Quote from: Fordee on December 23, 2013, 05:43:34 AM

Hi Deltron,

   I don't have the code handy, and the CIL (MIL) cleared itself on future occurances, but it's more of a general question.

   If the code reappears, I'll gladly get it pulled again and tip for any specific info.

   2003 Mazda MPV - Cylinder 4 misfire code.. (and previously a Cylinder 1 & 4 set of misfire codes)

   As the vehicle is "New to me" as of last week I have no history :

   So: Is there a separate code specific to coil packs failing, versus a generic misfire code?

   (Or should I just do plugs/wiring/coils and call it job done without further diagnostics and see how it goes?)

Fordee

Unfortunately on that car there is no specific code difference to point to coilpacks definitively. That's a higher end technology.
As far as diving in and doing plugs/wires etc, the coils are gonna cost you quite a bit to guess on. What you want to do is label each coil with it's particular starting cylinder number, then move the ones that are misfiring to another cylinder(preferably one that hasn't been misfiring).
http://i41.tinypic.com/bf0x94.png

Picking up a cheap code scanner is advisable to help with this and future problems. Good investment. Anyway...

Clear your codes after swapping the coils around then go riding around until the codes come back. Scan them again, and if the code has moved with the coil, then the coil is bad. If the code hasn't moved, you have other issues like spark plug or the compression of the cylinder isn't up to par. Code numbers for misfires are P0300 - General misfire, and then P0301 - P0306, indicating misfire on a specific cylinder #.

Use RockAuto for parts, they're generally about a 30% savings over local stores so long as you make no mistakes and don't need to return anything.