I can't figure out what's wrong with this car, about 3 weeks ago it started to run very badly so I had everything tested and cylinders 1 3 and 4 misfired, so I changed the plugs and wires with bosch platinum plugs, and cylinder 3 still misfired then it started surging on acceleration like it was kicking in and out of gear and it would stall every now and then, so I changed the coil pack, fired it up and check engine shut off, ran it for about 5 miles and it ran like a champ. Parked it then went to work the next day on my way home the check engine light started flashing again and it started to surge again. so I disconnected the negative battery cable for a couple hours, put it back on and fired it up the check engine light went off and it ran good for about 10 minutes then did the same thing again. I have no idea what's wrong with it please help.

It's a 1996 Elantra 1.8L automatic.

Thank you!

you are defeating the purpose of the engine check light, you need to get the fault code checked out and that should tell you the fault, l believe autozone does this for free

I already said I got it tested and cyl 3 still misfires

yes l know what you said and l did read your post but from what you say it sounds more than just a no. 3 misfire, what is the fault code reading? did you get the compressions checked out? there could be a possible problem with the head gasket

The only code the tester brings up is cyl 3 misfire, sorry this took a while to reply.

it sounds more than just a no. 3 misfire, did you get the compressions checked out? there could be a possible problem with the head gasket

Yeah a guy ran a compression test on it for me and he said it was good, he said it might be a flat cam but you would hear that wouldn't you? then someone else told me it might be the valve or the valve spring, since cylinders 1, 3 and 4 were misfiring before I changed the plugs and wires, I took the old spark plug and wire from cylinder 2 and put it on the 3rd cylinder to see if the new wire was bad but it still misfired. I'm just shooting in the dark here

pulled the valve cover, cams are good, springs are good, everythings in place, no visible damage. I've seen a few Hondas do the same thing before and it's usually the fuel pressure regulator. so I'm gonna check that and the injector.

is there a real bad odor emiited by the vehicle?

No, no antifreeze smell, no white smoke nothin' like that so it can't be the head gasket, I've had a head gasket go on me in a 91 eclipse so I know what it does when that goes bad