97 cavalier runs rough

I agree with Shep on this one. Bad plug wires probably or cap. A couple of old tricks I used to use when I was younger are

1. Put a 40 watt light bulb or higher under the hood for a while with the hood down . Everything that was damp or wet will be dry as a bone after about an hour. Car should run fine at this point.
2. In the dark start the car and spray wires, cap etc. with water from a plant atomizer and watch the light show. This usually tells you what is degraded. You might be able to just replace one wire or just the cap, who knows?

Good luck

But it doesn't have a cap.... Having the code read from the computer is the best way to start. Also if the plugs/wires have never been changed they are probably due. Plugs arcing from the insulator seems to be coming more popular recently....

"gmlemon" wrote: > We just moved from New York to North Carolina in the past few > months. My wifes car has 70,000 miles and was running OK > untill today. It rained hard yesterday with high humidity and > the car sat idle for the past 3 days. > Today she started it up, the motor was running rough, check > engine light was flashing and you could smell unburnt gas out > of the exhaust-this never happened before and the car was > running fine last week. > Any insight would help- > Thanks-

Well I replaced the plugs and plug wires with no luck-idles rough but when you rev up the motor it smooths out?? I will try the water spray and see what shows up- Thanks for the help

Stop guessing and have the computer codes read. Autozone's will read them for free....

I had the codes read and it came out" multiple cylinder misfire" The guy at the auto parts store (where I had the codes read) pulled of a vacuum line and put it back on/off several times and the car started running smooth. He told me to change the fuel fiter and I did. Today the motor idles rough again( no rain)sunny and dry-

did i read that correctly...the guy removed and replaced a vaccum hose - it ran smooth - then he suggested a fuel filter ???? i would be more tempted to go through those codes again and clean the injectors. look at all those vacuum connectors...Cavaliers run badly even when the exhaust has holes....another thing to look at it is the TCC switch. mounted on the bellhousing. (well on mine it is).

well here's one for you to chew on.

i was reading yours and replied. then went out to mine and continued to change out the ignition wires. while climbing up and down over and under i discovered a broken vaccum hose just above the ignition coil. it attaches a long plastic hose to the block. approx 2" directly over the ignition coil on the back bottom of the engine. If your not a behemoth of a person you can slip you hands and forearms in to reach what you need from underneath.

note that my car is a 95 2.2L cavalier....but the fact that a change of wires/plugs/and a 2 1/4" piece of vaccum hose just fixed all the pulsing, sputtering, and near feeling like it was gonna stall. (also noted it did not show codes...this may be due to the fact that my car is the crossover year from OBDI to OBDII -- thus having an obii connector and using obdi codes /// therefore cannot read em. !! with any scan tool..)

Check the dist. cap and plug wires

"" wrote: > Check the dist. cap and plug wires

I replaced both coils and the car started up and ran great. We took of down the highway and the same thing started happening, lost power and you had to shut off the air and put the pedal to the floor just to maintain speed. Took it back to have the codes read and the same thing came up. We cleared the codes and tried driving some more and the same code came up again. I changed the plugs,wires,fuel filter and both coils and changed the oil and filter-sounds like its running on 2 cylinders. I took it out for another drive and it was running OK again, then it lost power with the check engine light flashing. Then it starts to run OK and the check engine light stays lit up steady, and then the light starts flashing and you lose power!! Is it time to trade this in on a new one??

"gmlemon" wrote: > I replaced both coils and the car started up and ran great. We > took of down the highway and the same thing started happening, > lost power and you had to shut off the air and put the pedal > to the floor just to maintain speed. > Took it back to have the codes read and the same thing came > up. > We cleared the codes and tried driving some more and the same > code came up again. I changed the plugs,wires,fuel filter and > both coils and changed the oil and filter-sounds like its > running on 2 cylinders. > I took it out for another drive and it was running OK again, > then it lost power with the check engine light flashing. Then > it starts to run OK and the check engine light stays lit up > steady, and then the light starts flashing and you lose > power!! > Is it time to trade this in on a new one??

Well I replaced the ignition control module and the car runs great-

Sounds like ALDL 8192 to me, codes can be read, you just need a good scan tool or make one yourself.

Steve