[chet]

We have a 03 Dodge Caravan with the 3.3 engine we purchased this van new, has79K miles on it and recently I noticed at idle or very low speeds it will miss intermittenly, almost like a cylinder is cutting out momentarily. above 10-15 mph I don't seem to feel it, does it more often during the first 10 minutes after it is started up, any suggestions

Chet

PS was going to try a can of FI cleaner, and clean the MAF Sensor.

 

[ImperialCrown]

If it hasn't set a misfire fault code yet, it still might. There may be a one trip or pending fault set that would best be read with a scan tool. An intermittent or historic misfire may be read with a scan tool that has the capability to read the misfire counter in 'real time', like the DRB III or equivalent. Knowing which cylinder is misfiring would greatly narrow the field of possibilities and simplify diagnosis.
Spark, fuel and compression are possible culprits. A spark plug, plug wire or injector could be swapped with a known good cylinder to see if the problem follows the component or stays with the failing cylinder.
Cold misfire may be a fouling spark plug, fuel delivery or cylinder compression issue. Low engine speed misfire could be a vacuum leak or leaky valve (loss of low speed compression) as well.
Even though they are 100K mile platinum plugs, one may be failing early. If you do, go with the plug type and gap listed on your underhood emissions label. Might as well do wires at the same time too.

 

[chet]

I have checked and there are no code errors, but I posted another question about, engine coming uo to temp very slow, a user replied it was a thermostat, and it was a broken thermostat, I replaced the thermostat, and my wife said the miss went away, and now it is back about a week later, I biught a set of Champion plugs, will try that first and then wires. if that does not solve it, are there any easy remidies to see if it's a vacumm leak, would a dirty MAF sensor or dirty throttle body be a parts of this come and go low speed miss.

Chet

 

[ImperialCrown]

No MAF on the Caravan. When removing the plugs, look at each tip carefully and keep the old plugs in order of removal. They might offer clues and tell a story if one looks different than the rest. Isolating a misfire to a particular cylinder would allow you to concentrate diagnostic efforts on that cyinder. A multiple cylinder misfire is also possible and would point to an ignition or to a lesser extent, fuel system problem.
If they are the original wires, best to replace them as well. With these 100K platinum plugs, they can outlast the wires in some cases. The date code is usually printed along the plug wire.

 

[A.j. Schreiber]

might want to use a water bottle and spray around the intake pelum gasket and see if you notice a change in engine rpm, if so it means you have a bad gasket and it's letting to much air into one cylinder and causing a miss. This happens most when it's cold since the gasket will expand when it gets warm