My Car Missing ?

[Coolwazabi 10+ year member]

what does it mean when a mechanic says "your car is missing a little" and i don't mean missing as in its not there..

i got another problem...

when i gas it a little "from stop" its kinda jurks as if it was going to shut down on me... then once i reach about 15mph its rides smooth... is that what the mechanic meant ? and what are causes of it missing in that range of 0-15mph ?

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[BASSMEKANIK 10+ year member]

what does it mean when a mechanic says "your car is missing a little" and i don't mean missing as in its not there..
i got another problem...

when i gas it a little "from stop" its kinda jurks as if it was going to shut down on me... then once i reach about 15mph its rides smooth... is that what the mechanic meant ? and what are causes of it missing in that range of 0-15mph ?

it could be a number of things... plugs , wires , coil... really depends on what kind of car it is.

 

[Prowler573 5,000+ posts]

"Missing" is a generic term for misfiring.

This can have a multitude of potential causes, however...

 

[Duke 10+ year member]

I would change the spark plugs and spark plug wires. Also, get one of those little gap gauges to make sure your spark plugs have the proper size of gap.

 

[Polecat 5,000+ posts]

first question....what kind of car?

 

[Coolwazabi 10+ year member]

1979 cadillac... v8 7.0 liter 425... um... 2 door rear wheel drive...

whats the worse case scnerieo ? could it be when i gave my car a tune up and not wire the cap and plugs right ?

 

[azbass 5,000+ posts]

what does it mean when a mechanic says "your car is missing a little" and i don't mean missing as in its not there..
i got another problem...

when i gas it a little "from stop" its kinda jurks as if it was going to shut down on me... then once i reach about 15mph its rides smooth... is that what the mechanic meant ? and what are causes of it missing in that range of 0-15mph ?

ask him to explain it, duh

 

[Coolwazabi 10+ year member]

ask him to explain it, duh

i took it to a guy who only knew how to adjust carbs... so he knew what the problem was just didn't know what it could be or how to fix it...

 

[maldecido33 10+ year member]

then take it to someone who knows?...

 

[Coolwazabi 10+ year member]

then take it to someone who knows?...

....

i thought someone here would know or have a similar experience //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gif

 

[billabongcr 5,000+ posts]

what does it mean when a mechanic says "your car is missing a little" and i don't mean missing as in its not there..
i got another problem...

when i gas it a little "from stop" its kinda jurks as if it was going to shut down on me... then once i reach about 15mph its rides smooth... is that what the mechanic meant ? and what are causes of it missing in that range of 0-15mph ?

your car was jerking because under acceleration is the time when fuel is being dumped into your cylinders, they dont all go up and down at the same time, they are offset, and the time your feeling it jerk is when the cylinder that is misfiring, that piston is at the top of its extension when the spark should ignite the fuel and push the piston back down. thats not happening. so the force from the rest of the 7 pistons on their cycles is the only thing keeping you going. get it fixed. its possibly scaring your cylinder walls and giving you worse gas mileage than your already getting.

your not feeling it while your maintaining speed because its not as rough of a time as while your accelerating, but its still happening.

 

[Coolwazabi 10+ year member]

your car was jerking because under acceleration is the time when fuel is being dumped into your cylinders, they dont all go up and down at the same time, they are offset, and the time your feeling it jerk is when the cylinder that is misfiring, that piston is at the top of its extension when the spark should ignite the fuel and push the piston back down. thats not happening. so the force from the rest of the 7 pistons on their cycles is the only thing keeping you going. get it fixed. its possibly scaring your cylinder walls and giving you worse gas mileage than your already getting.
your not feeling it while your maintaining speed because its not as rough of a time as while your accelerating, but its still happening.

THANK YOU.. maybe i'll buy one of ur MT's now..//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/eyebrow.gif.fe2c18d8720fe8c7eaed347b21ea05a5.gif ... thats what is happening exactly... and is 5mpg bad for a 425 ?

 

[billabongcr 5,000+ posts]

THANK YOU.. maybe i'll buy one of ur MT's now..//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/eyebrow.gif.fe2c18d8720fe8c7eaed347b21ea05a5.gif ... thats what is happening exactly... and is 5mpg bad for a 425 ?

no problem. it may be something as simple as your distributor got a good jolt as you went over a set of train tracks or hit a pothole and it came loose (there is a little metal tab that rotates in a cirlce inside the distributor, and as that tab spins, it makes contact with 8 separate metal tabs, this tells what cylinder when to fire) so maybe its just not making contact with one of them. or maybe it got wet. happens to me all the time when i go playin in the mud. (but if it got wet, it would have gone away). distributor is behind your motor, trace your plug wires back and they'll all meet up on the distributor. if you can move it around, thats your prob. take it off, reinstall it. (ontop of the distributor cap there will be 1 more wire than the amount of cylinders you have, so 9 if you have a V8)

maybe your distributor is loose.

maybe one of your plug wires got pinched.

maybe you have a dirty spark plug(s).

^^those are 3 easy, cheap things to check/replace before you take it to a shop for an *** raping.

and as far as your mpg goes, if your gettin 5 after youve been having trouble, then yes, thats bad. as far as thats what youve always gotten, it may be because of the way you drive. if i take it easy on my truck i can get like 15-16, but i like to give it gas and drive fast. so i get 11-12 usually. if you wannt get better gas mileage, lighten up on the pedal. assuming everything mechanically is working perfectly.

 

[billabongcr 5,000+ posts]

i made a few edits^^

 

[tommyk90 5,000+ posts]

You could also have a bad fuel pump or a dirty fuel filter. My truck had the same problem once as your car does now, and I replaced the fuel pump and filter and it fixed the problem.