First off ..You need to move ...I left Calif do to there BS and that was 20 years ago ...I'm sure its way worse now ...

Could you have a bad spark plug ... Does it miss at idle ..If it does miss at idle ... Do the redneck scope on the old girl and see what cyl is missing ... If the motor is pumping coolant in a cly it will 'steam clean' a plug ... You will have plugs with color on them and have one very clean and white ... Do to the fact that the coolant turns to steam and cleans the plug ...