Low RPM misfire under acceleration only

[Aaron4TAMU]

I just recently got my car running again. Replaced the opti with a cheap one. I don't know if the opti can cause the issue I'm having, but here is my issue:

Sitting in neutral I can go through the full RPM range with no misfire. Once I put it in gear, I get a very noticable misfire at low RPMs under acceleration only. The lower the RPMs the more noticable it is, until there is no misfire at around 2500-2800 RPMs.

I've read through some of the misfire issues here on the forum, and have found the best match for my problem is a TPS problem. I checked the connector that goes to the TPS and two of the three wires are bare at the connector. One of the wires is showing slight corrosion. Does this sound like the most likely cause of my problem? I am getting a check engine light, haven't gotten the chance to pull the codes yet, that will probably be done tomorrow. Any input is appreciated.

[Joe 1320]

What condition are the plugs and wires?

[Aaron4TAMU]

Well, the wires on the opti side looked good, but the coil wire was replaced after I got everything back together because the terminal in the boot was missing off the ICM side (didn't notice it till i went to put it back on). I did not inspect the plug side or plugs. I have the wire kit because I couldn't fine the coil wire seperate from a kit locally. I had planned on replacing the wires tomorrow since I have them, and I will inspect the plugs while I'm at it. I have yet to personally replace/inspect the plugs in this car, how difficult is it to get to all of them? I'm pretty sure that after dropping the oil pan, anything else should be a breeze (I dropped the oil pan so I could remove the timing cover and inspect the timing gears and chain...that was a nightmare). So far I've replaced the opti, opti wiring harness, water pump, and coolant temp sensor. I will be replacing the TPS harness and plug wires...possibly plugs depending on the condition they are in. One more quick question. Does autozone do detailed computer scanning for free? (to find out where cylinder (sp?) the misfire is in) I would hate to have to buy a scanner just for this one problem when I'm about to turn around and sell this car. Thanks for any info.

[Injuneer]

Usually, outfits like AutoZone only scan OBD-II computers. Your 95 will confuse them. It has an OBD-I PCM, but the ALDL connector is an OBD-II style 16-pin connector. So they need to use an OBD-I scanner, with the correct 12-pin --> 16-pin adapter, or you need to use jumper wires as Shoebox shows:

http://shbox.com/1/xraycable.jpg

Most places see the 16-pin connector, hook up an OBD-II scanner, and it "will not connect".

Additionally, there is no misfire detection in OBD-I. That was added with OBD-II in 1996.