took my car to the mechanic cuz i was having power issues and suspected a bad installation job of the alternator that a friend put in a few weeks ago. was ok after a lil belt tightening and realignment, but the mechanic found that one of the four cylinders isn't firing. the car is an 83 240 turbo wagon. the turbo is the official volvo kit that came out in 84, has almost 160k miles on it. since its a busy time of the year, the mechanic said he wouldn't have time to look at it to really determine what the problem even is, and didn't go beyond the "dead cylinder" explanation, except to say that it still has compression. as a first-time car owner, my car knowledge level is growing, but i don't know jack about what could be the problem or how much this is going to cost me, and was wondering if the kickin' people at brickboard could help me out. is this the end of the engine? thanks!

ryan

If you have a "dead" cylinder the engine will run VERY roughly, especially at idle. It will shake like hell at idle, especially a 4-cyl, where (obviously) a bad cyl. is 25% of the engine. So, does this describe your situation?

More likely is that you have a bad but not dead cylinder, giving some low-speed roughness, and overall lack of power. If that cylinder's compression is up to normal, then fuel and/or spark are really the only other things that can be wrong. Some things to try:

Pull the plugs and compare...what does the bad cylinder's plug look like? If it looks at all different, get a new plug (heck, get a full set for about $6, NGK BP6ES) and install. Remove the bad cyl spark plug wire and swap with a known good one from another engine. Pop off the distributor cap and carefully examine the contacts inside...all look the same? Wiggle and try to firm up all the fuel injector wiring plugs where they connect to the injectors; do this while the engine is running and see if it smooths out.

The object is to check out the things that only affect individual cylinders. Parts like ignition coil and its connections, vacuum lines, fuel filter, fuel pressure regulator and such affect all cylinders and wouldn't cause just one to go south.
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Bob (81-244GL B21F, 83-244DL B23F, 94-944 B230FD plus grocery-getter Dodge minivan, MGB, and numerous old motorcycles)

Yeah, and I would add that if you azre really operating without one cylinder, then your car must be running like total crap! First, be fairly sure that the diagnosis is correct and follow the steps the other guys suggested, if so. I wonder if in the process of all the jacking around with the alternator maybe you even broke one of the first couple of spark plugs or wires. Pull the boot and check that out first.

If it is as simple as no spark to one cylinder it would seem that changing the rotor and distributor cap along with (at least) one sparkplug wire and plug would probably solve the problem.

I say "if" it is as simple... not knowing exactly what the mechanic told you. If he said no spark in one cylinder it would seem not to be a big deal. If he said no "fire" perhaps he meant no fuel to the cylinder which would be a fuel delivery problem.

Randy

It could be a lot of things... Anything from a pulled off vacuum line on the intake manifold to a dead spark plug....

Might be a bad distributor cap, plug wire, plug, or injector which is clogged.

With just one clyinder down the engine is hardly dead, meaning that you should look into the fixing rather than the junking.

It would help if you said what cly was bad..... They are from the front 1,2,3 and 4.

Some vac lines lead to clys directly on the manifold... A white looking spark plug electrode would indicate a lean fuel mix which could be from a vac line off its place, or a clogged injector...

A poor working injector can still spray a pattern which will act like a bad spark plug at idle speed....

Do you have lack of power at all speeds, or just idle? Mac