my mom has a 97 sebring convertable with a 2.5. she was complaining about a misfire a while back so i took it for a test drive. it was small but it was noticable. yesterday she told me the check engine light came on so i took it down to autozone to pull the codes. this misfire was horrible on the ride there and it had trouble accelerating. it code was for a misfire in cylinder 1 and 3.

i know a decent bit about my truck and am handy with tools and whatnot but i know little about this car. i did pull off the dis cap and rotor for inspection and found nothing wrong with it. something tells me i'll have to pull the upper intake and inspect the wire and plugs. before i do this, is there anything y'all can think of that would help me track down the problem before i start to toss money into the car?

thanks in advance

 

Given the difficulty of changing the rear bank plugs, I'd bet that those plugs are as old as the car. There's a real good chance that a new set of plugs and possibly wires will cure the misfiring. Plugs and wires are relatively cheap, and definitely the best place to start. Let us know how it comes out.

 

the engine was replaced by a very trusted mechanic about 10,000 miles back. he got a low milage engine from a junkyard and i told him to refurbish it so the plugs should be in good condition.

the engine has been overheating a decent bit lately do to low coolent. after showing her how to keep and eye on the radiator level, there has not been a problem since.

 

Why is the coolant low? Do you see a leak somewhere? If you don't see a leak, you could be losing coolant due to a blown head gasket, which could also result in additional problems internally. One symptom of a head gasket leak is a puff of white smoke when the car starts after sitting for a while. Unless you look for it, you probably wouldn't notice it.
Also, keep an eye on the oil level. If it seems to be increasing all by itself, it probably has a little coolant at the bottom of the sump.
It will take a little work but you might want to run a compression test on those two cylinders. First check for spark there; that's an easier test.

 

it can be maybe a fuel injector, ignition coill wire or something along those lines