Had a '97 Chevy that never ran right from new. I'd drive it until the service-soon light came on, take it to the dealer, they'd never find anything wrong. They'd change the plugs, wires, and cap, run a can of fuel injector cleaner through, then send me on my way. It'd run good for about 5 miles, then start bucking and sputtering again. Took it to an independent mechanic, and they couldn't find anything wrong either... Ran diagnostics and troubleshot for three hours straight... Nothing wrong. Guy called me up all pi$$ed off, "Get this d*mn thing outta here! Runs like crap but we can't find anything wrong." Didn't charge me for the time, at least... Welp, finally it quit in my parents' front yard. Wouldn't start. It blew the ignition coil twice before... That wasn't it. Throttle position sensor was making a weird noise... That wasn't it. Finally towed it to yet another garage... This guy tested the fuel injectors (CFI). One wasn't firing at all, two others were only firing about half the time, and the other three were missing occasionally. So yeah, it could very well be fuel injectors, but no, there's no way for a backyard mechanic to reliably test that theory.
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