1992 Es300 Missing

[socalguy31]

I have a 1992 es300 and its missing. It doesn't have a check engine light on and its not blowing smoke out the exhuast. A guy told me its a valve but wouldn't the check engine light be on? What are the other possibilities could I rule out?

Thanks for the help!

[George_Jetson]

Start with the basics, such as when was the last tune-up? How do all the vac hoses look? Eliminate the normal things such as spark plugs, spark plug wires, cap and rotor, etc. Once you know that all these things are good, then run a compression check (this will tell you if there is a problem with the valves) and also check the injectors.

92 has a OBDI engine control, this is not sophisticated enough to catch most missing, 94 is when some autos started coming out with OBDII controls. OBDII will catch most missfires

[socalguy31]

Start with the basics, such as when was the last tune-up? How do all the vac hoses look? Eliminate the normal things such as spark plugs, spark plug wires, cap and rotor, etc. Once you know that all these things are good, then run a compression check (this will tell you if there is a problem with the valves) and also check the injectors.

92 has a OBDI engine control, this is not sophisticated enough to catch most missing, 94 is when some autos started coming out with OBDII controls. OBDII will catch most missfires

Hey George thanks for the reply.

I looked at the plugs and noticed the one against the firewall and closest to the driver. Its plug wire slips on and off the plug easily and doesnt snap onto the plug like the other wires do.

But if there was a problem with the valves wouldn't the check engine light come on?

[George_Jetson]

OBDI does not monitor anywhere near as many codes as OBDII, so You can very easily have a bad wire without having a code set. So I do not know why someone would tell you that there was a BAD valve unless they ran a compression check and or leak down check. I have several ASE certs including L1 advanced engine diagnostics, I assure you that checking the basics is the proper way to approach your current problem. This is of course assuming that you have not allready been working on the miss-fire problem. From what you have written, this is what I would suggest looking at first.