kb9mnm

I have a 92 with the 2.2. I have been reading alot of posts about this issue and am getting alot of different answers. My problem is this: WHen I bought the car it ran fine, however it was sluggish. Then, on occasion, it would run rough. I would "goose" it and it wouldclear up. When it would start running rough, at around 50mph, I could feel it surging. Anyway, then it would run fine for a few days then start doing it again. Now it does it all the time, no matter what. Once it gets going, it runs fine, but idle is horrible. I just changed the plugs, they were the original ones (92,000 mi) and cleaned the IAC valve, which was all gummed up. No Check Engine Light yet, and I have not taken it to see if there are any codes. I dont want to start throwing parts at it, they aint cheap(for my wallet anyway ). Any good guesses and places to start? Thanks very much!

kb9mnm

Could it be the O2 sensor? At one point, I could smell alot of gas whille it was trying to idle. However, I havent smelled any since that day.

kb9mnm

Update: went outside to see what I could make of this. Sprayed some carb cleaner into the intake tube. No noticable difference other than once in a while it would "catch" and seem to fire on all 4 cylinders then go back to running rough. Alot of black soot coming out of the tail pipe. So that tells me it's running rich. It runs this way from a cold start.

montscougar

o2 sensor

moto

cheap on wallet, put in some gas dry first, be sure there is no water in gas. codes may direct you to the problem, but since you have none yet try the gas dry!