Help needed on '05 Town & Country

My wifes '05 T&C with 3.8l V6 86xxx miles has developed a intermittent misfire problem. Every now and then it starts getting real rough at idle and while driving. Eventually it threw a p0305 code indicating a cylinder 5 misfire. No big deal I thought as I knew it needed plugs and wires as they were OE still. While I was in there I changed the EGR as that had caused the CEL to go on a couple of months ago and I was too lazy and cheap to change it considering it wasn't causing any drivability problems.

Changed all that out and the problem still persists. So what say you GRM'ers?

I looked for vacuum leaks and didn't see any. Intake manifold gasket? Bad injector? Coil? I really hate to start throwing parts at this thing trying to find the problem.

Thanks!

I'm not thinking injector issue. Did you use Champion plugs? Mopar vehicles are VERY finicky about using anything other than Champions.

Im thinking coil pack.

Does it still have the coil pack with 6 spark terminals in a rectangle?

I agree with Vigo. Coil packs are cheap at the U-Pull-It for testing purposes.

It's doubtful for it to be an injector, but I would take the upper and rail off and swap it to another cylinder. Given it's right at the end of the rail and being a returnless sytem, it may have trash in it. If it follows, it's the injector. If it doesn't, pull the cover and look to see if everything is ok.

Also if you haven't, clean the throttle body! I can't believe the weird and messed up driveability problems that I have fixed by cleaning it.

Amen on crappy champions. Sometimes you can get by with a better cheap plug like Autolite or NGK, but it's hard.

Brian

Had this happen on a 3.8L Grand Caravan and it was the coil. $30 for a used one at the salvage yard.

I ended up buying a spare and tossing it into one of the rear storage bins. $60 and it was fixed w/spare coil included.

So how did you like changing those rear plugs?

OK for the past 2 days I worked on this thing and while a gallon of gas is cheaper than a coil, I refrained from killing it with fire and set out to fix it. Bought new coil from NAPA and it didn't fix the issue. I need this vehicle to be uber-reliable as it's the misses and I hate hearing her complain that her car is broke, hence the reason I bypassed a junk yard one.

I used Autolite plugs but switched them to Champions, no change. With no other choice I started tearing into it to get the injectors out. Changed no. 5 injector, all injector o-rings, plenum gaskets, and dielectric grease on all connections. I was going to take Ranger's advice and just swap the injector but I figured if I'm going to tear all this stuff off and it was the injector I'd be pissed that I didn't just spend the $40 and replace it the first time I had it all apart.

Just got back from a 1/2 test drive and all seems good. I hope it stays that way.

Also the rear plugs were a pain but not as bad as I thought they would be. Doing it twice now I'm almost a pro at it.

Hmm, glad you got it fixed. The point about the returnless fuel system was a good one, i didnt even think about the cylinder number!

Another van lives on

DrBoost wrote: I'm not thinking injector issue. Did you use Champion plugs? Mopar vehicles are VERY finicky about using anything other than Champions.

They are not that finicky. I have used Autolite and Bosch plugs with no issues. Now for my 84 Charger 2.2 I run NGK and a Crane ignition system. Gap the plugs to .040 and feel the difference!

i run NGKs only in my vans...i never had a problem...plus noone can pay me to run Champion crap anyways

BTW i'm building a '94 3.3 Voyager for fun...my 2nd van