The internal combustion engine has at least four cylinders which ignite air and fuel to create power for the wheels of your vehicle. If any of those cylinders were to experience a misfire, then it could limit the amount of power created by the engine.
You’ll know when an engine misfire has occurred because your Check Engine Light will turn on and the accelerator will not move your vehicle as fast as it normally would. The acceleration might also feel shaky, while the engine runs rough. A fuel odor will even come from the exhaust fumes.
These symptoms should not be ignored because they mean something is seriously wrong with your vehicle. You may not realize there is an engine misfire immediately, but the symptoms should at least prompt you to run a diagnostic scan on your vehicle’s powertrain. If the display screen on the scanner reveals trouble code P0303, then it means you have a misfire detected in cylinder # 3 of the engine.
A misfire in any cylinder is bad, whether it happens in Cylinder # 1 or Cylinder # 3. In most cases, the solution to a misfire in any cylinder can be solved the same way. That is because the cause is likely going to be the same. You may have a problem in your fuel system, ignition system, or with a component inside the engine.
The most common causes of a misfire in Cylinder # 3 are a vacuum leak, bad fuel injector, bad distributor, bad spark plug wires, bad spark plugs, bad camshaft sensor, bad crankshaft sensor, head gasket leak, low engine compression, and bad engine timing. Some of these problems are simple to fix, while others are more serious. If you’re not a mechanical person, then don’t bother trying to fix the problem yourself. Have a professional help you.
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Due to the severity of trouble code P0303, do not wait too long to address the problem. Otherwise, you could end up damaging your engine permanently. Not only that, but you’re risking the lives of yourself, your passengers, and other people on the road because your vehicle won’t operate the same under this condition.
