I'm the original owner of an 84 Tercel hatchback that is at 151000 miles and 8 days away from its 20th birthday. A few days ago the car suddenly started to run very rough with mild body jerking and loss of power especially at low speed. It seemed to me like loss of a cylinder although I'm guessing because such a thing never happened to me before. I used a timing light to determine that the all plugs were firing and I also replaced the distributor cap, ignition wires, and plugs to no effect. After removal, the tips of the #1 and #2 plugs were shiny black on one side. There is also a smell of gas after the engine is on a short time. Could this be a valve problem preventing one of the cylinders from combusting properly? Please help this car reach antique status which is defined as 20+ in my state.
Roger