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Thread: Car not running right.. if you can even say it runs

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Posts: 1-10 of 17
2010-11-18 03:40:36
#1
Car not running right.. if you can even say it runs
So as of lately my car has been giving me trouble. The first time this happened was when I was getting onto the freeway, not even pushing it to high. I must have revved to only about 5.5k-6 and it felt like my engine almost shut down and lost power. Took the nearest exit and let the car chill for a bit. It felt a little hot, but nothing abnormal from the thermostat. Started it back up after half an hour, still rough.. very hesitant when you give it gas. Sounded like it was missing. It started acting normal a couple of minutes from my house. Since then I never gave it much gas until I was coming home another day, barely even pushed it.. 4k at the max, but this time it's worse and not getting better. I have a leaky o ring gaskets but I already cleaned the cylinders out. The car idles very rough (like it's choking) and it smells like gas. *car has no power Could it be my maf? Not throwing any codes...(never have in this car, but it was swapped so don't know if that got hooked back up) White smoke from what I saw. Checked the oil and saw no milkiness. Tonight I'm going to charge the battery up and replace the spark plugs tomorrow and see if that helps. Any insight would be appreciated.
2010-11-18 04:33:56
#2
What year car, what engine, how many miles?
2010-11-18 04:37:55
#3
Originally Posted by Kdel200sx
I have a leaky o ring gaskets but I already cleaned the cylinders out.


What exactly do you mean here?
2010-11-18 04:47:33
#4
It's a 95 se model with a 97 200sx se-r engine swap. Miles on the body 150xxx on the swap im assuming 115-120 not really sure. Sorry I said cylinders, I meant spark plug holes. I took an old rag and just soaked up all the oil that was sitting around the spark plugs.
2010-11-18 04:51:45
#5
If you've got oil around the plug holes, where's it coming from? This is going to be a big problem.
2010-11-18 04:57:27
#6
Ah!
Oil around the spark plug holes = valve cover gasket needs replacing.
This leads to ruined spark plug wires
This leads to ruined distributor cap + rotor
This leads to ruined spark plugs

If you found oil around the spark plug holes and it's been there for a long time, then it's time to replace every ignition component other than the distributor, basically.
( and the valve cover gasket )

This happened to me. I bought my car used even though it ran funky. I figured it needed a tuneup. I found 2 spark plug wires bathing in oil; every ignition part was ruined except the distributor.
2010-11-18 05:02:39
#7
so if i basically do a tune up my car should be fine again? I feel scared even driving the car, because it feels like it's either going to blow up or just die.
2010-11-18 05:03:37
#8
Originally Posted by neptronix


If you found oil around the spark plug holes and it's been there for a long time, then it's time to replace every ignition component other than the distributor, basically.
( and the valve cover gasket )
.


False. The VC gasket is a 2 part gasket, outer and inner. If the oil's leaking past the inner, it's new spark plug and plug boot time. Thats it. No need to go changing anything else that isn't broke

OP: Do a standard tune-up and replace the VC gasket. See where you stand after that. While this won't really explain the power loss, it may likely be something tune-up related that will be solved anyway.
2010-11-18 11:23:14
#9
Originally Posted by Kdel200sx
I have a leaky o ring gaskets but I already cleaned the cylinders out. The car idles very rough (like it's choking) and it smells like gas.


Fixed this on all of your injectors. top and buttom o rings. this could be your problem. Not vc gaskets.
2010-11-18 11:43:45
#10
Originally Posted by SE-R2FAST
Fixed this on all of your injectors. top and buttom o rings. this could be your problem. Not vc gaskets.




The only way you get oil in your spark plug wells are if the o-rings for the spark plug wells are bad. When you buy the valve cover gasket these come with it because it's considered part of the valve cover gasket.
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