looking for mechanical advice on a '97 GT...

[lil drummer boy]

I'm not all that mechanically inclined and recently my stang has been riding like it's missing a cylinder. It hiccups when accelerating from a stop or when going up a hill when the engine is put under increased stress. It's well past due for a tune up and I assume it's either the plugs/plug wires, fuel filter or clogged injectors. I figured I'd start with replacing the plugs and plug wires, however when I started I found the spark plug wires were snug as can be and no matter how hard I pulled I couldn't get them to pop off of the plugs. Am I missing something? Is there a special tool I need to remove them or are they just stuck? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[ivy95gts]

Well, it doesn't seem as if anyone wants to offer help on this one, LoL. Well, there's a million little things that could be, but you have the right idea... just pull to get them off. It sounds like it COULD have a fouled wire, and the spark is having to jump a gap. Or possibly it is the fuel filter, which is a VERY likely option. Is it throwing a code at all? I mean, there's no way to tell you one thing or the other from just reading a post, looking at the car itself and getting all the information would be the only accurate way, but from what your saying I'd honestly say it's a fuel filter. How may miles are on it and when was the last time it was changed? Give me alittle more info and I'll see if I can't help out SOME way....

[bigwhitecobra]

Ditto.... with the exception of....If the wires are that hard to get off....looks like you problem is located in the general region. You may also want to check your coil packs....very likely cause.

[lil drummer boy]

Well I have a new problem now. Actually it's the same problem, but something I hadn't seen before. I changed out my plugs and plug wires. I changed them all one at a time so I wouldn't screw up the firing order. I changed the left side first and then the right side. Well all the plugs on the left side were dry as a bone as I'm guessing they should be, however all the plugs on the right side were covered in oil on the tops and bottoms. In fact, upon pushing the socket down onto the plug in the front right side oil spilled over out of the hole. Now I'm certain this isn't a good thing, but I went ahead and changed out all the plugs and plug wires anyway to see how it would run. One of the plugs did have a bent prong on it.

I started the car and it ran skiddish almost like the timing was off. It idled pretty rough and shook pretty good for a couple minutes and then it all evened out. After about 10 minutes of idling in the driveway the engine was running really smooth. I'm guessing it had burned the excess oil out of the cylinders? Anyway, I took the car out on a test run and drove it around for about 20 or 30 minutes to see if it would start missing again and it ran like a champ.

I was thinking that maybe I had bad piston rings and that was why oil got up on the plugs, but if that was the case wouldn't it have started missing again during the test drive? Or does it take a little while for the oil to foul the plugs and cause them to miss? Or am I possibly way off?

[bigwhitecobra]

Uh...how to put this gently?

A bent prong on the spark plug is NOT a good sign. I would suggest you do a compression check, soon(as in as soon as you read this), and hope that you still have all 8 pistons without holes in them or in the ring land. Something is very amiss. Oil on the plugs sounds like you have a valve cover gasket leak, which should not be leaking. Your PCV valve may have seized shut and excess pressure blew the gasket. As for a cause on the plug electrode......your guess is as good as mine, however it sounds like maybe a chunk of ring broke off and viola, screwed cyclinder. I hope this is not the case, but either way you need to do some serious investigating.

Hope all is as well as can be. Later.