runnng on 3 cylinders?

[yelizardking]

my friend boguht a 90 hatch about 6 months ago. well the other day he said that he took out the spark plugs and that they were full of oil, then he said that they told him that he's sometimes running on 3 cylinders, and something about his gasket. i think he's going to change the gasket. what exactly is the problem here. and is it possible to be running on 3 cyl?

[2ndGenTeg]

It's possible to run on three cylinders, however obviously not advisable.

If it's covered in oil, my first guess would be that the piston rings are shot. You should do (or have done) a compression test to see if the piston rings are properly sealed. If not, this would also cause the car to feel as if it were running on three cylinders- extremely sluggish.

I'd start with the compression test and see where that leaves you.

[yelizardking]

where would i be able to go get a compression test? (in the la area)

[2ndGenTeg]

Any mechanic that has a halfway decent idea of what is going on can do a compresion test.