93 spark plug wires

Hello all I'm a complete newbie to the forum, and to auto repair. That said, I have a 93 grand am with a v6 3300 engine. I think the spark plug wires are incorrectly wired. The car is misfiring very badly.

The coil posts are not numbered but there are six down the left side of the car as you face them. I believe they should be numbered

(back of engine compartment)
1
4
---
5
2
---
3
6
(front of the car)

But I don't know this for certain.

I also think the cylinders are numbered

(back of engine compartment).
2 4 6

1 3 5
(front of car)

I've done some research and from what I can gather the firing order should be 1 6 5 4 3 2

So armed with this... what wire should run from which post to which cylinder? Should I run post 1 to cylinder 1, post 4 to cylinder 4, ect.
or
should I be run post 1 to 1, post 2 to six, post 3 to 5, ect.

Please help... It's completely undrivable.

http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBroker?ForwardPage=/az/cds/en_us/0900823d/80/09/72/dc/0900823d800972dc.jsp


You were right the first time, coil #1 to cylinder #1, #2 to #2, 3 to 3, etc.

Thank you Knifeblade,
Aparently my posts are not set up in the standard configuration.

my posts appear to be set up
6
3
--
4
1
--
2
5
---

It works that way... but I still have no power. I pulled the wires individually and post 6 isn't arcing and post 2 is only arcing occasionally.
So I guess I'm going to have to replace those two coils. Would that be a fair assessment?

Yep. TM, the individual coils in the pack can do that. However, while I certainly know it a heavy hit to your wallet, you realy should replace ALL the packs together. That way, any coil problems, you can return them under what warranty is available. It is risky to just replace two bad, leaving one good [meaning, how long will the old good coil remain good?].

Yep. TM, the individual coils in the pack can do that. However, while I certainly know it a heavy hit to your wallet, you realy should replace ALL the packs together. That way, any coil problems, you can return them under what warranty is available. It is risky to just replace two bad, leaving one good [meaning, how long will the old good coil remain good?].

I didn't even concider that. But now that you mention it that makes good sense. I called to get a quote on having a garage do the work and they labor cost is about seven dollars more than the coil... The issue I have is that they say a single coil is something like $35 dollars and that replacing it would be about $42 or so in labor, per coil. It can't take as long to install the other coil/s. Once you have the ignition control module off each coil is attached by a single bolt. No way it should cost 42 for each freakin module! (I guess this is a good excuse to buy a torque wrench and do the job myself.)

If I replace these coils myself how do I make sure it's correct? I mean someone obviously changed them earlier because my coils don't match up with what the manual said they should be. What's to prevent me from screwing them up further?

Is there a way to test if there is a problem with the control module and not the coil? (how likely is that given that four of the six posts are arcing normally?)

I just want to thank you again for the advice and information. I fly in couple of million dollar Navy plane for a living, but working on my car makes me nervous. It kinda embarassing... but I'm learning!

Well, first, a coil is a coil, and it is triggered to fire by the electrical harness, therefore the harness connection is the critical hookup. I honestly just replaced all my coil-pack, [actually the g/f's packs], and put on paper which harness connect went where before pulling. If ya have the tools to do it, pull yourself, but $7.00 per isn't too bad if ya can't do yourself.

As far as testing, may I suggest a surf of www.autozone.com (http://www.autozone.com), they may have the right info for your specific ignition system.

Well, first, a coil is a coil, and it is triggered to fire by the electrical harness, therefore the harness connection is the critical hookup. I honestly just replaced all my coil-pack, [actually the g/f's packs], and put on paper which harness connect went where before pulling. If ya have the tools to do it, pull yourself, but $7.00 per isn't too bad if ya can't do yourself.

As far as testing, may I suggest a surf of www.autozone.com (http://www.autozone.com), they may have the right info for your specific ignition system. [freebie site, btw]