What a ridiculous improvement. I picked up a fram fuel filter for 12$ at the nearby auto parts store but decided not to have them replace the old one for over 60$. So i waited a few days for my school shop class to do it... since all I have at home is a jack and it was fairly well rusted on there. Looks to be the one it rolled off the line with. Hooray for being a third-owner .

So basically before, 1st gear seemed to not go anywhere and I could hardly get the tires to slip if I floored it from a stop. I also couldn't get much past 75-80 mph on the highway, the engine just would hit a wall at around 4 grand. And it was slow as a 4 banger at times and the engine basically sounded like it was starving for fuel. It would also sometimes run out of supply completely while turning and sometimes the engine would die because of it.

Night to f-ing day comparison with the new filter, finally. Tires break free from a 40 mph roll...although it is wet out now and that's not too surprising considering. I'll have to see what I can manage when it's dryer out. I can't wait for a good dry day where I can really let loose on my way to work on the less patrolled roads . I tried to pass some slowpoke a few days ago with the old filter on and I had about 1/3 of a mile to do it and the person had to slow down to let me back into the lane before the passing zone ended (oh shame). Today, I got around some people who were doing 65 in a two lane stretch like they were standing still. .

So, now I just have to deal with the hundred other various things going wrong with it. But at least it's running strong again and I feel confident I've broken into the high-mid 15's with an open element/3" cat-bac/cat-delete + and various tune-up items (fuel injector cleaner/engine restorer/crankcase filter/pcv valve/cap+coil wires+ rotor) and a bunch of the interior stripped out because it smells funky and weighs a ton .

Just thought I'd share my situation for anyone else out there that may have similar problems and see what kind of comments/flame I can get.

 

Sounds like a nice fix. Makes me want to go check my fuel filter. Wheres it hiding at?

 

I belive its on the driver side under the car right behind the door....fuel filters do make a big difference when neglected.

 

your car reminds me soo much of my car when I bought it. I'm also the 3rd owner, and the previous owner apparently hadn't worked on a computer controlled car before, I think he may have been attempting to switch to carb or something, as he'd cut the wires to the o2 sensor, knock sensor, and cut the ground wires to the o2 sensor and esc module, the car didn't even run when I bought it, that's why I got it for 600 bucks though, heh.

anyway, the point of this is that fuel injector cleaner never once worked for my car. I thought I might mention that you're gonna wanna check the way your injectors are firing. if you see them spraying, you're probably okay, but if they're dripping at idle(as mine were), you're gonna wanna go another route. after my 5th bottle of fuel injector cleaner in 2 months, I gave in and went to my local lube shop and paid 60 bucks for a fuel system cleaning. they proceeded to take a bottle of what looked like the same stuff, pour it into a spout and connect a line from the bottom of the spout directly to my injectors, and started up the car.

for the next 3 minutes, my car ran like total crap, blowing out unbelievable amounts of BLACK BLACK smoke, and while this was happening they were also pouring a bottle of something else directly into my throttle body, causing the car to almost stall(though there was another guy flooring the throttle the whole time while the first guy was doing this)...anyway, after the spout emptied, they turned off the car, reconnected the fuel lines and sent me on my way.

I paid the guys, turned my car on, left the building, and floored it(it's my way of testing these things)...my tires broke loose! for the first time! the car ran like brand new for the first time since I bought it!

anyway, ever since then I've been trying to spread the word, if you're really having fuel problems, instead of wasting money on fuel injector cleaner(as it's pretty widely known that it doesn't ever really work), try that route.

as for the fuel filter, I totally agree, I'd changed that before even trying the injector cleaner, and it DID make a difference, totally worth it. although I spent like 3 bucks on mine? anyway, just spreading the word to guys who buy their cars from sketchy previous owners, heh.