basic Q&A

[Kidlex01]

1. when the engine misfires what exaclty is it and how would you know if the engine is misfiring.?
2. i bought a strut bar for my car the one that sits in the engine to reduce body roll, with the bar on what exactly does it do, it reduces body roll i know but how does it reduce it...?

thanks i know a lil but not exaclty what they are or do...

[Knifeblade]

Well, essentially, an engine misfire is caused by lack of spark, fuel, or air [or any combination of those three] into one or more cylinders, preventing that or those cylinders from completing their proper combustion cycle. The cause is usually spark or fuel associated, more so than air, though. Clogged injectors, bad plugs, faulty coils, out-of-time ignition, bad valves, most anything can be a cause for a misfire symptom.

Re the strut bar, I am sure other members know much more about that than I do, but essentially the bar is used to reduce body or frame flexing in hard maneuvering.

Hope this helps a bit.

[justin0717]

Knife is right with both, however he didnt mention how youd know if it was misfiring..you would tell by the engine usually idling really low, feels like its gunna stall, and the motor will be shaking really badly...you will right away be able to tell, and usually the check engine light is on to alert you of a misfire.

[Hoags]

Kidlex, A mis-fire in your car would be very noticable since you only have 4 cylinders.

Do you think you have a mis-fire? if so make sure you have those plug wire in place when you put that cover in place.

I hope the plug change went easier after our e-mails...

Dan


Hey, Knife... you're worse than me, 3:30am what's wrong with you .........
GET SOME SLEEP!!!! LOL

Dan

[Knifeblade]

LOL, Dan, heard that!!!!!!!!!!

vexed, a couple on the cheap things ya can try to settle your misfire hassle, and they do not hurt anything.

1] Like Ride says, check the plug wires for proper-plug-to-wire. www.autozone.com, I think has a diagram of which coil or distributor terminal to which plug. Also, look for solid wire to plug connect, they do come loose at both ends, the coil/distrib. and at the spark plug.. Look at the wires themselves, for cracks in insulation.

2] Toss a bottle of super-concentrated injector cleaner into full or more than 1/2 full gas tank, run it out till ya really have to gas up again.

3] Look at your air cleaner, it the most forgotten part ever. Replace if needed.

4] Pull the hose to throttle-body air intake and spray out the throttlebody to remove any varnish, dirt, and free up your butterfly valve. do it also on all mechanical linkages attached to the thrott.bod, ensure they all move their pawls/levers, etc. freely.

Even if this doesn't solve your prob., it is still GOOD basic regular maintenance, and hurts nada. It is cheap, you provide the labor, LOL. It easy, just takes some dirty hands at end of it all, essentially.

[Knifeblade]

OOPs, I meant Justin, sorry, Justin, MY bad.

[Knifeblade]

D***, I am tired, MY bad to Dan too, sheesh, sorry Dan.

[Kidlex01]

Thanks Y'all i dont have a misfire but i was just curious about how you would know, Hoags the plugs i havent put them in yet but i know exactly what to do now, i ended up taken some pics and sending them to someone and he explained everything that needs to be removed to get the the plugs...

Thanks Again,