so about three days ago the car seemed like it was missing. it still started and ran ok, but just didnt have the same power it normally had. at the same time, my exhaust pipe broke off right where it joins the muffler. i had thought the loss in back pressure was causing the lack of power... i assumed if a cylinder had not been firing the car would barely run let alone start and not get out of its own way when accelerating so earlier today i popped the hood to finally check to make sure nothing was out of place under the hood. wouldnt you know it, the drivers-front plug wire had become disconnected! i popped it back on, but have yet to take the car out for a test drive (im sure that it was the cause of the lack of motavation though). boy i wished i had checked that earlier however, now im worried about the piston rings... think they have been washed out due to three days of gas being not ignited and getting in the cylinder? i only drove it to and from work... its about a 10mile round trip (30 miles total traveled in the three days id say)

I don't think that would hurt it.

Ehhh you should be good. Double check your compression and check your oil pressure. Obviously check out that spark plug after a day or so of a good run on the motor tho.

I mean its not good for the motor but I think you caught it soon enough. You werent racing around or shifting at like 5grand were you?

no way... since i could tell it wasnt running quite right, i would just baby it to and from work. 3k rpm shifts max

ive got new plugs/wires/cap/rotor for the car that i havent installed yet, looks like ill be doing that this weekend

guess ill find out tomorrow morning and throughout the next few days if its ok or not

thanks for the replies

The engine itself is probably fine. However, I would be wary of the ignition parts being okay or not. Generally, if the plug wire is disconnected from the plug, the spark will eat through some part of the cable until it finds a suitable ground source, which will look like a light gray mark on the wire somewhere. Then you run the risk of the coil internally shorting to ground. And, without proper grounding, the module may end up getting damaged as well (don't ask how I know this, but it's from experience).

this weekend, probably Friday, ill be installing all new ignition parts (plugs, wires, cap, rotor) that ive had waiting for me to get the motivation to replace. looks like i found it

if i have time, ill change out all the fluids too, especially the oil since some gas probably made its way in there

Hah, I have done this myself. *shakes fist at cracked manifold!*

In the aviation community they actually dump raw gasoline into the oil systems to thin out the oil for starting in cold weather. When the engine comes up to operating temp. the fuel will evaporate out. As for hurting your rings I highly doubt it but if it did wash them out a little they will just build back up.