Alright, I'm coming here for some ideas on what could possibly be wrong with the beastly Buick I drive. It's a 1998 Buick Park Avenue, about 131,000 miles on it, 3.8L V6 (NOT the supercharged). But I came here because I have no other outlet at the moment and have no money (literally no money) to be wasting on continuing to get it looked at by mechanics who can't help me either but still charge me $20-40 each time to look at it. The car will stall occasionally in low RPMs at stop lights, red lights, driving through parking lots, etc. and runs very rough in idle and just in general. Uphill, this has become a more recent issue, while driving uphill I can hear it kicking back really badly through the exhaust.
About a month ago, my car began to experience symptoms equivalent to a car that needs to have a tune-up while on my way to New York state (in adverse weather conditions [blizzard conditions for about the first 120 miles of my trip]), which I found odd, considering the tuneup hadn't been done too long prior to that. I pulled over and checked the oil and whatnot, cleared the exhaust of the snow that had accumulated around the tailpipe, thinking maybe it was possibly blocked and choking on fumes. I continued and that didn't solve the issue. Service engine light had turned on and at certain points was blinking, so I had it looked at (and have a few other times since) with a code for random multiple misfires. So my thought is "Yep, likely need a tuneup". Gas mileage had plummeted to about 15-16 mpg (normally runs about 23-25 mpg).
So I had the spark plugs changed while I was in New York, they looked like absolute shit so I was like "DAMN, this has to be the problem!" Had them changed up with no long-term improvements (was running better temporarily). So I continued on to replace the wires and again, no improvements. I had a few people say that it sounds like I need to continue to work and replace the coils, so on to the coils I went as well with no luck either, even though they looked pretty bad as well.
I'm just looking for recommendations on what you guys think MAY be wrong with it, I don't have the money to be taking it to mechanics left and right when I can't afford to, so I was wondering if there's anyone who can give me possibilities on what could be awry. Thanks in advance.
About a month ago, my car began to experience symptoms equivalent to a car that needs to have a tune-up while on my way to New York state (in adverse weather conditions [blizzard conditions for about the first 120 miles of my trip]), which I found odd, considering the tuneup hadn't been done too long prior to that. I pulled over and checked the oil and whatnot, cleared the exhaust of the snow that had accumulated around the tailpipe, thinking maybe it was possibly blocked and choking on fumes. I continued and that didn't solve the issue. Service engine light had turned on and at certain points was blinking, so I had it looked at (and have a few other times since) with a code for random multiple misfires. So my thought is "Yep, likely need a tuneup". Gas mileage had plummeted to about 15-16 mpg (normally runs about 23-25 mpg).
So I had the spark plugs changed while I was in New York, they looked like absolute shit so I was like "DAMN, this has to be the problem!" Had them changed up with no long-term improvements (was running better temporarily). So I continued on to replace the wires and again, no improvements. I had a few people say that it sounds like I need to continue to work and replace the coils, so on to the coils I went as well with no luck either, even though they looked pretty bad as well.
I'm just looking for recommendations on what you guys think MAY be wrong with it, I don't have the money to be taking it to mechanics left and right when I can't afford to, so I was wondering if there's anyone who can give me possibilities on what could be awry. Thanks in advance.