The car does ok on flat roads, whenever I go up a incline I get some hesitation and genereal lack of power, shaking mainly. Could this be as simple as a clogged fuel filter?

 

maybe, bad plugs would also cause this.

 

Could be either ignition/tune-up related, or fuel related.

If you haven't changed your fuel filter lately, that'd be a great place to start... needs changed anyway, even if it's not "the problem".

Same for tune-up stuff. Although if it runs good at low RPMS and high load, like from a stop or the like, the ignition probably is OK.

Tape your fuel pressure gauge to the windshield and see what the fuel pressure is doing WHILE IT'S MALFUNCTIONING. Not, whilre it's priming; not, while it's sitting in the driveway idling; but rather, while it's driving down the road, SCREWING UP.

 

It could be, or a loose wire.

If you put the front of your car up on jacks will it do this too, while in park?

 

It certainly seems like a fuel issue if it's happening under load.

I bet you will feel similar effects under hard acceleration on flat roads and
high RPM.

Let's hope it's just a fuel filter, and not the regulator, or pump.

 

Yes it could. It could also be plugs or wires causing mis-firing or cross-firing when the cylinder pressure climbs under a load. It could even be other and more tragic things, but if it just started then it's probably not too bad. Does it have plenty of power on level ground, like for passing on the highway?

 

No it doesnt have the usual power to pass, It goes ok on the flat, from a stop, but any kind of inclline and it starts to shake. I drive on a 2 lane road to work, its about 45 mph roads, but if I am going along ok at that speed an wer eto gun it, it would shake.

 

I would take it out of OD when going up inclines just to see if it's any better.

 

mine is similar... just replaced the fuel pump for the second time in 9 months. Before the latest repair, it was running good. since the new pump installation, problems. right away, the pump was making a whining sound. If allowed to continued, the car would soon stop running and had to sit for at least an hour before restart. We figured problem was heat related and insulting the fuel tank from the muffler and the fuel lines near the headers fixed that problem. I noticed that the engine could not get beyond 3000 rpm. After a few days of riding it around, there is a severe lack of power and sputtering starting at 2500 rpm. It does better on a full tank and is real bad if the tank is almost empty.

My mechanic is sickened at the sight of me, but I think he's gonna have to re-do the fuel pump installation. That pump seemed like crap from the git-go!

What about switching to an inline? I'll search more on that later...