By petzold on Monday, June 04, 2001 - 02:58 pm: Edit

vehicle was cranked today for the first time in three weeks or so ('96-102k). sputtered upon initial start up (common in the cold). drove fine. while at stoplight idle dropped significantly and engine seemed to misfire; no backfire, just the engine was not at equillibrium. can feel the imbalance inside of the vehicle, loss of power for a moment. sounds like piston may be off. valves were replaced 30k ago. any advice?

thanks

matthew petzold

By Jon (Jonw) on Monday, June 04, 2001 - 03:07 pm: Edit

Drive it more often.

Seriously, these things don't like to sit long the older they get and the more miles they have. Mine will do that sometimes when it sits days in a row, in fact it will have a terrible miss on acceleration, almost like it jumps time. I know it needs new plugs/wires/rotor/cap, so I just mash the accelerator and sputter up to speed until it warms-up. Then it runs like a dream, smooth like butta LOL

By pjkbrit on Monday, June 04, 2001 - 04:44 pm: Edit

Check security of fuel injector connections...a loose one will do exactly what you describe.
Pete

By ron on Monday, June 04, 2001 - 05:51 pm: Edit

I have had similar experiences 3 times:

One time it had a couple bent valves
Another it had a warped head and blown gasket
Another it was a loose plug wire

Ron

PS hope for number 3