Ever loan a car to a friend down on their luck . . .
let's just say I kept him employed until he could get another car (took forever)
I just got my Camaro back, running and idling on 4 ?? the engine doesn't even "clear" at higher RPM's , radiator fluid looking like rusty bilge water, and issues with the anti-lock brakes, but let's worry about them later.

I know - the first step is to buy a service manual, but what's the quick and easy way to tell which CYL isn't firing??
I have a "TinyTach" which reads an idle reading on some plug wires, and about a 3,000 reading on others - - why would that be??
I'll try a compression test today, but the right 3 plugs look hard to reach.
Car has 100K miles, no knocks, no oil leaks.
Car does not smoke or blow steam.
Is my CatLitter Converter now hopelessly plugged ??

any advise and links welcome - TIA

 

Find an empty spray bottle and "mist" water onto each exhaust pipe as close to the head as you can with the engine running to see which are firing or not. But if a cylinder isn't finding SES light should be on.

 

Get yourself one of these: Infrared Thermometer with Laser Targeting, Non-Contact
You're going to find so many other things you can use it for too, such as....
Wow, the halogen floodlight bulbs in my ceiling can lights at home get up to 300 degrees!
Use it to tell when the wife's blood is about to boil.
Or use it to home in on the hot chicks at the bar.

 

Those two justify it enough.

 

try the ignition control module. its under the coils on a v6 not sure about the v8. that was causing my car to run on 4. its about $150 by me.

 

Thanks for the tips -
Sprayed water and saw #6 stays wet, right bank is so buried I can hardly tell.
Using a spare plug and wire, tested for spark at idle.
#6 does not spark - the rest do. Maybe it's idling on 5 ?? Sounds sick (not SICK!!)
How do you Ohm-out or bench test a coil??
Should I just go buy one??

Appreciate the help !

 

Cylinders 3 & 6 are on the same coil. So swap that one with either the 1-4 or 2-5 coil and see if the no spark follows the coil or stays with the #6 wire. If it follows the coil, buy a new one.

 

Well that was just too easy - - didn't even have to clean off the "bad" spark plug, drove it 20 miles to "burn it in" and clear out the "cat".

Thanks Camaro 69

Should I start a new thread to deal with the brakes??
Occasionally, and unpredictably, it feels like I have almost no brakes, and get "ABS INOP" and some kind of noise under the hood.

The car used to stop like a Disney ride.

 

You're welcome. Since you already started the brakes question, might as well continue here. Besides, the new thread title covers it!
Need to be a bit more specific. Does the brake pedal feel limp and almost go to the floor, or what?

 

I needed to keep the car covered while Florida had a Tropical Storm.
My back glass is missing and the car needs another top . . .

Brakes - they usually work great,
but when they go into "fail" mode the pedal feels like somebody dis-connected the vac booster and you are stepping on a rock. One of the tires seems to want to almost lock and the overall stopping effort seems to go to 15%

Wouldn't want to be in aggressive traffic when it decides to act-up
Scared the GF in a parking lot - she won't drive the car till it's fixed.
It's about time for a picture . . .