Rep Power: 0

I'm having problem's with my wife's 1998 Honda Civic EX. It is bone stock with 52,000 miles. She started complaining of a problem with the car bucking at lower RPM's on Friday. I put some gas in the car also had the problem. I checked the fuel mileage and it had dropped from 35 mpg down to 25 mpg in that tank. I next checked the oil that I changed 2 weeks ago and found it over a quart high. It also smells of gas. I've pulled the spark plugs and one looked a slight bit wetter on the threads than the rest. I tried to listen to the injectors with a screwdriver but they all sound the same. Since the problem isn't everytime I don't know where else to look. I'd rather not take it to the dealer and have to take a loan out to get the car back.

Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Matt

 
Rep Power: 311

Maybe get a compression tester or have a compression check done. Theres a certain amount of pressure difference that is acceptable between each cylinder. If you find that the cylinder that had the wetter plug is lower on compression then the others, you might have bad rings or valves.