My car idls fine but has a frequent miss when driving.

831 Views 8 Replies 4 Participants Last post by yellow68, Nov 29, 2001

yellow68

Discussion Starter · Nov 28, 2001

Its a 91 2.0 16v. I just picked it up Saturday. What happens is that power will cut for a split second then kick back on pretty violently. I think the reason it feels so violent is because of bad engine mounts though. It will continue to do this for a few minutes and then run fine. When it is missing it is very rythmic, like on the same beat every time. I can recreate the feeling by gettting on and off the gas really quickly in 3rd at low speeds. Gives the same violent slam.
It also did another strange thing. After coasting down a hill I would give it gas, get revs but no power to the ground. Id have to downshift and let out the clutch to fix this. Strange I know.
Ive checked and cleaned all the engine grounds. Ill clean all the connectors this weekend as well as change the fuel filter. One thing i noticed when I checked the compression was that there is basically a puddle of oil above each plug from a bad valve cover gasket. Could this have anything to do with it? Any thoughts?

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16V-2STROKE

· #2 · Nov 28, 2001

Re: My car idls fine but has a frequent miss when driving. (yellow68)

Don't leave that valve cover gasket like that for to long. I found out after too long and the oil building up aroung the plugs caused misfires and it also destroys the rubber boot of your plug wires. My wire ends would just crumble and break off under light hand pressure from all the oil baked into them. The job to replace the gasket is not too bad. Especially when compared to the price of that and new plug wires.

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yellow68

Discussion Starter · #3 · Nov 28, 2001

Re: My car idls fine but has a frequent miss when driving. (16V-2STROKE)

Yeah, i have a gasket ordered. That is also going to go on this weekend.

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Trav

· #4 · Nov 28, 2001

Re: My car idls fine but has a frequent miss when driving. (yellow68)

A couple things to check: pull the distributer cap and check for oil leakage (this can foul the hall sender), o2 sensor, possibly one of the fuel pumps is giving up. Check my sig for directions on fault code retrieval (which you should do anyway if the car is new to you).
Good luck

[Modified by Trav, 12:37 PM 11-28-2001]

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yellow68

Discussion Starter · #5 · Nov 28, 2001

Re: My car idls fine but has a frequent miss when driving. (Trav)

Thanks for the suggestions. I check the distributor. It was very clean. Do you know if the O2 sensor from an 87 16v will work? Ill check your sig.

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Trav

· #6 · Nov 28, 2001

Re: My car idls fine but has a frequent miss when driving. (yellow68)

The only thing that may be different is the connectors. One thing to remember when checking the codes for the first time on a used car; there may be faults that have been previously fixed, yet still in the permanent memory (not erased at the time of repair). These should be erased, followed by another test drive.

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yellow68

Discussion Starter · #7 · Nov 28, 2001

Re: My car idls fine but has a frequent miss when driving. (Trav)

How do you erase stored codes? Or is it in the Bentley?
Thanks

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lotus7

· #8 · Nov 29, 2001

Re: My car idls fine but has a frequent miss when driving. (yellow68)

You need a set of plug wires.

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yellow68

Discussion Starter · #9 · Nov 29, 2001

Re: My car idls fine but has a frequent miss when driving. (lotus7)

Im hoping it is that. I have a relatively new set on my wrecked car. Im going to swap them in after I change the valve cover gasket this weekend.
ray

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