I own a 986, and yesterday whilst driving on the freeway the engine light came on and it started misfiring badly. i had to get down to a very low speed cause the revs where dying, and the whole car was juddering, bu the engine didnt stop.
problem is my local garage is closed for the next coupleof weeks
any ideas what it could be?
im hoping maybe its a coil, or something not too costly!

 

Sorry to hear about your troubles. My best guess is that it is something fuel related. I had a similar experience when my fuel level sensor broke and the car said it had a quarter tank and it simply ran out of gas. It started doing the same thing as yours, but then the car shut off shortly after. If your car kept running, it makes me think it has something to do with your fuel pressure, possibly your fuel pump is on it's way out? Another possibility is perhaps your spark plug wires came loose? But this is unlikely if you were just cruising on the highway at the time. I also had leaking spark plug oil tubes, which could lead to misfires, but that would most likely be a gradual effect and not all of a sudden. Spark issues shouldn't be too expensive. Unfortunately, fuel items get a little pricey.

 

you think it could be misreading the amount of fuel in tank then? i didnt try adding fuel to it, but the reading was slighlty less than quarter. it didnt shut off but then again i was close to hom and i only needed to drive for a few more miles!

 

My first stab would be to add a gallon of gas and see if that doesn't solve the problem. If not, then I'd take it in.

 

Any bad rattling noises, or leaking oil? If not i would check the following:variocam acutator's, fuel pump & sender, MAF sensor, cracked or broken vac lines

 

no i dont have any rattling noises or leaking oils. well, im supposed to be taking it for inspection at the end of this week, cant wait!!

 

spark plugs are another common problem with misfire... how old are they?

 

spark plugs are 2 years old. theyre denso iridium

 

problem fixed. it was just a spark plug all along.
my local garage charged me a ridiculous amount of money to get them changed, but at least it wasnt something too serious. thanks guys!

 

what do I win? (j/k)... glad you solved the mystery.

 

yes you won, thanks