the car is a 1996 cavalier 2.2L The car was running fine last week, i ran out of gas with it, so it sat about a week. i put 10L in today and i barly started it, there is thick smoke comming from the muffler and its sputtering and popping. if i give it gas, it gets better. But the car cannot idle properly and it didnt use to smoke. I dont think its a head gasket cause i dont smell the coolant in the smoke. Anyone know what it could be?

If there is a service engine soon light on you probably have a bad sensor. Get the car computer scanned for engine codes. If not then I would check and probably replace the fuel filter first. You probably got some dirt from the bottom of your tank in your motor when you ran out of gas.

Second I would clean the idle air intake.
Thirdly, if the spark plugs are old I would replace them.
If there are no engine lights on and the problem is still persisting then I would get the plug wires & coil packs checked.

Its your fuel pressure regulator, happened to me a month ago. Cheap part and quick install and your all set... What happens is the diaphragm inside ruptures and the vacuum line sucks in raw fuel into your throttle body. You run pig rich and then your PCM starts shutting down injectors to compensate. You probably notice on accel that around 1700 rpm the car tries to stall, bogs out and creeps to about 2200 rpm and the races up to 4-5k rpm. Like I said get a FPR and you will be good to go. After about 15 minutes of driving your pcm will readjust fuel trims and you will be running like new


Chris
99 Z24
"Remember the days when sex was safe, and Racing was dangerous?"

it turns out it was a dead coil pack, thanks for all the help.