At times, usually never when I start the car up since it's running at a high idle, when I come to a stop on the road, my RPMs will drop and I'll notice my oil pressure start to bounce around a little bit between straight up and down and then to the low side. I can even feel the motor running rougher. Anyone know what could be causing this? I just changed 6 of my spark plugs (I was having trouble getting to 5 and 8, and I had to stop before I get any more pissed off). And I also just picked up a new fuel filter to put on soon.

 

Anyone?

 

I'd work on getting a full set of new plugs installed, and check the wires while you have them off.

 

I've been trying, but those damn AIR tubes are just making it harder. I can't really come up from the bottom either because there's no room to get the ones I need. My left arm has two big bruises side by side from fighting with those AIR tubes.

Could two spark plugs really make THAT much of a difference? I'm not saying I'm going to leave those two old ones in, I'm just curious.

 

just get rid of the AIR system, it will clean up your engine bay, its one less pully, and it will make it easier to change plugs. there is a tech article on it. and no you won't get any codes of any sort. its just my suggestion

 

Thanks for the suggestions, but there's still the main problem that was stated in the original post. Usually when in drive (haven't had the problem while in park) if I come to a stop is when the problem happens. My oil pressure will bounce (by bounce I mean you literally see the needle fluctuating back and forth) between straight up and down, and to the left. I can feel and hear the idle get rough. My tach is problem doing the same thing as my oil pressure gauge, just haven't really paid any attention to it.

 

Yes. One failing spark plug (wide gap, glazed electrodes, cracked insulator, fouled tip) will cause a random mifire and a bit of idle hunting. Two failing spark plugs will cause a noticable misfore and idle hunting/drop. If the oil pressure just happens to be on the verge of opening the oil pressure relief spring, the oil pressure will fluctuate in unison with the idle RPM change.

You could also have an electrical problem, but until you get a complete set of good plugs installed, you'll never be able to remove that cause as a possibility.

If you try a standard 5/8" spark plug socket, you can use a 3/4" regular depth socket and ratchet to drive the hex on the plug socket and get teh little extra length you need for the #5. I happen to have a plug socket that is just a bit longer than most, and can use a flex head ratchet to get #5.



You can access #8 in a similar manner, but use an open end or box wrench to turn the plug socket. That's why there is a hex on the end.

 

Actually, the problem with #5 was getting the boot off, that sucker did not want to come off. I know I could get to it with a wrench, but I couldn't get my hand on it well enough from the top or bottom to get the boot off the plug.

I'm not sure how I'll get to #8, I can't even get my hand down to the boot, let alone a wrench.

 

Man, I know exactly how you feel. I'm able to get all of them but 7 and 8 from the top (however, that was only once, and on a good day) - normally, I just resign myself to blocking the car up and crawling underneath. I use a 5/8" spark plug socket and a 3/8" ratchet; #5 is the worst one from either top OR bottom because of the !@#$-ing O&sup2 sensor.

I'm sure you've heard all of this before, but IMHO it's considerably easier to access all plugs from underneath if you get the car high enough. Plug boots, on the other hand, can sometimes be as challenging as the plugs themselves.

Anyway, good luck with swappin' 'em out.

- 89_IROC