1. Part 1: Vehicle Information
Studentname(s):
Mitchell Childs,JarenRambo,MelissaAdling
Vehicle year,make,model:
2002 Chevroletventure
Customer’sconcern(s):
- Gas mileage ispoor.Vehicle seemstohesitate,pause,andthenaccelerate.Misfire?
Part 2: Documentation
Documentthe stepsyoutookto diagnose andrepairthe vehicle—inthe orderthatyoudidthem. Write every
step—evenif you made mistakesand nowwishyouwouldhave done itdifferently. Beginwhenyoupickedupthe
keys,endwhenyoureturnedthem. BEDETAILED & INCLUDE PHOTOGRAPHS!
1. First,we tookthe vehicle outforatest drive.We didn’thave todrive far,we couldfeel the hesitationaswe
triedto accelerate andwe couldtell somethingwaswrong.The checkengine lightwasonandwe assumed
that wasfor a misfire asour customerhadguessedaswell. Nevertheless,we pulledthe vehicle intothe
garage anddida full vehiclevisualandfluidsinspectiontostart.
2. The vehicle inspectionwentfine.All the fluidswereinorder,butthere wassome damage tothe car that we
noticed.There were some scratchesandthe frontrightheadlightwasbeingheldonbya wire thatmay have
once beena coat hanger.Alongwiththese little things,the bottomof the car and especiallyaroundthe
pinchwelds(close tothe tires) were extremelyrustedandfragile.Lastof all,the inside panel onthe driver’s
door wasloose.Itwasn’tclipped all the waydownor somethingwasbrokenandpreventingitfromstaying
as one withthe whole door.Itjust wiggledabit,soit wasnothingto worryabout. The horndidnot work
either. Outside of this,the carwasfunctioning.Itjustwasn’tthe prettiestlittlevaninthe world.
3.
4. Afterourinspectionwe decidedtocheckthe codesthat the vehicle wasthrowing.There were abunchof
pendingcodes,butthe onlyone thathad to do withengine performance andthe onlyconfirmedcode wasa
P0301 cylinder1misfire. Justlike we hadassumedtherewouldbe.Justaftergettingthe codes,we noticed
an ark jumpingthroughone of the spark plugwiresandwe immediatelyknew whatthe problemwas.Bad
spark plugwires.Sowe orderedanewsetand got readyto replace them.

2. 5.
6. While waitingforthe sparkplugwires,Mitchell openedupthe fuse box andfoundthe fuse forthe horn.It
was blown.So,he replaceditandthe horn workedagain.
7.
8. We startedreplacingthe plugwiresone ata time inorderto make sure we connectedtheminthe right
places.Inthisvehicle,we couldn’treachthe back3 spark plugs,sothe firstthingthat we trieddoingwas
removingthe rockerarm boltsandrockingthe engine forwardinordertoreachover the topand around the
back side topull the plugwires.Thiswouldnothave workedif we didn’thave Melissawithus.She wasthe
onlyone of us whocouldfullygetherarm through the gap andpull the plugs,buttheystill provedtobe
stubbornanddifficulttopull out.Afterfightingforawhile andgettingsome helpfromParker(he also
managedto gethisarm over the topand helppull plugs) we were finallyable togeta plugoutand brake the
otherone off so that a small endof it wasstill stuckoverthe top of the spark plug.Afterplayingwiththat
and tryingto getthat, we gave up onthis methodanddecidedtotrygettingto itfrom underthe car.
9.
10. We putthe car on a lift,droppedthe engine abit, andreachedupthroughthe bottom of the car. Thisstill
proved tobe a challenge andtooka while beforewe were finallyable togetsome vise gripsoverthe stuck
piece andpull itoff.Withthat off we were able toreplace that sparkplug wire and finallypulloff the last
spark plugwire andreplace itas well.Once thiswasdone, we securedthe frontsparkplugwirestomake
sure that theywouldnotgetdestroyedbyanyotherengine parts.Afterthat, we were able togetthe car

3. downand take it fora little testdrive andeverythingworkedfine.There wasnomore hesitationandno
more misfire.
11.
Part 3: Reflection & Analysis
 What parts of thisprocesswentwell?
The part of the processthat wentwell wasreplacing the frontsparkplugwires.They were easytoreachand
remove.
 Whichstepswere mostcritical inyour diagnosisprocess?
The most critical part of the diagnosticprocesswasthe findingthe arkthatwas jumpingoutof the spark plugwire
that leadto cylinder1.
 What keptyoufrom beingaseffectiveasyoucouldhave been?
I thinkthe mostdifficultpartwasour struggle toreach the spark plugwiresinthe back. If we knew whatwouldhave
workedbestbefore-hand,we couldhave savedsome time ingettingtothe rear plugs.Ialsothinkthat the spark
plugwire breakingwasa setbackas well. Ittooka lotof time tryingtoreach withoutdamagingotherpartsof the
vehicle orourselves.
 Nowthat youcan lookbackon howthisprojectunfolded,whatwouldyouliketododifferentlynexttime?
Nexttime,Ibelieve thatitwouldbe importanttoensure thatwe have the propertoolsand thatwe analyzedour
optionsasto how we were goingtoapproach the problembefore we jumpedintoit.