So I've been fighting with this car to keep it running for a while now, seems like once it hit 200,000 miles, it's been quite a battle.
I'm not the most skilled in auto repair, I suppose in comparison to most here I'd pretty much be a beginner. I've made attempts to clean my EGR valve, guessed right on an O2 sensor needing replaced, changed out plugs, replaced my thermostat, cleaned the idle solenoid. That's about it aside from changing the oil.
It's been having a kind of lag in power for a while now on the low end of the rpms - I thought this might be due to a weak spark, not enough fuel being sent, gummed up injectors, something relatively non-engine life threatening. Well on my way to work one day, I had a spark plug literally snap on me, got a check engine light, took it to autozone to do a quick check, thing showed cylinder 3 misfire, that was the busted plug. So I replaced those, and I did the 2 wires that come off the coil packs, and the two boots under the coil packs, unfortunately this didn't do much except fix the obvious, it still had the power lag.
I did an oil change right after I replaced the plugs because someone told me that if I had a non firing cylinder that the oil could have gas in it. Ran that oil for about 3500 miles - about 3000 miles in I noted that my oil light would come on once in a while, around corners or bumps, and when I first started it, but going along the highway every day to/from work it was fine. Curious but I didn't know what to do. So when I changed the oil this time, it seemed like there wasn't as much in there as there should have been. I took the filter off (I change the filter with a bosch every time and use Castrol Gtx high milage 10w30 every time) and I smelled the filter, it seemed like it smelled just faintly of gas. ???
The only theory i could come up with was that maybe it's not burning it all because of a weak spark? But i have no clue really, it was just an idea. I was going to replace the coil packs, but I really can't afford to just throw money at it without knowing what I should be fixing, and I've tried to do preventative maintenance on this car, I love this car damnit...
I need help - I imagine I'll probably have to do this myself whatever it is, oddly enough in Flint Michigan, where cars and repair shops are everywhere, I've yet to find a mechanic that didn't want to rip me off or send me on my way after having done a s*** job, or both.
Many thanks to any guidance!
I'm not the most skilled in auto repair, I suppose in comparison to most here I'd pretty much be a beginner. I've made attempts to clean my EGR valve, guessed right on an O2 sensor needing replaced, changed out plugs, replaced my thermostat, cleaned the idle solenoid. That's about it aside from changing the oil.
It's been having a kind of lag in power for a while now on the low end of the rpms - I thought this might be due to a weak spark, not enough fuel being sent, gummed up injectors, something relatively non-engine life threatening. Well on my way to work one day, I had a spark plug literally snap on me, got a check engine light, took it to autozone to do a quick check, thing showed cylinder 3 misfire, that was the busted plug. So I replaced those, and I did the 2 wires that come off the coil packs, and the two boots under the coil packs, unfortunately this didn't do much except fix the obvious, it still had the power lag.
I did an oil change right after I replaced the plugs because someone told me that if I had a non firing cylinder that the oil could have gas in it. Ran that oil for about 3500 miles - about 3000 miles in I noted that my oil light would come on once in a while, around corners or bumps, and when I first started it, but going along the highway every day to/from work it was fine. Curious but I didn't know what to do. So when I changed the oil this time, it seemed like there wasn't as much in there as there should have been. I took the filter off (I change the filter with a bosch every time and use Castrol Gtx high milage 10w30 every time) and I smelled the filter, it seemed like it smelled just faintly of gas. ???
The only theory i could come up with was that maybe it's not burning it all because of a weak spark? But i have no clue really, it was just an idea. I was going to replace the coil packs, but I really can't afford to just throw money at it without knowing what I should be fixing, and I've tried to do preventative maintenance on this car, I love this car damnit...
I need help - I imagine I'll probably have to do this myself whatever it is, oddly enough in Flint Michigan, where cars and repair shops are everywhere, I've yet to find a mechanic that didn't want to rip me off or send me on my way after having done a s*** job, or both.
Many thanks to any guidance!
