| About a month ago I was on the freeway at about 65 mph cruise speed when I felt a significant "thump" in the engine. I wasn't sure what it was at the time, but the engine seemed to have an obvious "miss". I checked the coil connectors and while they were brittle with age, they all seemed to be making contact. The miss has been intermittent since then (mostly missing) and today I got around to making some repairs. I ordered a new set of NGK spark plugs, coil connectors and one ignition coil. My thinking as that when I pulled the plugs, the one that was carbon fouled would reveal the faulty coil. Well, as I began pulling the plugs today, they all had the expected light brown hue at the electrode from age. The gaps were eroded so I'm sure that plugs have been in there quite awhile. When I got to the #4 cylinder, the plug was completely soaked with engine oil. I am now worried that there must be a broken piston ring or perhaps a crack in the cylinder head. I went ahead and installed a fresh spark plug in that cylinder and used the new coil for #4. Results: No change, cylinder still feels "dead" and engine has an obvious miss. I am thinking that the next step is a compression test? Is it more likely that I have a broken ring or a crack somewhere in the head that is seeping oil into the cylinder? Any thoughts or advice?
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16:12:19 06/07/08
