A couple months ago my car (2001 Cavalier 2.4L) started running bad, it just happened one morning when I started it up. Its extremely rough idle at around 500 rpm for about 5 seconds and then it stalls out, if I rev it up with the pedal it’ll stay going and you can smell gas coming out the exhaust. the car still drives but has almost no power. I changed the plugs and gapped them to spec of .050 as one of them was corroded really bad, that didn’t help any, so I replaced one of the ignition coil on the side of the corroded plug, my only other ideas are that I need to replace both ignition coils or the ignition control module isn’t working right. Hoping to get some suggestions from people more knowledgeable than myself before I spend more money on myself guessing the problem. Any help is greatly appreciated.
vacuum leak, dirty fuel filter, dirty air filter, low fuel pressure …
Is the ‘Check Engine’ light on? Did you pull any codes yet? There are plenty of tests that can be done before expensive parts are replaced.
The check engine light is on but its always been on, its stating the rear O2 sensor isn’t working. I did have it into a garage and plugged into the computer there was no other codes showing besides the 02 sensor. and that the engine was misfiring mostly in cylinder 2 where the corroded spark plug was.
@Sabin07
“The check engine light is on but its always been on”
When did you get those codes you mentioned?
Just because you had those codes before doesn’t mean you don’t have additional codes now
Anyways, how about the coil housing? Is it also corroded?
http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinfo.php?pk=1147131&cc=1371282
Let me get this straight . . . you have 2 coils, correct?
One coil is for cylinders 1 and 4 . . . and the other is for cylinders 2 and 3, correct?
compression test?
Has anybody verified that the misfire isn’t fuel related?
The raw fuel smell could mean that there is actually a leak, but it could also mean that there is a lean condition, which is causing the pcm to command way more fuel than is normally required
Might even have a leaking fuel injector or regulator
I believe it’s safe to say you have to bring it to a reputable shop . . . not Pepboys or Meineke . . . and pay somebody to diagnose it. And they’re going to have to test it systematically, from the start. You don’t want somebody to just throw parts at it, based on the codes you have