Car sometimes running on 3 cylinders!

[usdm180sx]

Stock ka24de with 183,xxx miles. The motor starts to sound like a subaru wrx and it feels weaker like it's running on 3 cylinders. It started acting up today and it only happens on and off but it's getting pretty frequent. I was told it was either a bad injector or no compression in one or more cylinders. I bought the car with 150,xxx miles and have changed oil every 3000 miles and filled it with 91 octane.

I checked the spark plug wires. Haven't checked the spark plugs yet but they were changed ~7-10k miles ago. No check engine light warning either.

I found this thread: http://www.zilvia.net/f/showthread.php?t=115609&highlight=cylinders

Sounds similar to mine except that mine happens on and off. Any other ideas or suggestions?

[Edgar]

Have you done a compression test yet? Change the spark plugs?

[Id RaThEr DrIfT]

i had a similar problem my car sounded like a wrx/ diesel truck
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b274/Studgus/th_MVI_1873.jpg (http://s21.photobucket.com/albums/b274/Studgus/?action=view&current=MVI_1873.flv)
it was a miss fier in one of my cylinders of course i jst changed the coil pack and solved everything =-) but yeah take ur spark plugs out 1 by 1 if the car stays the same as in it still sounds the same doesnt try deing on u that means that that one aint fiering or u could just check for spark on each one ... hope that help'd out

[SiI40sx]

its ur injector

[Id RaThEr DrIfT]

or what he ^^^ said could be either or

[theicecreamdan]

dont pull your spark plugs while the car is running, just the wires.
If its intermittent I doubt you have a compression issue.

[aznpoopy]

if an injector goes out, you should start seeing a bit of smoke come out the exhaust. it'll be gas mixed with oil being burned off. smells like gas, looks a little bluish. your oil may also be contaminated. run the car and open the oil filler cap. if there's a STRONG smell of gas, it's prob an injector.

other way to check injector is to unplug it and see if it changes the idle while its running rough. or put a screwdriver against it and put the butt end against your ear. a working injector will click regularly as the car is running.

good luck.

[the head]

If it's intermittent it is most likely an electrical short either in a plug wire or and injector lead

fire the car up in the dark open the hood and look for arcing current from the plug wires if the injectors are firing fine. I know you stated that they were new wires but i have had bad wires out of the box before.

use tests for injectors stated above.

[trybal]

thats waht my car did with a screwed up injector. would do it every once in awhile on hot start, then it just started doing it when the car warmed up

[usdm180sx]

Thanks for all the replies. It turned out to be a bad injector on the #1 cylinder. Replaced it and now it runs fine. Thanks again

[s0ldats]

i figured i wouldn't start a new thread, my problems are very similar.

the last time i drove my car was last christmas, and i recently took it out of the garage. upon starting the engine shook as if running on 3 cylinders. sound was like a wrx.

this was never an intermittent problem.

in what order should i check the distributor, coil, spark plugs, wires, injectors?


also could it be bad gas?

[ballr858]

i hate having bad gas.