ChevyIINova answered Saturday July 5 2008, 4:12 pm: I assume you are talking about your car. If this is happening you probably have a dead cylinder. Normally this is caused by a dead spark plug or a bad wire, causing unburnt fuel to cycle through the exhaust valve. This is not good and can cause (cylinder wash) damage to the engine. You can do a quick check on the wires by taking the wire off at each spark plug (the boot) holding the boot close to the plug, about an inch and "bumping" the key to start it, but don't start it. Have someone else be on the look out for a spark. If there's a spark that wire is good. Keep going until you have checked all 4, 6 or 8 wires. If that turns out fine, pull the plugs. If a plug(s) has a bridged gap or heavy oil or other deposits, replace that plug and the rest of them too. For one plug to go bad means there is something else wrong. I'd take the car in for repairs. It may mean a bad valve, rings or something else. There's a few test a mechanic can do to properly diagnose this. However if you have bad rings, you can check the oil by smell. If it smells strongly of gas, you may have some worn piston rings. If you need anything else let me know. I'll be glad to help. [ ChevyIINova's advice column | Ask ChevyIINova A Question ]
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