QuestionQUESTION: I'm not very computer literate so i couldn't figure out how to respond without putting it in this area again, sorry. The moisture on the plug was gas,and its seems to be dry now. dad seems to think that the water from the tail pipe was condensation and it isn't low on coolant. We took it to my dads friend thats an older semi-retired mechanic. He said he would check on it within a day or two but he feels like its a safe bet that its timing has slipped. He said it can happen just like that on those high milage cars and that its a very expensive repair that he doesn't do. I'm still holding on to a shred of hope that he will call me and say the cataletic converter is clogged up, that was just a thought. Thank you for the advice, we checked first thing this morning. judy
ANSWER: Hi Judy,
i don't believe that the timing will have 'slipped' because the parts that control timing are connected by a steel chain rather than a timing belt. I would wonder if you might not have a leaky fuel injector on cylinder #3 since you aren't loosing coolant? That would expain a wet spark plug on only one cylinder. The other possibility is a problem with a valve on that cylinder which would be revealed by a compression reading of it, and compare to the other cylinders. It should be 100 psi with all the plugs removed and the engine warm, and readings between cylinders +/- 25%.
I will be interested to learn what he finds out.
Roland
PS I believe the reason you couldn't use the "thank/rate" tab is that you read my answer off of the home page, rather than by finding it after you got an email from Allexperts telling you that I had prepared an answer for you. If you will look at that email then you will get the answer quickly and also have a route to respond shown on that answer page. I note this because on my log sheet it shows that you haven't picked up my first answer directly, yet.
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QUESTION: Hi Roland, picked up the van today. Bad news, its only firing on four cylinders. Ben thinks it blew number 3 and the one opposite it.He said theres no way to know for sure the exact cause without pulling both heads. With the tranny already weak theres just no way I can put the money into it, even if I had it. This is really heart wrenching for me, my husband bought me the van about 4 years ago and I've enjoyed it so much but I don't have the knowledge or money to fix it. Thanks for your help, judy
AnswerHi Judy,
I'm sorry to learn about the diagnosis. It sounded like it might just be one cylinder rather than 2, based upon the code and the symptom. But if you have to get into the engine for the repair and the money isn't there it probably isn't relevant whether it is one side or both. I hope that you will be able to resolve your transportation needs economically. Thanks for letting me know.
Roland
