Hi there,

My 99 has been giving me a lot of headache lately. It is driving rough and noisy, has little power and cuts out a lot.

Just changed the spark plugs...

Still having trouble. Has no power on hills - almost stalls out. Pressing the accelerator receives no response, until it suddenly gets power, which produces a loud "pop" or bang noise on the passenger side almost right under foot.

Mechanic said only three cylinders are functioning well, and the sensors need cleaned. Does that sound right? Any other ideas?

 

Need to check plugs, and check to make sure that the compression is ok on all cylinders, but from the sounds of it you have a dead cylinder or SUPER old *** plugs.

 

Like I mentioned, I just changed the spark plugs. The mechanic looked it over again yesterday and is still telling me that it has only three cylinders properly functioning. He said he needs to remove the engine and check the non-functioning cylinders. He thinks it may be a valve. Does that make sense?

 

Check to make sure you put the right wires back onto to the right plugs. It didn't use to do this before the spark plug change?

 

With three bad cylinders a compression check is a must. No reason to pump time and money into a bad engine.

 

Thanks for the replies so far.

I watched them change the plugs, and they did it one at a time, so I don't think they got the wires mixed. And yes, it did it before the spark plug change.

How does one check the compression?

I went to another mechanic today. He at first diagnosed it as running on three cylinders, but then said it is the Mass Air Flow Sensor. He borrowed one temporarily from another vehicle, and it seemed to run okay. He told me that the sensor was causing other things to malfunction, including the cylinders... Does that make sense at all?

Sorry, I am not like some on here that seem to know so much :) Should I try cleaning the MAF? Should I clean the throttle body sensor too? Would that help at all? Or just replace the MAF? Thanks again!

 

Also, is there a particular code reader that is recommended, that sounds like something good to get a hold of.

 

wow they way your talking it sounds like the bottom end is going. i have never heard of a mass air causing that.

 

Could be A\F ratio is messed up, but I would look in to bad connection with one of your spark plugs, could be a fouled injector as well or a clogged cat converter.

 

If it is the MAF sensor, the truck should run fine with it unplugged.

You will need to have it scanned and list all the DTC's (diagnostic trouble codes) here for help. If its hitting on 3 holes. you could have a jumped cam chain