Q: Am I able to drive with misfiring cylinders?

asked by on November 12, 2016

My check service light was on so I went to a local auto store for them to tell me I had two cylinders misfiring. I am a college student who lives about 5 1/2 hours away from home and thanksgiving break starts next Thursday for me (I plan on driving all night). So my question is, am I able to drive to from my university home with the two misfiring, I do plan on getting it fixed but I am so limited on money that I can't pay the $145 that was quoted to me. If this needs to be fixed now, can I fix it myself ? Thanks

My car has 161500 miles.
My car has an automatic transmission.

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Unfortunately, with two cylinders misfiring, this represents 50% of your motor not firing properly which results in a significant reduction of power output by your engine. While the car may be driven, this may be risky as this may cause additional problems to worsen due to an imbalance in the load the other two cylinders are tasked with. The other problem is that there is no way to tell when the remaining two cylinders will fail as a result of the same conditions the other two have failed from. I would recommend having an expert from YourMechanic come to your location to diagnose your misfiring problem.

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