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Two weeks ago when leaving the grocery store, the CEL, VTM, and VSM lights came on. Car seemed to be running fine - maybe a little intermittent shudder but maybe I'm imagining things. Got home and hooked up the code reader - P0303 Cylinder 3 Misfire. Left the car parked in the garage until a couple days later when I was already going to my mechanic's for tires, brakes, and alignment. Told him about the code and I grabbed new OEM plugs to replace. When he pulled the plugs, all 3 on the backside of the engine were oil-fouled and the electrode corroded. Seemed odd to me that all 3 plugs were impacted with the misfire only on 1 cylinder. The car had been losing oil some over the past 12 to 18 months but there were no leaks to be found. The tailpipe had some heavier than expected black "soot" indicative of burning oil. After some digging, found the Service Bulletin 13-082. Sounded exactly like what I was experiencing. Anyway, changed out the plugs and reset the code. Labeled and retained the old plugs and took pics to support my discussion with the dealer. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised when the dealer said they will do the piston cleaning and ring replacement (etc.) under the extended warranty via the TSB. Set up a date (today) to bring it in after Christmas.
The P0303 code is still gone. However, 4 days after replacing the plugs, code P0430 popped (Catalyst System Efficiency Below Threshold Bank 2). If you had to guess, do you think this is related to the cylinder misfire issue?
As I said, the car is at the dealer today. They said they are going to do the piston work and it would take a few days.. However, I am skeptical since they made the commitment over the phone without looking at the fouled plugs or the saved code. Just took my word for it. Now I am waiting for them to call and act like none of the previous conversations had taken place.
The P0303 code is still gone. However, 4 days after replacing the plugs, code P0430 popped (Catalyst System Efficiency Below Threshold Bank 2). If you had to guess, do you think this is related to the cylinder misfire issue?
As I said, the car is at the dealer today. They said they are going to do the piston work and it would take a few days.. However, I am skeptical since they made the commitment over the phone without looking at the fouled plugs or the saved code. Just took my word for it. Now I am waiting for them to call and act like none of the previous conversations had taken place.