Tonight i was driving around, pushing my car a little. Stop at a red light.. get up to 4k rpm and motor dies.. backfiring when i was on the gas a little, let off the gas and it died. Tried to start it, turns over fine.. but it wont start, and it starts to backfire while its turning. Check for any leaks, everything seems fine. Check for spark in each wire, thats fine.
Well heres the diagnosis: clogged catalytic converter? spark plugs had oil on them, bad plugs? timing belt jump a tooth? distributor is messed? i tried to pop start it; it started, but ran like crap, backfiring the whole time, let off the gas and it died. it was almost as if it was running on one cylinder.. im totally stumped. im hoping its not a mechanical failure such as the pistons.. need help please.

 

Sometimes it turns out to be something as simple as the rotor in the distributor. The set screw comes lose and causes those symptoms you describe.

 

thanks... well the plugs are coming out tomorrow. The o-rings were probably messed up, and oil got on to the plugs.. Im also going to look into a distributor, but it did have spark, so the distrib should be fine. The compression APPEARS to be fine, but i gotta check. I think the spark plugs are fouled, i found oil in #1,#2,#3, and #4.. ive had oil in them before, nothing went wrong.
Thinking back, i was having problems with my car.. it just started to happen recently too. It was throwing a code. When i would drive my car the motor would lose power all the sudden at a set RPM (example: 2000rpm, 3000rpm) It would jump back into power again. it was really annoying. The car would go, stop, and then go again.. it jolted the car.
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[Modified by [626]Rj-SiHatchy, 10:30 AM 5/10/2002]

 

good luck rich.

 

Sounds familiar. Most likely its electrical. Same thing happened to my ride. And with my rex the distributor got fried along with the plugs. Had to replace both. After that i got back to crussin'!!!!
Good Luck

 

any other suggestions?? im leaning more toward a distributor problem.. it was squeaking a little before.