slymer,

I should clarify that the first time they looked at the 'bad' cylinder, the plug was in good shape. They put dielectric lube on it and called it good. I know I have a small oil leak coming from the pan, but that will be fixed for a later date. So I don't think there's a leak in the block.

When I drove the short two blocks from the shop to home nothing happened. I'm going to take it out again tonight and see if the roughness occurs again. Otherwise I really don't know what else to do.

If you still haven't changed the ignition module and coil after all of this... you might try that as well. then you'll have a COMPLETE top end tune up done. if you still have trouble after that, it may be flaky wires somewhere in the system or even the engine computer. Either way, that would be a bugger to fix. The coil and ignition module are generally easy though.

Thanks slymer. That's what a bunch of people have been saying. Replace the coil pack for sure. I'm a rookie at car parts, where's a good place online I can find those for a decent price?

rockauto.com generally has good prices, but compare them to your local parts place (autozone, oreilly, and napa for me) and even the dealer. sometimes the prices can be favorable at the dealer for just the part (as strange as that is).

I bought a new coil pack from rockauto and it was delivered today. Again, I'm not to mechinally inclined, but replacing this doesn't seem to hard. Looks like I have to remove the manifold cover to get at it. So if anyone has replaced the coil pack on the Sable feel free to give me some tips. Hope this solves the problem.....

it should be straight forward. unplug the wires. unbolt it. reverse the process with the new one. that should be all you need to do. (once you get a clear path to it that is).

just make sure to pull the wires and put them in the new coil in the same positions as you go so you don't mess up the firing order. The cover should just pull/pop off if I remember correctly.

So I didn't have the time to do it myself this weekend. If I bring it to the shop, how long roughly should it take them to swap out the coil pack?

if it's like the one I'm thinking of, it should take less than an hour (but expect to pay for a full hour of work. At most shops, anything over 30 minutes is charged for a full hour and discounts for quick stuff vary like paint jobs.

Well it took .8 of an hour. $62 bucks, and still the problem persists. I thought for sure this would do the trick, but now I'm more frustrated than anything. My cousin is a car mechanic so we are going to get together over July 4th weekend to have another look at it.

good luck.