98 catera with misfires?

[upjeeper]

i'm looking at buying a 98 catera with 155k. the guy who has it for sale let it sit for a while (6 months maybe?) because he bought another car. when he started it back up it ran rough and gave a check engine light. He got the code checked and it said it was misfiring - evidently something about a plug wire. Is there an easy way to tell which plug wire is misfiring? I would have thought that the code should tell, but he didn't know. is it as simple as testing the resistance?

if a catera sat for a while what would make a wire go bad? or is it likely something else?

[guardian]

Just exactly WHERE it was "sitting" would matter. If it was sitting in a heated garage that's one thing. If it was sitting out in the weather for six months that is QUITE another thing. If it was sitting in an area frequented by critters, e.g., squirrels, chippies, mice, that is yet another thing. Such critters might have chewed a wire here or there while passing time in their newly found shelter.

Given what you have reported, my guess would be a bad ignition wire or, equally likely, condensation or carbon buildup (tracking) within the distributor. Also and obviously, it would not hurt to check the plugs for carbon, cracked insulators, etc..

The code, AFAIK, will tell you which cylinder is misfiring. But it likely would be a good idea to scrutinize them all.

Good luck!

[upjeeper]

we checked the codes yesterday (and bought the car by the way)
it was misfiring on several cylinders (1, 3, 6). It sat for about 3 months outside (little rock, AR) then when he started driving it again he put 85 or 87 octane in it. So we're going to try to find some good fuel system cleaner (i've heard something called 440k or bg440 is suppose to be good, but can't find it) and run premium through it for a while before i take it in to see if that clears up the problems.

looks like i'm going to need new hood prop shocks, some tie rods and an alignment and maybe some hoses as it's leaking antifreeze. But wow, is it a nice car!

[figgie]

Originally Posted by upjeeper

we checked the codes yesterday (and bought the car by the way)
it was misfiring on several cylinders (1, 3, 6). It sat for about 3 months outside (little rock, AR) then when he started driving it again he put 85 or 87 octane in it. So we're going to try to find some good fuel system cleaner (i've heard something called 440k or bg440 is suppose to be good, but can't find it) and run premium through it for a while before i take it in to see if that clears up the problems.

looks like i'm going to need new hood prop shocks, some tie rods and an alignment and maybe some hoses as it's leaking antifreeze. But wow, is it a nice car!

1 3 and 6

hmm

two on one side and on on the other side..

My first bet would be the coil took a shit and when that goes it usually takes the damn crappy wires with it.

[upjeeper]

it looks like the PO used low octane fuel and let it sit for 3 months. i put some premium with lucas fuel system cleaner in and it runs great now