I was driving '00 bonnie ssei last night and all of a sudden the SES light came on and started flashing and the car was jerking and misfiring....i was only 2 blocks from home so i limped there and grabbed my scanner, and all i could find was the P03000 random misfire code. ive checked for fuel and spark all is good, except all the COOLANT leaking from the heater elbows and the LIM gasket(i think). its pooling between the intake manifold and valve covers. also as i start to build boost it drops off for no reason, i cant get much above atmospheric pressure, i checked the SC solenoid and its working fine....im fairly certain its the LIM gasket i just would like to get reassurance this will fix my problem, i have a 1 year old so im on a budget and need this fixed quick.

Check the oil and make sure it's not cream colored or gray. That's an indication of a failed LIM gasket at the coolant jacket.

i checked the dipstick and inside the valvecover and didnt see anything out of the ordinary so i didnt feel like draining fresh oil(its two weeks old with like 40-50 miles). is there a possibility i caught it just in time? heres some pics http://s483.photobucket.com/user/Dong_Johnson/library/

A bad LIM gasket could be leaking coolant into the cylinders themselves, which would make sense as to why you have a P0300.

Could also be a bad ICM.

In any case, I would replace the coolant elbows and do your LIM gaskets anyways.

_________________
-Car Guy Carl
"Penelope" - 2003 SLE - 250k Miles
"Sydney" - 2000 Honda S2000 - 101k miles

alot of things can cause p0300 misfire- icm, coils, plugs, wires. fix your external coolant leak, check the ignition items one at a time then look at the lim gasket cause. if you do not have antifreeze in the oil then you do not have an internal leak, my experience shows that it takes alot of antifreeze leaking to cause the p0300. eventually it can ruin the engine, if you cannot find anything else, safe to do the gaskets and give it a shot.

Thanx for the quick replies nos4blood70 & robauto, Ive been busy and unable to work on my bonnie...until tomorrow i cant wait ive missed her so much
Im unsure exactly whats wrong, i did lose quite a bit of water when the light came on, but im not 100% sure its the issue or only one of the issues. so im gonna take all of your advice, i'll start with the Fel-pro gasket set Part Number:MS98014T Package Contents: Water Outlet, Fuel Rail O-ring, Intake Manifold, Oil Filter Adapter, Intake Manifold - End Seal, RTV Black - Tube, Heater Inlet, MAP Sensor O-ring, O-ring. I will also install the Dorman coolant elbows(metal) Part Number:47065HP and the Fel-pro Intake Plenum gasket Part Number: MS95744. After i install those parts ill test drive the car and see if its still having issues, if it doesn’t fix my problem i will do the plugs and wires...what kind of plugs would u guys recommend...i know these supercharged engines are finicky if you dont have the correct plugs. i was thinking U-Grooved copper plugs, so i know i have spark lol(i just need to find some locally that arent accel brand). And finally if those items dont fix my issue i will be switching the ICM and Coils(I might get them used :( they are too expensive to buy new, and i dont have the funds at the moment)
i'll make sure to take plenty of pics and technical notes for future use, seeing as there isn't a LIM and intake plenum gasket write up (that i could find) If there is one please forward it to me...i couldnt find it.

Bonnie fixed

The LIM wasnt too bad but it needed to be done...i only blew out one water jacket and both coolant elbows were leaking past the o-rings lol and no coolant in my oil, i changed it just to be safe but it looked the same as it did 50 miles ago. i only took a few pictures but, its essentially like the NA version other than the torque specs on the SC bolts. The SC bolt torque is 17 ftlbs, but it has to be done in 2 passes first pass being 10 ftlbs or so then 17 ftlbs the second time arounds(use threadlocker) oh and the fuel rails wrapping over the SC.

I went ahead and switched out the plugs and wireset becasue the previous owner had put in autolight double platinums(ford plugs) and i wanted the stock ngk iridiums. Unfortunatlly the only wireset i could get my hands on was the 7mm Bosche wireset.

as i was removing the ICM and coil assembly at the beginning of the teardown, i noticed that one of my coils was cracked, lucky i had a new coil on hand. after starting the car for the first time it did the same thing P0300. So i started jockeying the cracked coils around and found the 1/4 coil had the random misfire..bad news i have to buy another coil

also while doing the tear down i found that the LIM had been changed atleast once before. It had a fel-pro 2nd gen plastic gasket and coolant elbows(they werent brittle,but the o-rings, had flattened out) http://s483.photobucket.com/user/Dong_Johnson/library/

thanks to everyone who posted my reference materials. I believe i've read just about every LIM post on this website!