Need help, woke up car runs rough

[alenstein]

I started her this morning well around 12 noon, is she started to idle real rough, shakes a lot , has a weird sounding exhaust note to it runs rought thrugh the rpms, and it seems like its weak, all the power is not there. Smelled fuel out on of the exhuast pipes, then when it got hot the smell wasnt noticeable anymore. One or more cylinders are dead?
It rained over night. Last night I drove her and it ran great it was nice dry and cool about 60f.
Also while sitting there this morning idling rough the locks locked on their own, weird. This has never happend. I did replace my wires on saturday, with Taylor pros 8mm, they are thicker so couldnt attach them to stock clips fearing they would get torn. I just came back from outside checked if all my wires are plugged to the opti and the sparks and it seems like they are. This is the first time it happend. Please any input will be greately appreciated.

[alenstein]

Anyone... I am forced to drive it liek that, not sure if it's safe.

[Rhode Island Red]

could be the opti-spark (97 and earlier) or a burnt plug or wire, or even simple as a fuel filter

an engine needs air, fuel and spark. Start eliminating the obvious ang go from there. Good luck

[Mike71]

if u can pull a couple plugs..i know its not easy but a friend of mine had 3 outa 4 ( yes its a 4cyl lol) plugs missing there electrodes and the porcelin that holds them there ran just like u are describing..changed the 4 out and it runs fine again

[alenstein]

Well I had the plugs replaced back in march, NGK55. Is it possible for the plugs to burn up do to new wires installed, just becasue they are suppostue flow more juice? It seens to run rich now, smell coming out of the exhaust?

I know I am sking too much, it could be anything, but any hints and ideas will help. Thanks!

[Craig 94 TA GT]

Althought it sounds like a spark/ignition problem, for diagnosing my bird, I always do the following:

1) Check for any SES light

2) Use a fuel pressure gauge and check fuel pressure with key on (~41-47 psi), and at idle (~5 psi lower than key on). Shut the car off and see if the pressure bleeds down. If it does, you have a fuel leak. You can check to see if the system holds pressure without a fuel pressure gauge, as well. Turn the key in the on position and wait several minutes. Push on the schrader valve and see if any fuel sprays out. If it does, your system is holding some pressure. If no fuel sprays out, either drips or is bone dry, you have a problem somewhere (fuel pump, injectors, regulator, or line leak).

3) Check the fuel pressure regulator for a ruptured diaphram by pulling the vacuum line. If you see/smell fuel in there, you need to replace the FPR.

4) Connect the ALDL cable to the laptop to check the PCM readings...if you don't have one, you can buy one on ebay for ~$50. A very wise investment.

5) Make sure there's spark to each cylinder (use a spark tester, look at the plugs for signs of damage, test the wire, etc.)

If you don't have/don't want to buy any of these tools, it's a losing battle IMHO. I've been trying to diagnose mine for quite awhile and have thrown new parts left and right in her. After lots of $$ wasted, I think I may have finally found the problem.

BTW, I ran TR55s with Spiro Pros for a while, and they never gave any problems. Your plugs won't burn up from Taylor 8mm wires.

[SndQ97V6bird]

on my 97 v63800 i ran through 3 sets of plug wires. first set did what you described. Factory set which after all the cost and doing the job of replacing them i found out there was a factory recall on the wires from GM. Cool thing was that after i bought my custom made jacobs wires. GM paid for them since i took it to the shop with them first and they said nothing about it. and i was not going to pay 89 dollars just for wires from the pirate dealership. but my car would just one day run with a rough idle, and when i would shift through the gears if i did not lay into acceleration it did ok, but i lay on the gas some and run up to 5th and lay on it it would stutter and so on. So I replaced them with jacobelectronics.com wires and it was perfect, although i did not put the heat shields back on the wires(my fault) so burnt that set up LOL good for me they are lifetime warranty. so second set bingo all good to go and heat shields on this time. problem fixed.

You may want to check your coil packs also, as well as when you replaced the wires if you run a hotter wire then someone told me that if it is to hot it could melt or burn out the platinum 4 or precious metal type of spark plugs easier. but i can not confirm that to be true or not. hope that helps you some

[alenstein]

Hey thanks for the help, I went to my mechanic, no.7 wire was cut and was loosing voltage touching the exhaust manifold, they rerouted it and used electrical tape to patch it up. Car runs normal now, Ill have to get new wires in the near future, again... hehe

[Rhode Island Red]

Hey thanks for the help, I went to my mechanic, no.7 wire was cut and was loosing voltage touching the exhaust manifold, they rerouted it and used electrical tape to patch it up. Car runs normal now, Ill have to get new wires in the near future, again... hehe

glad to hear