halfasemitone

2001 Chevy Venture, 3400 3.4L

The other day I replaced my spark plugs and wires. After that, I got an engine light and the vehicle started rough and ran really rough and was misfiring. I also thought I smelled gas. I didn't even want to drive it. The issue is not intermittent.

Here's what I've checked so far:

- I checked the cables to make sure that they were seated properly on both the plugs and the ignition coils.
- I checked the cables to make sure that they were in the right posts on the ignition coil.
- I checked to make sure that I connected all cables that I took off of things and put them back in the right places.
- I used NGK iridium spark plugs so I don't have to change them for a long time. I also used NGK cables.
- I used a code reader and it gave me a P0300 code.

Any thoughts on why this would be happening would be great! Thanks.

kevinkpk

That code is misfire. Did it give you more than one of the 300 codes? I'd suspect injector. I had an injector issue on my 96 3.1. It flagged P0306 witch is #6 misfire. I took (with it running) an exstension and hammer tapped on the injector, cleared it up.

halfasemitone

Thanks for your reply!

I will give this a shot tonight. Can this really happen after changing spark plugs and wires?

tech2

ngk plugs are great for japanese or korean but never run well for gm.

If all the wires are routed and seated properly ....AND you find no other obvious problems; get a/c delco plugs.

Tegnus

I run NGK on my 98' Venture, haven't had any problems yet.

halfasemitone

Yeah, I figured that NGK plugs shouldn't be a problem, but I decided to swap them out with AC Delco platinums anyway.

She's still doing the same thing and giving me the engine light. Broke musicians like me always go the DIY route to save a bit of cash to make sure we get to eat this month, but I'm going to have to skip a few meals and take it to a shop. Regardless, I will keep you all updated on what the problem so then this thread will be closed.

Thanks for all your replies. If anyone would like to add more suggestions please do so.

Tegnus

Did you tried old wires?

just odd question, but why did you do changed spark plugs and wires in first place?

P.S. Glad to see somebody else from Vancouver here

halfasemitone

I didn't try the old wires no. I had to replace them because the spark plugs and wires were really old and worn. Maintenance is maintenance.

Regardless, after having someone look at it, supposedly, the wires underneath the wiper bars were getting caught or lifting it off the ignition coils. I could have sworn that I checked that. It runs fine now, but the engine light comes on again. This time with a P0135 problem. An O2 Sensor that's giving me problems. But that's for another thread. Sometimes I wish I wasn't a broke musician.

Tegnus, since you're from Vancouver, where do you take your Chevys to?

Tegnus

I fix it myself. Don't think it's worth bringing this car in to shop unless I really don't have way to fix it. And so far I was able to fix everything including head gasket change.

From what I read about O2 problem - check wires if connections are ok.

OBD-II Trouble Code: P0135 Oxygen O2 Sensor Heater Circuit Malfunction (Bank1, Sensor1)