Tonight when i went to leave work. My 98 neon, dohc started fine, then idled a lil rough and had
the check engine light pop up. I shut the car off. Waited about 20 seconds and restarted it. It seemed
to idle fine on the 2nd start. So i headed home, car ran smoothly the whole way.

I know the code is for a multiple/single cylinder misfire. I know the valve cover leaks some down into
the spark plug hole some with oil.

 

Pull, clean and check each wire's resistance to see if they are in spec. Replace any that are not. Check for cracks/nicks/etc that can rob you of power. When cleaning each wire boot, check for oil on the end.

Clean and check the coil's primary and secondary sides to make sure it is in spec. Visually check for any cracks/etc. or anything leaking out. Replace if necessary.

Pull each plug, clean and check them. When you pull them, make sure there is not a lot of excessive oil around it by looking down into it both before and after you pull it. The plug itself may look burned if the oil burned off the plug while in the hole. The tubes may have bad seals that are at the top of each tube under the cover and the tube itself may not be properly seated allowing oil to leak in. If the tube seals and/or tubes are showing signs of leaking oil, you need to pull the valve cover, reseat the tubes and put on new seals and valve cover gasket. If the tubes are loose and you cant get them to seat tightly, you need to buy one or more new tubes. None of this is expensive (coil being the exception, but I have a good used coil if you end up needing one).

 

Thanks for the advice. The plug closest to the drivers sids has oil down inside it. So im making plans for the.valve cover gasket and new plugs/ wires. Checked all the other connections to be safe.

Pulled the fuel pump fuse as found in another post to reset the pcm, car started perfect and idled fine. Least i know now its a cheap fix