Um ok!! My car has 1000k miles and I did the 50K mile service. That makes alot of sence. But youknow what thats cool because your right. He did say 50K service. I apologize for using common sence as clearly I was wrong.


Anyways back to the problem. It could also be a bad or clogged injector as turbonium stated. That injector could be clogged or just spraying a minimal amount of fuel causing to burn super lean in that Cycl thus causing the funky sound in the exahust. This is just a guess as there is really no way to know for sure with out being in front of the car.

 

I used PYROL Fuel Injector Cleaner. My tank is almost empty now. If that was the problem I think it would've been fixed?? The bottle says I shouild do it again after 2K miles... Is it wise to do it again? I mean, later today -- after 210miles.

By the way, is it normal for a 97 Protege LX (automatic) with less than 60K miles on the engine to do only 210 miles on a full tank?

Regarding the plugs... I had two different people (who are both more knowledgeable than I am) look at the spark plugs three times at three different occasions. Both of them guessed that the gaps on the spark plugs could be causing this. They checked out the plugs and the conclusion was that they're fine. The spark plugs were checked in the garage after that. Those guys are (should be) proffesionals, so if aything was wrong with them, they should have been fixed by now (I gues??).

What about that "airflow meter sensor". Could that be IT or that guy is just plain clueless?

 

It could be that. But the Maf if thats what your talking about is quite expensive to replace. Its also possible that your coil is bad. Some one correct me if I am wrong but does this model year have a "coil"?

Are you having any electrical problems? Battery dies real easy if you leave lights on for short time? If so it could be your alternator. Once it starts to go bad at higher RPMs you are able to make enough power but at lower rpms not enough juice is going to the ignition. This is far fetched but its a thought.

 

My battery holds up pretty well. I usually wait A LOT for my mom to get her *** out of a store and I listen to music while I'm waiting. My battery doesn't die...

What I don't understand though is how can the MAF sensor cause a 4th cyl. misfire?? I'm puzzled...

 

Im not a car whiz but i drive the same exact car as you....witch almost double the miles ;p. Try using diff plugs maybe??and definately get that compression tester.

 

i forget what it means when your engine light "blinks" but I remember it's alot worse than when it stays on steady..I think it means your cat is in danger of being melted or something...when the light blinks it is trying to get your attention and say..HEY there's something seriously wrong here and your going to cause your car damage if you dont fix it...when it's on steady it says HEY there's a problem, but fix it when you get the chance.READ UP or ASK

 

RE:BLAH BLAH BLAH my car has 100K miles on it and I did a 50K mile service at 100K

 

I'm lost here, what the hell would you check the compression on a "dead" cylinder for or I believe the MAF was also mentioned when you haven't checked to see if it was getting fuel first. Also since its a second gen yeah it would have a coil and a bad coil shouldn't make only one cylinder misfire.
Start with the basics when you're trouble shooting.

 

if u got the engine bay cleaned couldnt water be in the distributor?

im no mechanic but it sounds kinda electrical to me
take it to a electrician and see what he says
maybe
build up on the dist?

 

I never said I cleaned it and the problem has been here for TWO MONTHS ALREADY. So, it's not water... And if you had read my whole post you would have known that I replaced the distributor cap AND rotor, so there CAN'T BE BUILD UP ON IT. Thanks anyway. I know you're trying to help.

 

Can you define basics please? And have you read the whole thing? I just wanna make sure you know what I've done so far...

Thanks!

 

The "Check engine" light starts to blink if the car is in motion. It blinks for a while to grab your attention and becomes solid.... I've experienced this two or three times before. One time I didn't drive my car for three days (long weekend) and when I got inside and started the engine the "check engine" light didn't come on. It came on after a minute or so, just like I described earlier.

 

Intruder, if the spark plugs are fine, then I do suggest to get a complete fuel injection cleaning. At my place, Speedy, we do it for $40, and it takes about half an hour. It gets rid of carbon build up in your engine, and could improve your mileage as well as getting back some of the acceleration. I used to get 200 miles on a tank in the city, but only after I put in a custom intake that I build myself. Since, I took it out and I get close to 300 miles on a tank in the city.

Do not buy over the counter injector cleaners, because they do nothing, and you have to add one to a full tank on every oil change, and it is such a waste of money.

Goodluck, and I hope that you fix without spending tons of money.

 

Ugh... What to do, what to do.....

 

hey, Intruder, this is kinda of a stupich question, but i hope you answer it.

Will your car perform poorly if there's a misfired cylinder?

Like, the acceleration is really slow and such?