and the 239,000 mile old coil assemblies. No improvement. So now I’m thinking drippy injector or something with the block. Of note is that after only 10,000 miles all three driver side plugs have rust stains on the ceramic insulator, and the forward most plug on the driver’s side was wet. Didn’t smell like anything, gas, oil, coolant. Passenger side plugs all clean and dry.

More on drivetrain issue in separate thread soon…

 

[capezig2]

New thoughts...compression test, all good. New theory about the rusty plugs on top...since the coils had never been changed, rubber plugs were dried out and not sealing the plug wells adequately. Changing the injectors now, but I dropped the last clip into the back drivers side spark plug hole, where it perfectly dropped over the top of the plug, and won't come out...magnets, picks, vacuum, air, screwdrivers...unless it stays perfectly flat, it jams in the well. Grrrrr...

 

[capezig2]

Just back from sea, and time to take care of a few issues on my wife’s Commander.
(2010 2WD Sport, 3.7 V6, 239,000 miles.)
First, the engine misses/hesitates running down the road for the first five minutes of the day. No check engine light, no codes. After that it’s good all day

Research seemed to indicate the most likely culprit was ignition, so I changed out the 10,000 mile old OEM Matching NGK spark plugs, the 80,000 mile old plug wires and the 239,000 mile old coil assemblies. No improvement. So now I’m thinking drippy injector or something with the block. Of note is that after only 10,000 miles all three driver side plugs have rust stains on the ceramic insulator, and the forward most plug on the driver’s side was wet. Didn’t smell like anything, gas, oil, coolant. Passenger side plugs all clean and dry.

More on drivetrain issue in separate thread soon…

New thoughts...compression test, all good. New theory about the rusty plugs on top...since the coils had never been changed, rubber plugs were dried out and not sealing the plug wells adequately. Changing the injectors now, but I dropped the last clip into the back drivers side spark plug hole, where it perfectly dropped over the top of the plug, and won't come out...magnets, picks, vacuum, air, screwdrivers...unless it stays perfectly flat, it jams in the well. Grrrrr...

On the good side, I finally worked that silly injector clip back up off the spark plug insulator with hemostats and dental picks. At first go it seemed the missing/hesitation issue was solved…but no. Did it again yesterday. Where to now as I wind up to throw more parts at the beast. It’s been a great vehicle for 239,000 miles, but I just can’t seem to hit right on this hiccup.