Can't believe I bought a MX-3

[Bradhobbs]

I just wish that I would have got a "Good" MX-3 like all you other people have. So far I have had issues after issues with this car and its getting me aggervated. This is all I have to drive and cannot afford anything else. Today when I pulled out I was going up a small incline and the car was missing sputtering and didn't have a BIT of power (Never does have any power) It got past 30 mph shifted and was OK while I had it to the floor just wasnt going anywheres. I then try to use the heat the other night, I notice the heat is luke warm so I found it needed more water filled it up heat worked fine for about 2 days used it tonight its back luke warm. The car smokes at times. Mostly like a white smoke smells about like salt water boiling. It also has the idling issue, just the other day it died on me and rolled back and hit a pole. Anyone in the Knoxville area that wants to trade cars??? LOL

[Savin]

If you want, I'll take the car off your hands. I'll do it free of charge too.

Just wondering, what year 4-cyl is it?

[Bradhobbs]

Its a 1992 well if it wasnt all I had to drive i'd sell it to you fairly cheap LOL

[Savin]

Also, the timing might be off causing the sputter. Injectors maybe be clogged as well.
What is the compression like? It all check out?
How's your intake tube? did you ever search to see how to remedy that?
How old is your exhaust? You could have a clogged CAT.
Burning fluids...hmmm...leaky head gasket, or blown. (could explain heat problem)
Heater core going out? These things have them right? lol. It could be worse. you could turn on the heat and have it shoot ice at you...I know first hand about that.

[Shades]

Maybe you need to stop QQ and do some maintenance on your car... sounds like it needs a tune up (new spark plugs, wires, disty cap and rotor), and prolly have a leak in your rad and you need to change your thermostat and prolly do a coolant change.

[SmoothMX3]

Fix it bro...
There is nothing like the feeling of working on your own car. Track down the problem, and solve it. Look into buying another motor. (bp maybe?)
explain more into detail and I'm sure there are few people that will tell you exactly what you need and need to do.
Don't give up man!

[Savin]

Maybe you need to stop QQ and do some maintenance on your car... sounds like it needs a tune up (new spark plugs, wires, disty cap and rotor), and prolly have a leak in your rad and you need to change your thermostat and prolly do a coolant change.

I took into consideration that this stuff as already been done, but it could easily fix the problems.

[Bradhobbs]

Well if it shot ice at me I could open my MCdonalds cup and let them fall in.. I havent checked any of that stuff im only 17 and don't know much about cars however the exhaust is fairly loud when getting up to speed, timing dont know how to set that, blown head gasket thought about it since the previous owners had well water and it got so hot the water went all over the engine and rusted out the AC lines and valve cover. I dont know much to do I need some guidance on where to go thanks

[Bradhobbs]

What I have put on:

Water pump
freeze out plug
fuel filter
temperature sensor
plugs
it was leaking from the radiator but I got that fixed and now its not leaking at all

[Shades]

Well if it shot ice at me I could open my MCdonalds cup and let them fall in.. I havent checked any of that stuff im only 17 and don't know much about cars however the exhaust is fairly loud when getting up to speed, timing dont know how to set that, blown head gasket thought about it since the previous owners had well water and it got so hot the water went all over the engine and rusted out the AC lines and valve cover. I dont know much to do I need some guidance on where to go thanks

If he overheated the engine, then the first thing to do is get a compression test done... this will tell you if you have a blown head gasket.
If the compression test is good, then it's time to do a basic tune up... spark plugs, spark plug wires, distributor cap and rotor.

[Bradhobbs]

Ok what is required for a compression test? I don't have a lot of money to play around with keep that in mind..

[SmoothMX3]

As far as the radiator. Drain it, Pull it out... Get your water hose and run water threw it to see if you gotta leak in the radiator. If not, throw it back on. Take out your thermostat and put it in a bowl of very hot water. Watch it, if it opens up then your good. If it doesnt do anything, you need a new one. Pull out your spark plug wires and check slits, tears etc... Pull out your spark plugs and check them. If they are good, check the gap on em.
When's the last time you had an oil change?

Didnt see the post above.. sorry!
trying to help!

[Shades]

Ok what is required for a compression test? I don't have a lot of money to play around with keep that in mind..

You need to either buy or borrow or get some mechanic to use a compression tester on your engine... glorified pressure gauge that goes in your spark plug holes.

[Bradhobbs]

Ok Ill talk to my dad about the compression test. I had the oil changed not even a week. And I did drain everything from the radiator because it was loaded with sulfter. Ill check the thermostat but its brand new, and the plugs. But what could be causing it idle bad?

[Savin]

Autozone should have them (or like store). you should be able to rent them too.
Quick Autozone search has one for $35 (that's a rental one too) there's a $25 one you can buy.

If you ask nicely, they might even do the comp test for you. I'm not sure about it though. Hell, they'll test anything else, haha.

The idle issue: Have you checked your intake tube. The black thingy with the ribs that goes to the air filter box. Those are well known to cause idle issues.