Yep, so after a month of Vette ownership some reality is setting in. I have the stutter at wide open throttle. I reviewed what some other people have posted about it. I still ended up going to my local Chevy dealer. I wanted an oil change but thought WTH, let's get this taken care of.

So I arrived at dealership at 11:30AM. Tech drove the car twice and couldn't duplicate the problem. I basically told the tech you've gotta be out of your mind. I said take it to the I-10 on ramp and from a roll really give it the gas. So he did, claimed he couldn't duplicate. Drove it with scan tool and said all he could get was 2 misfires on cylinder 7 but that was it. So they parked it.

Next the shop foreman wanted to drive it to see what he could find. At 4:30 we take it out with me driving. I feel it, he can't...

We get 3 exites down and he says he will drive it back to the dealership. As soon as he hit 60 mph underload he's like...yep, there it is. After a few more miles he's like I can even feel it under light load; I don't even need to mash it to feel it.

So he felt it was an ignition problem.

BUT they still wanted to fish around $$$.

So here's my question. Does this sound like something you folks have experienced and was it coils and plugs? I have 68k (2000 c5) and no idea what the previous owner did or didn't do.

Now..the dealer was cool. When I first arrived the advisor was like $125 just for the diagnosis regardless of what is or isn't found plus whatever problems need to be fixed; but when the advisor checked me out he said they were only charging me for the oil change and that when I come back we can pick up where we left off on the rest. So that was cool. I expected at least 3 hrs billed since I was there 5 hours.

I should have just brought the thing to Vette Culture in Tempe...

So I am debating if I can handle doing plugs and wires myself. I'm not mechanically inclined AT ALL.

But the savings are huge...

Advice?!?!

I'm all ears!!

 

If you have basic hand tools (sockets, ratchet, extensions and swivels), doing a plug and wire change is pretty simple. The only difficult plug to get to is the number 7 (rearmost on driver's side) and sometimes the wires can be a PITA to get loose.

But if you do not feel comfortable doing the job, it's best to leave it to someone that knows what they are doing. Do you have any friends that are mechanically inclined that could help you or how about seeing if a generous forum member in your area would help? Just some suggestions here.

 

Probably common sense (but I've been known to lack it sometimes ) but engine needs to be cool since you're constantly putting your hands in what could be a very hot area.

 

If you do change the plugs put a little anti-seize on the new ones. As Jack stated it's not a hard job, but getting the old wires off can be tricky. I removed mine with pliers. It pretty rewarding doing your own repairs even if its minor.

 

Spark plugs last a long time. I'm leaning more towards the #7 coil itself or the spark plug wire.

 

Thanks all

Funny you should suspect #7

Maybe I just focus on that since that's where they got the misfire.

I'll tell you though

Now that I've got this stutter it is super friggen annoying.

 

also check the coil/injector harness, there is a bracket on the back of the intake manifold on the driver side (same side as your #7 misfire) that the harness rubs against and over time can chafe the wires and cause misfire problems... the bracket is useless in my opinion and if you ever remove the intake I would consider leaving if off... the coils are pretty stout and it's rare that one of those fail but anything is possible

 

Okay so let me tell you my story as I just changed me spark plugs and wires a week ago. I bought a one owner heated garage kept 2002 z06 with 5,500 miles back in November. On my second tank of gas I was giving a friend a ride in it and he said "Is it misfiring at upper rpm's. I kept doing WOT pulls in 3rd to see if I could tell it was a misfire as it did feel like it was doing a tiny bit of stuttering but it's hard to tell as the car is accelerating hard and tends to be bouncy. There were no codes thrown by the car.

I inspected the plug wires and they looked new, however everything on the car looks new so it's hard to tell how old they were. I made sure the wires were not loose or had any damage. After many months I kept feeling it. I asked many people about the issue and you know what they told me "don't worry about it", and "those plugs last 100,000 miles I would not worry about them.

Well last weekend I changed wires/plugs with GM performance wires and NGK plugs. The old plugs were gapped at .065" (should be .040").

The issues that I "thought I had" before I changed them I now know I "absolutely had", as I could immediately tell the upper rpm's were smoother.

As far as how hard it is to do yourself all you need is a spark plug socket with a few extensions and a swivel adapter. # 7 is sort of hard to do but I didn't think it was that bad. I just moved the Air injection out of the way to the top of the brake booster. I'd recommend a set of needle nose pliers, and a set of 90 degree offset needle nose pliers for helping to pull off the old wires. A dental or small extendable mirror is also helpful when installing the new plugs to help you line up the plugs with the holes in the head.

When things like this pop up on a car everyone has a different opinion on what it is; injector, fuel filter, coil...etc. The fact is plugs and wires are a little over 100 bucks in parts and if you don't know how old they are than it's best to replace them and cross them off the list of things it could be.