car is running really rough

[n00b on demand]

Ok here is the situation....

Its about 35 degrees here...very cold morning. The coldest since the winter. When I start my car on cold mornings such as this one it will start and then the tach drops like the car might die but then it evens out and idles properly. Today thats what happened to me ...but the car stalled. So i started it up again and i let it warm up fully like i always do. Everything was going fine. I go to the bank to get money out...and then i start the car up as im about to leave. It starts running really rough...sounds bad too. When you give it gas and the tach is rising i dont feel any power loss and the car drives fin with no problem...but when the tach comes back down to 1000 rpms or under it starts feeling and running rough. I thought it was gonna stall at each light or stop sign but it never did. I parked it in the garage and i shut it down and started it back up again. It didn't go away...still rough. I had a can of fuel system treatment in the garage and put it in.

There is no Check engine light...and the car was running perfect before this happened today. I'm gonna buy some dry gas and put that in and disconnect the battery to reset the ECU. Be patient with me....im not an expert on working on cars so if i have to do anything I need dummy instructions. Thanks in advance.

[n00b on demand]

I wonder if this is a case of getting bad gas? I have a little less than half a tank left of gas...and it was running fine untill today. Also since i have that exhaust leak...you can hear ch ch ch ch ch ch ch coming from underneath now

[n00b on demand]

hello? this thing on?

[rbalach]

I had something similar happen on a very cold morning once. I didn't have the time or the knowledge back then to find the problem, so i took it to a dealership. They ended up changing 2 coil packs, and two injectors and it has run fine since. I have a feeling they were randomly swapping stuff out until they got it fixed. I doubt if 4 different things can go wrong at the same time.
So i guess the only suggestion i have is to check the coil packs and injectors. One thing to do is start the car up, and unplug the power to each injector one at a time, if it makes a difference to how it is running, then that cylinder was working fine, plug the power back in and move to the next one. If it doesn't make a difference, there is something going on in that cylinder, maybe injector, maybe coil, maybe spark plug.

Just my $0.02

Good luck.

[n00b on demand]

Ok heres an update for everyone....

I added some dry gas...and fuel treatment. Disconnected the battery to reset the ECU. I came home from work 9 hours later...hooked it back up and started the car...and still the same deal. The car went from high idle to low idle like it normally does....car did not stall either. After the car was fully warmed up it idled at the correct speed with no change in the tach at all. The needle wasnt jumping or anything. The exhaust makes this " put put put put put" noise...or " ch ch ch ch ch ch "...coming from where the center cat is. Could it be something wrong with my exhaust that is causing this to happen? I dont see anything wrong with the engine....i mean the car doesn't stall or the needle doesnt jump around so the car is idling fine. I can hit the gas and raise it to redline and let it drop and its all normal. That noise from the exhaust makes me think something is seriously wrong there. Any input guys? I REALLY need your help....i need to get this fixed by monday

[n00b on demand]

Just one other thing to keep in mind about the exhaust....i had a crack on the passenger side pre-cat pipe. I had that patched up last month. Mechanic patched it up with some epoxy crap. TomsSvx also said something about my center cat not being good anymore...i can't remember what he said . Car is throwing no CE light though. Everything else is working properly.

[TomsSVX]

hey, if ur gonna be really good t breaking stuff....you better be good at fixing it too

Tom

[n00b on demand]

Originally Posted by TomsSVX

hey, if ur gonna be really good t breaking stuff....you better be good at fixing it too

Tom

yeah and good at fixing you certainly are!!

After getting the pre-cat pipe put on the car now smoked from the right side under the hood. The smoke looks like its coming off that pipe so maybe there was some oil on it that is now burning off? I do have a small oil leak but it never smoked like this before with the old pipe.

[TomsSVX]

did you ever replace that high presure line for the PS??

Tom

[n00b on demand]

Originally Posted by TomsSVX

did you ever replace that high presure line for the PS??

Tom

No sir....the PS is leaking quite a bit. When I take my car out of the garage i have a small puddle of tranny fluid. And ive checked the transmission dipstick and it is always full.

[TomsSVX]

thats probobly where the smoke is comming from

Tom