running on 3 cylinders -- please help

[banky]

hey everyone, heres my problem. i have a 92 stock as hell 240 and ive been having problems with idle and what not and i figured out finally that my #2 cylinder isnt firing. i bought a brand new fuel injector for it thinking that was the problem and that was a waste of 200 bucks =/ ive checked the wires (Nology wires) and bought new plugs but still to no avail. if anyone has heard of this or experienced on their own, please help me. ive done some searching on the board but they never end with the results and how they were fixed. my check engine light isnt going off either. any suggestions would be greatly appreciated thanks.

banky

[yellow_jacket]

There are 3 reasons a cylinder won't fire 1) no fuel2)no fire3) no compression

You will have to go through each of these to figure your problem out. For number1 you will need to get ahold of a noid light to make sure you have injector pulse for that cylinder. For number 2 check the plugs and the cap and rotor. Caps can arc internally so make sure you are getting spark at that cylinder. As for number 3 just run a simple compression check. Good luck!

[banky]

well the reason i bought the brand new injector int he first place was cuz the previous one didnt have a pulse. for number 2, my dad stuck a big screw driver in that plug and it sparked like new years, so i know it has fire. and lastly i dont know where i can find a compression check-ing machine lol i was begining to think to just drive it with 3 cylinders for a few months and just save up for an SR.. but its going to be a while. i also thought about bringing it to the dealer, but im not sure how thats gonna work cuz they will most likely charge me more than what an SR is (well maybe not that much) but the thing is, driving with 3 cylinders is really annoying; not feeling any torque what so ever.

any other suggestions?

banky

[DAEDALUS]

Checking the compression isn't exactly major surgery, and a gauge can be had for maybe $20-30. If you can change your own spark plugs, you can also check the compression on your own.Did you check the resistance of all your injectors? Check them through the harness--less work than checking the injectors directly, and you can verify that the harness is good at the same time.

[blackbeauty240]

you can use a 4 dollar noid light found at your local pepboys to check for injector pulse through the harness (I think the 240 uses a bosch sei type noid light). have you checked the actual spark plugs?

[slw240sx]

wow another dead cylinder thread ... seems like atrend as of late!! i think my # 3 is either a stuck injector or nocompression i have to wait till sunday till i can get to my compression checker.... hope its just a bad plug but a bad headgasket ohwell itll take what a day or two to change.....

[yellow_jacket]

You're pretty lucky you didn't fry the ecu by sticking that screwdriver in there. By doing so you also did nothing diagnostically. You need to geta noid light to make sure it has pulse. It should basically pulse like a spark plug.

[zerosum]

DO NOT USE A TEST LIGHT- I have seen many people f/up thier cars this way- a test light works with a resistor - this causes to much resistance and can burn out most CPUs even though it sames computer safe

[ssnnooppyy]

So, here's a twist on the old dead cylinder game.... will it make a noise when the cylinder is dead? Not just the sputtering exhaust note, but actual engine noise, like a banging or loud (very very loud) clicking noise??? I have a feeling this is the demise of my valves, but I have to be optimistic, right?

[DAEDALUS]

Dead cylinders are usually pretty quiet, aside from the horrible sound of a rough unbalanced engine. A loud "knocking" would suggest a bad bearing, but "very very loud" clicking...not sure. You think something is hitting within the cylinder? Disconnect the spark plug wire or injector to that cylinder and see if the sound decreases much. Then run the car with that plug removed to hear the difference.