Cylinder 1 Misfire and Oil on Plugs

[gilhuly]

You might want to eliminate a misbehaving fuel injector by swapping #1and #2. See if your misfire migrates.

[Johnny78Blaze]

Swapped the injectors out today with 5 'newer' ones. They're in pretty good shape and I checked the o-rings and spacers and everything is good. I rechecked the spark on cylinder 4 and it's really good. I'm assuming this now narrows it down to some other part of the fuel delivery system (pump, fuel filter, etc.). It just baffles me that this is reoccurring in cylinder 4 and it's not happening in the other cylinders when I have really good compression and plenty of spark all over. Fuel pressure kit arrives on Tuesday

[rspi]

Maybe you have a bad wire going to that injector.

[Johnny78Blaze]

I don't think so. I pulled the wire and plug and checked the spark while the plug was in the wire. Good spark. I'm pretty sure my boot is sitting on the plug correctly, so I don't know what the deal is. I'm up for suggestions while I'm waiting on my fuel pressure kit. Thanks.

[FASTR1]

what you are missing possibly is dynamic conditions such as what is happening when the car is running with the compression rather than a static test during cranking. Have you plugged a vacuum gauge on the engine while running to see what vacuum is? this may show an issue while running and is a quick test most people forget about.

[Johnny78Blaze]

I don't have a vacuum gauge but I made sure all my lines were snug when I did my PCV kit.

[rspi]

I was referring to a wire going to your injector, not the spark plug. They have injector testors that you plug your wires in and they light up. Lee was talking about listening to them to hear them click. Trying to make 100% sure the injector is spraying fuel.

[FASTR1]

I am referring to not a leak but what is happening inside the engine while running, broken valve spring poor ring sealing burnt valve or incorrect valve timing,these issues may show on a vacuum gauge while running and it is a must that you check or you will be parts chasing with probably little to no success. Sorry. I would also be hesitant on relying on misfire codes as being 100 percent accurate as sometimes computers won't accurately report which cylinder is the actual cylinder misfiring, it is looking at Crankshaft rotation speed variations and sometimes a cylinder misfiring before the actual reported cylinder in the firing order is the cause. I have not looked to see if 4 is next in line compared to 1 in the order.

[Johnny78Blaze]

My apologies, I misread a few comments. I believe the firing order is 1, 2, 4, 5, 3. Got codes for 1 and/or 4 already but never 2. It makes sense to check and see if the plugs/wiring are working properly to the injectors. I wonder if Advanced Auto or AutoZone can run that check for free. I don't have a very long screwdriver for the test Lee is talking about. Maybe I could use something else? I also wonder if they do vacuum tests. Guess I'll have to call them this week or check their websites. I would also like to know what part of the injector I would be touching to listen to in the procedure Lee pointed out. In any case, while the engine is running and I pull the spark plug wire from 4 there is a big difference in the way the engine sounds/performs. Maybe the problem is in fact before 4 in the firing sequence. Like I said I've gotten codes for cylinder 1 already. That's part of the reason this thread was started. With swapping out the injectors though, I'm pretty sure the injectors are not the problem at this point. Could be wiring, could be the dynamic mentioned above, other fuel-related issue? These are great ideas that will be very helpful in pinpointing the problem. I won't be able to work with it much until the end of this week now. Thank you for the great suggestions, I appreciate it. I'll update this week.

[Johnny78Blaze]

If I wanted to get a test light for my car would it happen to be the 'Bosch PFI' light? Looking around at tester kits and individual tester lights. They're fairly inexpensive and would be well worth it.