92 cavalier bad bad bad misfire.. please help

[jonny.chinn]

my 1992 cavalier has a very bad misfire. ive changed the coil packs, mass air flow sensor, plugs, wires, and still no change. any ideas will be greatly appriciated. thank you. please email. jonny.chinn@gmail.com

P.S. how do i check for a blown head???

[demo_deven]

Hey, I had a 94 Sunbird that had a seized valve...i know that the cavs and birds have different engines, but there made by the same company. About the head...check to see if it is leaking any coolant on the ground. Also, take the rad cap off (when it is cold, of course) and start the car up. Smell inside the rad and if it smells like exaust then its your head. Also smell the ezaust. If it smells sweet, thats another sign. When your head starts to get really bad (like mine did) it will flood one of the cylinders with anti-freeze and will let out A LOT of white smoke and will idle like crap. Hope this helped big guy, Deven

[Skippernoodle]

Have you checked the ignition timing?

[hotrod_chevyz]

Problems it could be:

I would check all the vaccume hoses that run behind the intake. Make sure they arent cracked or anything. Check each plug wire with a timing light, and see if any are all firing. Make sure the wires are plugged into the right spot on the coils. Do a compression check, to see if you have a bad cylinder. Pull the valve cover, and with the engine running watch the rocker arms, to see if they are all moving up and down.

checking the Head:

Check the plugs to see if any have moisture on them, or look to see if any appear cleaner than the others. Usually water passes into a combustion chamber, it usually steam cleans the cylinder, and plug.

Pull of the radiator cap(cold) and see if a bunch of bubbles are coming up to the holw where the cap goes. If you see a bunch of bubbles, this could mean that air is getting past the combustion chamber, into the cooling system.

Good luck.