Bad engine problems

[MR2YEN]

Hey all,

My car recently didnt start up in the morning for a few mornings and i didnt have time to get it checked out. Then by the weekend, it started up so i went on my merry way. However after i had parked it for about an hour i return and the car just started and limped a couple of metres before giving out. Call NRMA and they first thought it was low on fuel? so went to get fuel and no luck. The guy kept keying the ignition with no like for over 30 seconds. Then he said it must be the fuel pump so i had him tow me to a nearby mechanic.

The mechanic said it was the fuel pump and my spark plugs havent been changed in a long time so i said alright, but i returned later that day and he said my lifters might have seized and asked me whether i had been cranking the engine a lot without it going and i said the guy from NRMA did. So they had it for another two days and they diagnosed it as a cylinder not firing and they didnt really give me a solution for it? The car started and drove by whenever it was in drive, the car/engine shakes very badly when idling or just rolling along. Its fine when driving a normal speeds and in neutral. Is this a sign of a cylinder not firing??

Tonight i was driving i decided to see if it could rev normally, so i took it to 5k and sudden afterwards another noise came, its like a loud tapping noise. It's even there when i start the engine, it comes and goes and is very irregular. I will post a youtube vid if anyone can help? I was charged $600 and now the car is worse than ever..

[MR2YEN]

Sound file if anyones interested.. the tapping occurs towards the end and its pretty bad

VN00005-20101106-1150.amr - 0.04MB

[Bennoz]

What the hell do we use to play a .amr file? Its got the pungent stench of Mac & NotveryQuicktime all over it...

[MR2YEN]

Sorry recorded with my phone, it works with windows media player

[Kustom]

Type of car, year model, guessing it's auto?

[MR2YEN]

96 auto GPX, 170,000km

[MR2YEN]

Did i search but couldnt find it, but what are the symtoms of a cylinder misfiring?