i just noticed yesterday and today that my car is having a lil problem, lemme try to describe it best as possible.

it seems to only happen in the low rpm up to around 3k, and happens most when i give it gas or floor it from a low rpm.

what happens is the car studders and even sometimes i hear a pow from what seems the drivers side of the engine bay.

and today for about 5 minutes, i started the car and the voltage dropped to about 9-10volts and just chilled their while i drove , and after 5 minutes for no reason it jumped back up to 13-14 volts where it normally sits, and its been fine since.

what i am thinking is either abad spark plug or lose connection at the starter. havnt had time to check yet though with the weather conditions, so i figured i would get some tips from here as well. afterall, theirs someone out their thats probably delt with this before.

 

Sounds like a lose connection or a short. to me also..clean up and tighten up both posts to the bat. and the starter as well as ground wires coming from the block to the car....

 

ok well update time!

my starter ground wire was loose, so i tightened that well and that seemed to fix the low voltage problem. but i still have the low rpm jerk it does and i think it sounds like a backfire everyonce in a while. i was thinking a crapped out spark plug? im gonna check them tomorrow but anyone else agree or have another idea what is wrong?

 

Just start at the plugs and work your way back to the distributor/coil. Verify each component along the way and you should find the culprit.

 

ok i checked the 3 right plugs on the drivers side and they seemed fine, i didnt feel like getting under the car today with the rain we are having.. then i move onto the passenger side and before i even touch a spark plug, i notice one of the wires has a big welt in it looks like it burned through, and i think this is touching the body of the car causing the backfire i hear and maybe even the culprit for the low voltage i had that one night. im gonna go get it replaced and see if that fixes the problem.

 

Thats why you keep old spark plug wires when you put new ones on. They make great troubleshooting tools. That welt might be arching between wires, too.

 

One more thing, pop off the distributor cap and look for carbon tracking on the inside. If the wire is old enough to have a hole burnt through, you might have tracking inside your cap.

 

ok well i replaced the burnt wire, (when i pulled it off, it crumbled in half lol) but with the new wire, the car is running fine again! so go ahead and let this post be someones search results in the future

 

Do yourself a favor and install a complete set of new wires.

 

i wish i could, but they are all pretty new about 2 months old, this one just got to close to the manifold i guess lol. plus i dont have a job right now so im on a budget

 

open the hood tonight ...start the car..watch for arcing in the dark...