Some help please

[HotWheelz]

Ok, here's the deal. For some odd reason, whenever I'm out on the highway and my car hit's a hill, it will start sputtering as if it is missing, and sometimes there will even be a "pop" sound coming from the exhaust like a small backfire. Now around town, and on flat roads, it generally won't do this, which eliminates about everything I though might be wrong. My best guess is that I have a bad plug or wire, causing one cylinder to miss, and thus overloading it with fuel, causing the popping sound. But then again, seeing as how my car is a '94, it's quite possible that one of about 4 million sensors on the damn thing has gone bad. Has anyone out there had this happen to them, or heard of something like it? Any help anyone can give me would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[hockeyman]

Are you getting an SES light when it sputters?
If so, get it scanned to find the problem.

Yes, there are about 4 million sensors on our cars, but buying one and installing it to see if it will solve your problem will cost you trillions until you get to the right part.

If no SES light, then try the simple things first. Get new plugs and wires, change the fuel filter, change the air filter if it's been there awhile, etc.

-Marc

[HotWheelz]

Yeah, the SES light comes on, but I really cant use that because it's one of the idiot lights the DEFINES idiot lights. It goes on and off all the time, and has since I bought the car. The guy I bought it from told me that he and his son had the same problem, even though there was nothing wrong with the car.

Even though my light is messed up, would getting it scanned help anyway?

[hockeyman]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by HotWheelz:
Even though my light is messed up, would getting it scanned help anyway?<hr></blockquote>

Yeah, I would. If it's flashing, it's probably trying to tell you something.

Autozone will scan it for free, as opposed to a GM dealer that charges about $68 to scan it.

-Marc

[crazy_bird]

When your computer senses something is amiss it triggers the SES light (Service Engine Soon) to alert you of a potential problem. Unfortunately, because OBD-II is so strict in its control mechanisms, it often tells the computer to compensate for "problems" that are actually caused by modifications. I´ve had the same problem with that damn ligh since i Bought the car also... that light can get really anoyng

[camaro_speedemon]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by crazy_bird:
When your computer senses something is amiss it triggers the SES light (Service Engine Soon) to alert you of a potential problem. Unfortunately, because OBD-II is so strict in its control mechanisms, it often tells the computer to compensate for "problems" that are actually caused by modifications. I´ve had the same problem with that damn ligh since i Bought the car also... that light can get really anoyng<hr></blockquote>

The only modifications I've heard that through SES lights are cams and cheep highflow cats.

Goto autozone and get the code scanned. If the car's been doing it since you bought the car and the lights been flashing on and off since you bought the car, go get it scanned. It might be whats wrong.

BTW, why would you buy a car that has an SES light on? The only way I would buy a car with that is if it had some major cam or something...and that's a maybe.

[HotWheelz]

The only reason I bought the car is because I was told everything was fine. The light likes to seem to come on whenever I hit a hard bump, and go back off the same way. I'd dealt with SES lights before that kept coming on, even when there was nothing wrong, so I figured it was just the light itself messed up. And in fact, this is actually the first engine problem I have had with the car, and I've put over 36,000 miles on it since I bought it, so I don't really think there was a problem with it when I bought it.

As for the code, I'm going to try to get it scanned as soon as I can. We used to have an Autozone in my town, but it closed down about a year ago, and the only thing we have left is an O'Reillys, and they won't do it. The closest one is now an hour away, and I haven't felt like taking my car out on the highway that far just to have it scanned yet, due to the way it's been running. Hopefully my mechanic can do it for fairly cheap.

Although, as an update, I managed to get a chance to check my spark plugs yesterday, and they definitely need to be replaced. The way the pkugs are burnt makes it look like the car is overfueling, so I'm thinking th emost likely problem is that the O2 sensors have went bad. And since I'm pretty sure these are the FACTORY O2 sensors, that would mean that they have over 142,000 miles on them. I definitely think they need changed.

At least, I'm really hoping that's the problem. Sound about right?