There is a vacuum pump in the right side trunk for door locks, are you hearing that? ( Remove the right trunk liner )

This engine should have 2 ignition coils, one end is on the spark plug and the other a wire. The coil can fail taking out one or two cylinders. If the coil boot fails it can take out a cylinder as well.

I know on the 97 cars with ME 2.1, if the computer detects a miss fire it shuts off the injector for that cylinder, I'm not sure if the 96 ( Pre ME 2.1 ) is that advanced.

Are you able to get any codes in order to verify you readers operation?