How can you tell if your running on all 8 cylinders or less? i heard that i may be running on just 7 because its an old car...i was just wondering if there is an easy way to find out and if so fix it

 

Check the exhaust manifolds when you first start it up and see if one area is cold, indicating a cylinder not firing properly.
The other method is to pull a wire off the distributor one at a time to see which one makes no change in the engine. That will show you as well.
Be careful on the second one. I shock the hell out of myself everytime I go to put the wire back on.
It's best to pull the wire while running and notice if there is a change then turn off the motor and reconnect. Then try the next one.
Also besure they are on the right places on the distributor.
I had a bad miss for a week on my winter beater after changing wires. Duh!, two wires (IIRC 3 & 5) were backwards. It didn't backfire or anything, just ran on "kind of" 8 cylinders.
Good luck.
Jp

 

thanks I'll give it a try

 

It might actually be easier to just pull the injector connector to test for the dead cylinder. I prefer to stay away from spark plug wires or the distributor on a running engine. ;-)

The injector connectors are rather easy to get to and disconnect, even on a hot engine. And no distributor cover to remove.

 

What are your symptoms?

 

Chicken! LOL!