well here is my problem.... got off of work on friday.... noticed immeditatly that the car was running really rough... started on my way and the darn thing started to seem like it was missing..... but not all the time..... just about 3/4 of the time.... then on my way home..... the thing just seemed like all my power just fell off the edge... i could only manage like 50 mph and even with my foot to the floor i could do no better....... the rpms wouldn't go up at all...... and when it downshifted it took forever for them to get up to the rpms.... enging just seemed like it was totally sluggish.... at first thought i thought it was the cat..... cause i had a cutout put in not too long ago.... but it never shut off.... just ran bad..... so i am thinking it might be a vacuum leak..... what do u guys think????

 

Pop your hood and get down close to the engine see if you can hear any sucking. One of my vacuum lines broke last week and the car wouldn't idle right. YOu should be able to hear it pretty easy then just feel around where you hear it. If it is not a vacuum leak here is my recommendations. First off, how long has it been since you have changed your fuel filter. I had an escort that did the exact same thing you are describing, and it was a combination of the fuel filter and a vacuum line to the map scensor broken in half. I you have not changed your fuel filter it might not be a bad place to start. Also, pop your hood at night and make sure you don't see any sparks off your wires. Make sure all your spark plug boots are seated on the plugs good and none have slipped off. How long has it been since you have changed your plugs, distributer cap and rotor button???? Since it happend all of the sudden I would think it was vacuum or cracked plug wire or boot slipped off of the plug, but just check all of this. If it has been a while since you have done a tune-up, now might be a good time to do it.