'96 Lumina Suddenly running rough with a non-rhythmic tick

[MojoMan317717]

Wife was driving it home and suddenly the engine light began flashing and the motor began running very rough with a non-rhythmic tick. Said another way, the tick is sort of random. Sometimes it's very loud and other times not as much and it comes and goes at a rate different from the RPM's of the motor.

It runs, but much more roughly than before. Additionally, but possibly unrelated, I smell gas. Which reminds me that I noticed the smell of gas 2-3 days ago when I first started the car, but then it subsided and I let it pass.

Going to go check spark plugs now.

Thoughts anyone?

[Tech II]

The only time a CE light flashes, is when there is a misfire, THAT IS SO BAD, that it will harm your catalytic converter(could be dumpoing huge amounts of fuel into the cat which will cause it to overheat, and possibly melt the catalyst and plug it).....

The vehicle should not be driven...it should be repaired before the cat has to be replaced.....hopefully, it's just secondary ignition(coil, wires or plugs, etc.).....

Could also be injectors, lower intake leak, head/head gasket problem....

Assume this is a 3.1/3.4.....

[MojoMan317717]

Great info about the flashing engine light!

So, I should start with checking the plugs and wires, right? I was going to do plugs last night but decided to wait for a response.

How do I check the coil?

If it's a head gasket there will be low compression in one or more cylinders, right?

[MojoMan317717]

Forgot to confirm it is a 3.1 motor with 187k miles.

[Tech II]

If you change the plugs and wires, make sure you use original equipment plugs, A/C-Delco.......I think gap is 0.060".....

When you remove the wires from the coil terminals, if you find a terminal that is carbonned up, that is probably your problem.....the wire has to be replaced , and the terminal has to be sanded clean, and then apply dielectric grease to the terminal before attaching the wire......If after, replacing the plugs and wires, there is still a misfire, you have to check coil output......take wire off plug(one at a time), and attach the wire to a spark tester.....start car and look for a healthy spark from the tester.......do all six wires....

If you are going to change the plugs, that would be the time to do a compression test with all plugs out of the car(should disable fuel and spark, while holding throttle plate wide open, as you crank the vehicle)....

[rkvons]

You might want to get it scanned for codes.