I just replaced the spark plug wires, cap and rotor in my car because it wasnt even making it up hills at 45mph and was shaking pretty bad when just sitting there. Now its accelerating better but sometimes when i step on the gas it stalls a second before kicking in. I had some work done on the VATS system a while back and the security light has been stuck on ever since. Could that have something to do with it? Someone else told me it might be my fuel injectors or fuel filter?

 

Could be the fuel system or the ignition system. I don't know much about the VATS, so couldn't tell you about that. Go out there at night and pull a plug, put the plug back in the wire and have you, or someone else hold it to a good ground in the engine bay. I usually use one of the bolts that holds my plennum on. Now crank the motor and see if you have a good consistant spark. if not, you have a bad coil.

Replace the fuel filter anyway, just because it probably needs it.

 

Plugs/Wires/Cap/Rotor/Fuel Filter is just scratching the tip of the iceburg as far as a tuneup goes. Keep going on your track, and finish the tuneup- read this message for all the details: https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=162251

And along with that tuneup, you might also want to clean your IAC pintle & passageway. Do a search on this forum for "clean IAC" and you'll find tons of messages.

 

the cap/rotor and spark plug wires set me back 34 bucks so it wasnt too bad (from autozone). What am i lookin price-wise for the rest of it?

 

Uh; depends on prices in your area? Beats the hell out of me, you have to go looking. Did you read the link?

 

yup i have it bookmarked and im researching parts prices. Im thinking most of this stuff is pretty cheap hopefully. Im new to car engine repair but very willing to learn so hopefully i can figure out how to "find" and "install" this stuff myself.

 

That sounds like a great idea. You can find just about anything you want cheaply - you just have to know where to look.

I used to have a similar situation with my car a couple years ago. It was with my coil. The coil was fine, but the wiring inside the weatherpack connectors was so bad that it stopped sending voltage from the coil, causing my car to stall at idle. My guess is that it might be ingnition related too.

 

well thats why i thought it might be the VATS. cause i had it repaired twice at two different repair shops and it cost me over a grand for all the repairs and now the security light is stuck on. I cant find the VATS myself so im wondering if they bypassed it crappily or something and maybe thats causing ignition problems.

 

all the spark plug wires, the cap and rotor are all Midas made parts.. not sure if thats good or not?