car doesn't idle well, wth is goin on?

[luvinthebass 5,000+ posts]

Assuming this is your engine.....its the only one on google images, but it should help you out.

I circled what the spark plug wires are. You can see the three small red circles are where the wires plug onto the spark plugs. Notice they run back to a black box where I have also circled. That is your distributor. You can find where every spark plug wire is from just picking one wire and tracing where it goes.

Once you know what your dealing with, you can then go to Auto Zone or somewhere of the same genre, and tell them you need spark plugs, and wires, and you will need a "gapper". A gapper gaps the spark plugs to the correct gap that your engine needs. If you dont gap them right then your car will run like crap.

Or just ask if one of the Auto Zone employees or whoever can gap them to the correct gap.

You will also need one of these bad boys...

These little puppies are spark plug sockets. You will need either of these to get the old plugs out and to get the new ones in. If you know someone whos got a lot of tools then they should have one you could borrow.

Now that you got everything, you can start by replacing plugs and wires.

Start with whichever wire you want, pull it off the spark plug and then pull it off the distributor. You may have to give it a good tug. Now take that spark plug socket and your ratchet and you will prolly need an extension. Take the spark plug out and replace it with a new one. Same with the wire, one key thing about this part is that not all of the wires are the same length. Take the old wire and look through the new wires and find a new one that is the same length as the old one. Once you find a good match, put the new one on.

Continue until all of them are done. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

I cant be held responsible if you mess up, just be careful with the plugs as they can break easily, and do one wire one plug at a time. Naturally, do the corresponding wire and plug one at a time. Dont mix up the wires, as your car will misfire even more.

yes that is what my car looks like under the hood exactly, thanks for clarifying things as well //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif, i will try this out, wish me luck //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/uhoh.gif.c07307dd22ee7e63e22fc8e9c614d1fd.gif

 

[seth350 10+ year member]

Not a problem, it will save you some money doing it yourself. Any questions just ask //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[2000LaDe 10+ year member]

my truck does this too. i have 3 external regulated alternators from iraggi and it only does this at idle when its in drive though. when in neutral its fine. might be my 123" long belt LOL and trying to go around all those pulleys.... i need to raise my idle up but i dont know how to do it on a fuel injected vehicle....

 

[seth350 10+ year member]

my truck does this too. i have 3 external regulated alternators from iraggi and it only does this at idle when its in drive though. when in neutral its fine. might be my 123" long belt LOL and trying to go around all those pulleys.... i need to raise my idle up but i dont know how to do it on a fuel injected vehicle....

lol no that belt wouldn't make your engine idle rough //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Do you have an old body style chevy? Like an 88-98? My 92 and my current 95 Silverado have always done that. Ive been trying to figure out why cause I hate it.

Im going to start with the fuel filter, then move on to coil, then distributor & cap.

From there if its not fixed, who knows....

Wish I knew what to tell you man, but we are both in the same boat lol