Well i changed the oil today, and when i was finished i fired up the car to let it ide for a bit and make sure nothing was leaking and everything was fine. So i got in the car, put it in reverse and started backing out like i always do. after about 10 feet or so of backing up, it starts running like shit. It barely holds idle and when i hold the revs around 2000, it misses and stutters a lot. It almost feels like a big vaccum leak but i checked everything adn nothing seems to be leaking. I pulled the plugs to see if maybe one or two of them had fouled but they all look good. Any ideas on what it could be?

 

I know this is a rather "basic" question, but how many quarts did you put in?

It does sound like something is fouled though or a sensor is shot. Nothing foreign happened to fall into the oil fill hole by any chance did it?

 

I put in the 4.8 quarts or whatever the manual says, so its not low oil. and nothing fell into the oil fill hole. While the oil was draining, i put clamps on all the vaccum lines because with the new turbo, some of the lines were blowing off of the nipple at boost. I checked all the lines though and everything is still connected. I hope its nothing serious, the car is my DD.

 

Okay. So you did double check to make sure you didn't disconnect anything or anything is kinked?

I didn't so much think it was low oil, but possibly too much oil. You put the right amount in though, so you should be alright there.

You could try doing a leak test and compression test, to verify the cylinders are okay and none of them are having trouble firing. Alot of times, a very lumpy idle and bad performance through the RPM range usually leads to a cylinder being dead due to spark/fuel issues, or a valve being stuck open by a foreign object.

Does the car run like shit only at idle up to the 2,000 rpm range?

 

Checked everything, nothing is disconnected or kinked.

Oil shouldnt be the problem, i changed it the exact same way as i always have with no problems.

I plan on doing a boost leak test before the weekend is over. What do i need to do a compression check?

im thinking its a spark or fuel problem but im no expert.

the car runs like shit all the time.

 

If I put money on it I would say ignition system and most likely a plug wire fouled out.... Simple as that no need to go doing compression test or any of that shit..

 

might try some new plugs first, if nothing after that, new wires. hopefully that fixes it. Any other ideas?

 

id go with bagabones.... your coil or a wire might be on the fritz...

 

Yeah. Always start with the cheapest possible solution and go from there. As you mentioned, try the plugs first. Then the wires next. It could be a bad plug and/or wire that's causing the car to run poorly/misfire.

 

Would a bad plug/wire cause it to run bad all of a sudden like that or does it gradualy get worse?