1988 Chevy Beretta Ignition Sequence

Tiny
RICHVASS
  • MEMBER
  • 1988 CHEVROLET BERETTA
  • 6 CYL
  • FWD
  • MANUAL
  • 269,662 MILES
Any Help would be appreciated:

I have a 1988 Chevrolet Beretta with 269 666km's on it, that I bought for 400 bucks to fix up myself. I don't know much ( if anything ) about cars, so I wanted this to be my learning experience.

So my problem is that I just changed the ignition wiring for my Beretta, because I noticed white residue/build-up in the connection when I replaced the spark plugs.
The car was running okay to begin with, but it sometimes idled rough and didn't always catch right away on start up. But now, I can feel the car simply lagging in what little power it had left. You can hear the pistons not firing properly, so I'm assuming I screwed up the firing sequence in the ignition coil.
I tried to replace the new wires in the same sequence as the old ones, but something had to have gone wrong.

I was wondering if anybody did know the proper order for the wires in the coil or even the cylinder placement of the engine. ( Btw, the wires weren't labeled properly and were even different brands, prompting me to think they weren't all changed at the same time )

is cylinder placement:
-windshield
135
246
-front of car

coil:
165432

(this is not how I have it now, jst something that I found on google that sounds logical)
Saturday, December 27th, 2008 AT 9:02 AM

5 Replies

Tiny
JDL
  • MECHANIC
  • 16,098 POSTS
You pair the plug wires on the coil, by placing the last three numbers in the firing order under the first three. Pair vertical. Firing order 123456

123
456, so 1 and 4 are paired together on the same coil, 6 and 3, 5 and 2. With the type 2 coil pack, the first coil on the left should be for 1 and 4 plug wires.

With dis ignition, two plugs are fired at the same time, one on the compression stroke and the other on exhaust. As long as you get the two proper plug wires on the same coil, it doesn't matter which tower, at least on this vehicle.
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Saturday, December 27th, 2008 AT 9:31 AM
Tiny
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Thank you for your help!

I'm still on vacation, so I haven't had a chance to try out the Ignition wire sequence. I will try it out and post the results.

Happy New Year
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Tuesday, December 30th, 2008 AT 5:50 PM
Tiny
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One little problem. I tried the sequence and the car wouldn't start.

I played around with the wires and I was only able to get '1 6 4 3 5 2 ' to work.

Cylinder placement:
window of car
135
246
front

But the car still runs Slugish. Not the full power it had before I changed the ignition wires. Could it still be the sequence that is off?
Also, when I took one of the wires off ( for cylinder 1 ), the cable broke and I had to pry it off. Could I have damaged the sparkplug, which is causing it not to fire?

Thanks again!
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Tuesday, January 6th, 2009 AT 6:18 AM
Tiny
JDL
  • MECHANIC
  • 16,098 POSTS
That may not be the original engine? My info shows the original engine is the 2.8 and the firing order is 123456.

If you think there is a plug not firing, use a spark tester on each plug. Disable the injectors.
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Tuesday, January 6th, 2009 AT 9:20 AM
Tiny
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I haven't tested all the spark plugs because of lack of time, but I did test the one I thought was a problem. It seems to be working fine.

Now out of curiosity, is there such a thing as having an off-ignition-sequence? Or is there only one sequence to have the wires and with all other possibilities, the engine simply doesn't start?

Should I be playing around with the sequences until I find the right one? Because I can't seem to find any logic to the one I have now. It seems that the cylinders from opposite corners are on the same coil now, except the two middle ones. Very Strange.

And I have asked and checked the engine, it seems to be an original 88 v6 2.8 L. Maybe not the same engine the car came with, but it has been through a lot.
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Wednesday, January 7th, 2009 AT 1:37 AM

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