Coming home from work tonight my car was working absolutely perfect. I stopped by Sonic and waited in the drive through for almost 25 min. I left for home got 4 miles down the road with everything still working perfectly when I stopped at a light. After being stopped for 30 secs the car started to idle roughly like it was struggle to get air and started softly shaking consistently. The exhaust started to sound choppy instead of being a steady rumble. It went in gear fine but the acceleration was choppy and the engine felt weird like it was being chocked. I managed to get it home. There was absolutely no smoke but I checked out my exhaust while it was running and the fumes smelt exactly like someone had set off fireworks. Like that gun powdery rotten egg kinda smell. I turned it off and checked to see if would start again and it didn't have trouble starting at all but continues to have that chocking idle. I have no idea what this could be and it's stressing me out.. I don't know if I should drive it to a mechanic because I don't want to the make the problem worse getting there so I'm probably going to have to call AAA for a tow truck. Any ideas at all? Thanks.

 

was it overheating by any chance? I have a problem where mine overheats if I idle too long. after it happened the other day, I'm gonna have to change out my oil because it cooked it.

 

I really don't think it overheated because my gauge was steady right at 220. I actually think it might have something to do with a spark plug or cylinder because I started it this morning and it smelt like gas fumes under the hood and in the exhaust but they're so far under there I can't check to see if something's wrong with one.

 

Anyone know if the symptoms are similar to having a bad spark plug or a cylinder not firing?

 

It might have something to do with your transmission fluid

 

I have the same problem with a 93 with 3.4L. I also think it is ignition related, but haven;t solved it yet. Did you figure yours out yet?

 

Start the engine at night and look under the hood with NO LIGHTS anywhere. See if you can see any sparks flying around your plug wires, you could have a leaker shorting out. Also, track down your fuel pressure regulator and pull off the vacuum line. If there's any gas inside the line, the regulator is bad. Either of these can cause the engine to run rich, if that's what you're experiencing too.
By the way, I hope the OP realizes that he could have parked the car, jumped out, gone inside and ordered, and probably made it home in that same 25 minutes that was wasted waiting in line?

 

if you smelled sulfur or rotten egg then i would say it sounds like a plugged catalytic converter.

 

Some fuels have sulfur additives. If the engine isn't burning it completely (such as the engine running rich), then the cat grabs it and releases it as hydrogen sulfide (your rotten egg smell). It doesn't mean the cat is bad. Since different gas companies use different formulations, you can try buying gas at a different station and see if the smell goes away.

 

thanks. i stand corrected.