1996 Geo Metro 1.0 only firing on 2 cylinders

[VARIETYKING.COM]

Hello,
My 1996 Geo Metro 1.0 liter is apparently only running on two cylinders.
When I remove the Spark plug wires from one of my three spark plugs the car continues to run with no difference whatsoever.
Pulling either of the other two plugs causes the engine to stop.
Because of this my car takes like a quarter mile just to get upto 30 miles an hour and cannot go faster than 45 mph.
It's also sucking a ton of gas.
It has high mileage,over 150,000 but just before the majotr performance drop I drove 50 miles and it ate over 3 quarter of a tank.
Ant help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,PJ

[pind]

chances are you have a burned exhaust valve. Do a dry compression test on all three, and see what the numbers are. Then add a small amount of oil to each cylinder, and do the test again, this will tell you if its rings or valves.

They do have a tendency to burn valves though, and the rings occasionally get weak.

Good luck

[geozukigti]

I second that one. 9 times out of 10, it burns an exhaust valve when the EGR becomes clogged. A new engine head from Ebay would be the most cost-effective solution. Also, clean out the EGR passages, and make sure the egr can function properly, or it will happen again. The EGR brings exhaust gasses back into the intake to re-burn them. By doing that, it cools down the combustion chamber temperatures. When the EGR gets plugged, the engine will burn more hot, and eventually burn up the exhaust valves.

[pind]

Also watch for the catalytic converter. Those little buggers have caused more trouble, especially on the 1.0 liter cars.
The rpblem is too much backpressure created by the stock converter. Suggestion is, and it does work, get a converter off a 1.3 liter car, or other similar sized four cylinder, even another make of car, as long as it fits. less backpressure equals happier valves. We have done this a number of times with great results. The average for burned exhaust valves was an engine life of less than 90,000 km before the valves burned. by upgrading or eliminating the converter, we have had engines going 250,000 km with nothing but proper oil and filter changes.

Food for thought

[Me you]

Also once the cyl heads are resurfaced it will burn out the number two valve quicker each time it is resurfaced, I had two 3 cyl metro and every time I would have a company rebuild the cyl head they would resurface and both got to the point they would need number two exhaust replaced at 5,000 mile intervals