I have a 1994 Grand Am SE (2.3L Quad4). It has around 88,000 miles, and so far, except for a few odds and ends, it has run great. The other night, I started my car, drove about 100 feet, and experienced a big decrease in power, and a noticeably rougher feel. I also smelled unburned fuel.
Today, I started it again, and it starts rough, idles rough, hesitates when I push the throttle, and I still smell unburned gas (I believe coming from the exhaust pipe). The check engine light is NOT on.
Has anyone had an experience similar to this or have any suggestions?? I've called several places by me, and they all want around $100 just to inspect it and hook it up to the diagnostic machine (which I'd like to avoid, if at all possible).
Are there any ways to TEST the performance of my spark plugs/wires to see if they need to be replaced?
Thanks in advance!

- mike

It sounds like either a bad coil or bad ignition module, both of which are located under the quad cover on the top of the motor. Look at the coils for any kind of carbon tracks. Most parts stores can test the ignition module for you, just bring it to them. Good luck.

I would start by checking for spark on all 4 cylinders, could be a bad coil housing, sounds like you have one cylinder not getting spark, get a spark tester (looks like a spark plug with a grounding clip on it), using 4 normal plug wires attach 3 from the coil housing to the plugs, and attach the 4th one to the spark tester, if you position things correctly you can check spark yourself from inside the vehicle. Start there, figure out if you have spark on all of the cylinders, cylinders 1&3 are run off one coil, 2&4 off the other, if you have no spark on both cylinder from one of the coils its most likely a coil, if its just one cylinder try a coil housing, no spark have your ignition module checked, if thats ok try replacing the crank position sensor. good luck, hope this helps.