The best part is when I did it I told Beth and said, "I wonder if anybody is going to notice"

Well, I am going to go pick up some spark plugs for my BMW. They were changed not too long ago. We normally do them every year. One cylinder appears to burn more oil than the others. I think #3 but anyway it starts misfiring when under load like on the freeway and I start going up a hill. Yesterday afternoon the car was running fine for about half way. When I went up the big hill above Gaviota I noticed some light misfiring but only when I was really putting it under a lot of load. Downshifting ad slowing down a bit cleared the problem up. That is not unusual for the car. But then it just kept getting worse to the point that I could only give it 50% throttle in any gear. I could just manage 70mph on the flat, but going up the Conejo grade I was doing 50mph, third gear.

But, sure enough, when I shut the car off at home and waited a half hour or so as I unpacked my stuff, the problem went away. My dad drove it and it was fine. I drove it today and it was fine. The poltergeist seems to have left.

But we want to have the plugs handy just in case. We are going to inspect them tomorrow.

Anyone care to guess what the issue might have been?

Loose nut behind the steering wheel? :)

Coil breaking down, ethanol mucking up an injector, intake leak, (stay away from paper towels)

Fool pump

I wish Dave were here to see the squirrel out front just bust his ass trying to get seed from a bird feeder. He took a nice six foot drop, and they don't have a righting reflex like a cat. That was too funny

:) We have one of those plastic bowl things ("squirrel baffle") on the wire that our bird feeder hangs on. It is definately defeatable but the squirrels have not figured it out yet. Been about a year now maybe. It works.

We are thinking it was one plug getting some carbon stuck in the gap.

By the way, it is a 1983 BMW E21 with the M10 motor (4 cylinder), CIS injection. Coolant temperature was normal during all this. The missisng was felt as a rather violent shaking of the engine/tranny (or at least it felt that way).

Valve adjustment
guibo disc in the drive shaft will do that as well, well not foul a plug but will make you feel like a miss

It gets valve adjustments regularly and the vibration was not dependent on engine or road speed, only throttle position (and therefore load) and since it has vanished I am assuming the culprit is electrical.

Speaking of electrical, I found the wiring diagram for the FSAE car:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1343424967.jpg

Did Elmo draw that? Whats the deal with the :( in the middle?

It's how Jaguar owners feel.

I think that is how Jag techs feel. :)

Elmo? as in

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Would her next some be "I kissed a ball of cotton with a guys hand shoved up it's butt:?

We'll never know. The TV nazis said that Hot n Cold video was too racy to air.

She's from Santa Barbara, by the way.

Actually, it was about here that the misfire problem started getting serious.
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My car is not a convertible, though. And I have never seen the Village People there.

Rick, here is a video you will like better. And you do not need to mute it this time. :)
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