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I have no idea what is wrong with your car. Is your mechanic a Chevy dealer mechanic? I remember with our van having some issues and finally I pulled he plug and took it to the dealer. They recognized the problem and resolved the issue. I am cheap, but sometimes things come to a point and it may be cheaper to just visit the dealer the car came from.
I had a Volvo S70 that had this issue
it said it could be the oxygen sensor
Replaced the ABS module and the freaking check engine light never came on again
I've heard a number of stories about these Ecotec 2.2's having head issues.
Normally, I more hear about cylinder 3 having lower compression, but since your situation is happening a little more intermittently.. the leakdown test might be more appropriate.
OK, so I've had this issue for the past 4 months. The check engine light comes on and stays solid. Car never even stalls. It shakes sometimes while stopped. I bring it to the mechanic, he hooks up the code reader and it comes up as cylinder 3 misfire. At first I thought it was just a hiccup since it first happened when the temperature dropped. It went out after a few days, and had been going on and off intermittently for a couple months. He then changed the spark plugs and the coils. It was out for a week and then came back on. He changed the coils a second time, and it came back on later in the day I picked it up. He then suggested getting some sea foam to put in the gas tank to clear it out. I put some in, drove it for a full tank of gas and it still wouldn't go out. I bring it to him and he turned it off with the code reader. Drove what totaled up to be close to another 400 miles with it being out. Then it comes back on again. So now I brought it back to him yesterday to change the injector. He said it cannot be the engine if I'm driving 400 miles with it out and it doesn't flash and not a stall even once, and that it is most likely something with the fuel system. So I get it today and he changed the injector, and said it was extremely dirty in there and recomended I keep putting more sea foam in the tank every few times I fill up. Drove another 50 miles and it came back on again! Only this time it came back on when I hit the gas and it jumped into the next gear, which it does sometimes. He mentioned that after he scrubbed it clean, it blew out a big cloud of smoke. Could it just be at this point that it needs more cleaning with the sea foam or is it an even bigger problem?
You need to find a mechanic that really knows how to diagnose a problem. There are lots of other reasons this could be happening that has nothing to do with plug/coil/injector.
Don't use a mechanic that is just changing parts and praying. You don't need an expensive mechanic to do that.
We had a similar problem on an S10 one time. Light just kept coming on. Several mechanics and the dealer couldn't diagnose anything, so they'd put it down to the fuel cap and reset the light. Then it light up like a Christmas tree, the engine started sputtering, and didn't want to go. Even after that they couldn't find out why other than an intermittent computer fault. Couldn't trust it so we sold it.
We had a similar problem on an S10 one time. Light just kept coming on. Several mechanics and the dealer couldn't diagnose anything, so they'd put it down to the fuel cap and reset the light. Then it light up like a Christmas tree, the engine started sputtering, and didn't want to go. Even after that they couldn't find out why other than an intermittent computer fault. Couldn't trust it so we sold it.
Surprisingly, most mechanics don't know how to diagnose problems that are caused by unusual or rare reasons.
There are even mechanics who make their whole living by being hired by shops who bring them in to diagnose these type of vehicles. Most of the time the problem is something very simple to fix, just hard to figure out if you don't have the skills.
When you watch these mechanics go through the vehicle it looks real simple to do, but requires a lot of knowledge most mechanics don't have.
Costs real money to do proper debug. Chasing a broken wire might be an hour plus. Not very profitable.
I still defend shotgunning parts, at least when they are cheap, and when it's a decent chance that the parts may have been worn or near end of life anyhow. But once that is done, it's time for real debug work time.
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