My 87 gl feels like it's running on 3 cylinders again. I put new spark plugs in, but not new spark plug wires. it's the #3 plug, it's just not firing. Do you think that after the first plug stopped firing, the new plug temporarily fixed the prob but after a while even that wouldn't fire? the wires don't seem to look that old..... distrubitor? the idle is becomming eratic too. maybe I should check for vacuum leaks? thanks for any help

 

Jordan

Have a look at your engine running in the dark. If its the leads, you will sometimes see sparks shooting off where they shouldn't.

you could try swapping the wires for 1 & 3 and see how it runs/looks.

you could try swapping the wires for 1 & 3 and see how it runs/looks.

 

I know for sure that's not it..... it ran well for a while then started running like crap again.

get new wires, or swap the wires and see if the foul follows the wire, if this is mpfi it could be a leaky injector.

test the plug wires with an ohm meter to see what kind of resistance they have. If the #3 is bad, the resistance will be a lot more then the others

Is it wet and oily?

 

It may just be time for a rebuild. Could be bad rings or valve stem seals. I had the same problem on #4 with one of my hatches. I didn't want to deal with rebuilding the motor so I just kept spare plugs around and changed the plug when it got too fouled.

 

 

 

My 87 gl feels like it's running on 3 cylinders again. I put new spark plugs in, but not new spark plug wires. it's the #3 plug, it's just not firing. Do you think that after the first plug stopped firing, the new plug temporarily fixed the prob but after a while even that wouldn't fire? the wires don't seem to look that old..... distrubitor? the idle is becomming eratic too. maybe I should check for vacuum leaks? thanks for any help

 

Jordan

I dunno about a rebuild..... it only has 162,000 miles on it and the lady I bought it from didn't put cheap oil in it and always changed it on time. and if it needed a rebuild, it'd be smoking. It doesn't smoke hardly at all. So I'll see how much resistance the #3 wire has and I'll get back to you. Thanks guys.

 

Jordan