missing??

[Pooh]

just got the car running from a 4 year sleep. runs good at idle and good when i give it gas from a stop. but when i am trying to keep a speed the car starts to jump almost feeling like a miss. I replaced the plug connectors and am working on this problem....any ideas what may be causing this.

[Scott K]

What year, and model, engine size does the car have?

[Pooh]

good idea suppoes that whould help trouble shoot my problem. its a 94 grand am, 2.3 liter quad 4,

[Jeremy airjer W]

Does it happen at any constant speed or does it do it more over say 45mph?

What happens if you put the transmission in 3rd gear instead of drive? (assuming it's a four speed/overdrive.

[Pooh]

i know it did it last night at highway speed 65mph or so i havent noticed it at 30mph. it also seems a little slow on the take off from a dead stop but will go fine once its rolling. I havent driven this car much as i just got licence plates n tabs for it yesterday, and never owned a small car (especially a 4cyl) so i dont know what to expect out of this thing

[Pooh]

airjer, i cant get it to do it at speeds less than 35. it does feel like its a miss, and not the trasmition slipping. is there a way to check the coils? the plus looked good, and so did the conectors. what are the chances im not getting good conection through the plug connector?

[Jeremy airjer W]

I was thinking it was the torque converter engaging and disengaging.

What happens when you power break it?

[Pooh]

doesnt do it. it seems to do it when the car is working to gain speed under a load. cause as sood as it shifts down to pick up speed it stops. but if ur trying to keep speed and come to a hill is when u notice it. car has to work to get up the hill so u give it more gas and thats when it starts. give it more gas to shift down n it goes away.

[Jeremy airjer W]

Sounds like your describing a secondary ignition break down. I see you already replaced the boots, how did the plugs look? Do they have any carbon tracking on the porcelain?

The coil tower, the white plastic part that the spark plug boots attach to, is a pretty common problem on these. They can cause the symptom you are describing. I wouldn't hesitate to replace it as the next step.

[Pooh]

plugs looked good. very little discoloration on the porcelen and a dark colored tip. one post on the coil tower had a touch or corosion on it, which i clean up with some wire wool, that particular post also had a bad boot. i guess i never thought of this... was the boot burned up cause of the coil being bad or? thanks Airjer for your help.

[Pooh]

dumped 4 plugs in it for hits n giggles and it helped with acceleration and idle and overall running but, still jumps when accelerating slowly from 30-60mph. doesnt seem to be a missfire. not sure what to think now. gears are P-R-N-D-2-1 cant put it in 3rd gear.

When u say coil tower are u talking about the coils too or just the tower itself? the tower is discolored with a soot like look on the outside but the inside is nice n clean, looks good to a set of eyes not really knowing what im looking at.

[Jeremy airjer W]

The coil tower is just the plastic part. Typically when the coils go bad ther is no spark and two dead cylinders.