Nevergrowup

For once I pulled up to 6500rpm in second, and immideatly after shifting up, the car starts to misfire. I limp home, and are able to start it, but it runs badly, and nearly dies.

When I give it gas it hesitates and appeares as to run on 3 cylinders? I'm no mechanic, not even on a hobby basis, but I unplugged each of the spark plug connectors (didn't have a socket to remove the plugs themselves) and it appears to be an oily residue on the inside of the plug connector, on plug no 1...

Have I killed my engine?

DarylJ

Need lots more information to help. Chances are low you killed your engine, but it could be a lot of things. If you don't have a socket to pull plugs, you'll need to get one. And probably lots of other tools if you want to tackle this yourself.

If it were my car, I'd start with the plugs and wires. I'd want to know where that oil came from, and figure out if there is enough of it to stop cyl 1 from firing. Looking at plug 1 ought to tell you if that's the case.

Also, a good question is how well is this car maintained? You may have just happened upon it finally crying out for a good tune up.

FRporscheman

We need more info. Does this happen only when the engine is hot, or hot AND cold? Is there a difference if you try to rev it up quickly or slowly? Is there an rpm where it starts to sputter? Does it ever backfire?

Cfiles0920

I am having a similar problem. I live in a warm climate (south Alabama). I have a 89 944 w/ a 94 968 engine. When i start the car i usually let it idle for several minutes before moving. From second on, under load, the car seems to misfire at 2500+ rpm. Occasionally it seems to "drop a cylinder". But after about 20-30 minutes of easy driving, sometimes it goes away, and it wont act up.
I am planning a full plug, wire and dist. cap replacement. Does that sound like the problem? Am i just not maintaining the car properly?? The car is just frustrating me to no end, i love it to death, i am not a mechanic,but i try to do everything myself... but it is starting to become a drain on both me and my wallet. ANY help would be much appreciated.

xsboost90

sounds like you could have floated a valve, and made contact and it bent. Best thing to do is go to autozone or the local parts store, buy or rent a compression tester. Screw it into each cylinder one at a time- pull all plugs first and DME relay- then crank over a couple rotations w/ the starter. Each cylinder should have about the same compression - id bet number one is lower.

cfiles sounds like you need either a cap/rotor or wires and plugs. Cap gets moisture in it if its not sealed completely and gets dew in it from overnight- then when it warms up the moisture hides and it runs ok.

dleano944

Make sure and check the distributor rotor for cracks, and make sure the screw on it is tight. I had my rotor screw come off which scared the hell out of me, it made it seem like the timing belt broke.

DarylJ

+1 on what xsboost said. The other thing it could be is your AFM getting water in it. I re-tracked mine and made sure to seal it up better than it was before. I was getting something similar going on with mine, although I had other disasters going on at the time so I'm not sure that's what fixed it.

There's a really good write-up with pictures on doing that, I just can't find the bookmark right now. But I'd start with plugs, wires (especially if you wires look cracked or crunchy), and the dist cap/rotor. And post some pictures of your old plugs if you have any doubt on how they should look.

Mongo

+1 on valve float. Not the first time I've heard this either...