Resolved 420A Rough idle and runs rough

[Frank_The_Tank]

ok so i just bought this a couple weeks ago. the guy said that he'd replaced the radiator cause the temp shot up one day when he started it and then all was good. but when i got it the coolant was way low and sucked up a lot of coolant before it held steady at the full line. he said that plugs are pretty new, but i haven't had the chance to check them myself so i'll get back to you on that.

but on to the problem, the idle is a little rough, it's kind of like the timing is just a little off or there's an occasional misfire or something like that. also, it likes to run rough in 3rd if it's under 2300-2500 rpms, especially going uphill. the car will jump around and shake real bad like i was pulsing the gas pedal but i'm keepin it steady.

please help me out this is my first dsm, it's go no mods whatsoever i only just noticed it a few days ago. i changed the oil this past weekend, put a k&n filter on and used mobile 1 high mileage 5w-30. i don't know if that matters or not, but i didn't notice this until after the oil change. but this is also my first stick and i've only been driving it a couple weeks so it's possible that i just didn't notice it cause i was still kinda rough with the clutch and wasn't real smooth yet.

 

[TotalEclipse21]

What you are saying makes me think of a blown head gasket, from past experiences or maybe just a vaccum leak. Is there any smoke coming out of the tail pipe at anytime; startup, warmed-up, idle, while driving?

 

[Frank_The_Tank]

i haven't noticed any smoke, but i haven't been watching for it. there's none out of the engine bay, i definitely would've noticed that, but i haven't seen any out of the exhaust. this also happens a little bit in 4th gear and today on my way home from work my cel came on for a couple seconds while i was going up a hill in 3rd, but then it turned back off once the road flattened out. it was flashing, if that means anything. in my last car the cel was either on or off, it never flashed, so i don't know if that's supposed to mean something special. and with a blown head gasket, would it feel like i were running on 3 cylinders instead of 4? just curious, something for me to watch out for

oh and i just remembered that when i turned it off when i got home, i smelled gas so i think it's running rich or there's gas that isn't being burned. hope this helps

 

[Frank_The_Tank]

ok so i went to autozone and they hooked into my system and the reader said i've got a misfire in cylinder 2. so the guy said that it's either a plug, a wire, or a coil but that a single bad coil is very rare. so i guess i need plugs and wires. thanks for the help though, i really appreciate it!