Help!!! My Bird is Misfiring!!!

[97FirebirdV6]

Well I have a problem and I dont know where to start with this one. I drive a 97 Firebird 3.8. My service engine light popped on about a week ago. So i took it to autozone to get the codes read off and The code that it spit out(which i cant remember) said a few things could be the problem.
1) Engine Misfire
2)Oil in exhaust
3)Oil in piston rings
4)Cat defective
It spit this code out twice and it was the only code.

Honestly, my car drives good until I push the gas down and its around 2500rpms it starts to misfire. My car starts to jerk and stutter. If i push the gas down a little harder then it jumps up in RPMs and speed. Less than a year ago I got new plugs/wires. I hear the coil packs go out alot on these engines though. Also recently I replaced my stock exhaust with a cat-back exhaust.

Can someone please help me?!!!!

[81DaytonaPaceCar]

The ever infamous throttle position sensor?

But the oil in the exhaust/rings doesn't fit that...

[92conv]

Have you tried any injector cleaner?? That too doesn't explain the "oil in the exhaust rings" though.

[94_LT1_Z28]

My cat was bad and was kinda doing the same thing. When I hit the gas it would go low RPMs and after I gave it more juice the RPMs would jump and the car would start to go a little better. My cat was destroyed inside. Maybe thats all thats wrong with yours

[meissen]

I agree - start with the cat.

[lozanoa11]

get the actual code. Did it happend to be p0300 random misfire or was it an exact cylinder?

[Derek]

get the actual code, a good scanner should say directly what cylinder is misfiring as well, i had to replace two coils on my old v6, the scanner stated directly what cylinder was misfiring and i replaced the corresponding one. A clogged cat would make the car a pig and run like crap, but really cant assume much unless you get the actual code.

[DrtyBrd]

Whats the code???

[phoenix_rising]

My car started that crap about 2 weeks ago...

I got a random cylinder misfire code last season but it went away so I left it alone. This season I got several codes. One stating that cylinder 6 was misfiring and the O2 sensor on the drivers manifold was throwing a code. It turns out tha I blew a spark plug wire in half in 2 different places!!!

So I replaced the 02 sensor, the plugs, wires, and the car runs great again. However now my car has picked up a ticking sound which I am sincerely hoping is the EGR valve gasket needing installed. Otherwise I will not be a happy camper.

[97FirebirdV6]

ok well in about an hour I'm going to get the code out of the car. The code said it was 4 different possiblities, not exactly which one. Also i was driving it to work today and it starts doing the stuttering things when i try and get it over 4000rpm. Thanks for the help hopefully you all can help me beat this.

[steddy]

The autozone code was way too.....unclear (I guess I could put it). From a misfire to an internal engine problem? Wow. I've replced the coil pack on my 3.8 about twice in 178k, so, it may be that also. I believe they're like $32 for each from Summit. I replaced my OEM with them about 4 years ago and haven't a problem since.

[97FirebirdV6]

So how easy is it to replace coil packs? Does anyone know if there is a place online that shows me exactly how to do it? Also if my cat is bad would that be my fault due to the fact its been about 1 month since i had my exhaust replaced.

[sman]

Coil packs are easy to install. But lets find the problem first. Get us the code and we can go from there.