alright, i had made a post of this already, but hadn't gotten all that many responses as of yet. It was posted on once before also, and others seemed to have the same problem, yet no solution, so, it's time to ask the Q for everyone...help us out Tom, hanging on the last string b4 it goes to the mechanic. Here's the scoop.


Car has a hesitation issue when under load, not sure if it's a fuel issue, or if it's a electrical issue, so i treated it as an electrical one (had the same prob once b4, shopped fixed it) when the shop took the car the one time, they replaced some poorly spliced wires that were going to an MSD 6AL ignition terminal (i had removed the ignition after noticing no power or fuel economy change), so they rehooked everything into my stock coil, they also noticed a problem with the ICM on the distributor so they replaced it, the final problem was a dead or dying MAf sensor, the resulting problem was when accelerating the car it would hesitate, accelerate, hesitate, accelerate, etc etc etc, very annoying, and kinda scary (if ya drive through a bad neighborhood). So today, treating it such as an ignition problem i pulled and replaced the cap/rotor combo, replaced the spark plugs, replaced the coil with a new unit, replaced the air filter, cleaned the MAF with electrical parts cleaner, and cleaned the TB with TB cleaner. The result, what seems to be better performance, but the same problem i had b4 is still there, (possibly worse, but not sure about that). Didn't replace the fuel filter yet, there's a chance that it might get done tomorrow, but i'm supposed to be making a 60 mile trip to Kansas City in the afternoon (early evening) and am a lil' worried about hte vehicle, ont to mention not having enough time to work on it (class all day). Any help would be appreciated by anyone, Tom, hope ya have some good ideas, Thanks in advance.

 

When you pulled the plugs, how did they look? Were they running clean? Can you throw a fuel pressure gauge on it? How does the fuel pump "sound"- a healthy hum, or a sickly gurgle (my first dead pump), or like a million hornets in the tank (my second dead pump)?

How's the alternator output? 13.8 volts w/engine running? Karl said his car was acting up until he found out the alternator was bad.

I'm guessing the timing is accurate... how are the spark plug wires? Did you check the resistance of each wire?

Catalytic convertor clogged?

TPS adjusted okay?

Does the car act like this when it's cold, or warm, or hot, or all three?

 

when the plugs were pulled they had a brownish tint over them, basically normal wear. I'd throw the fuel Pressure gague on the system, but don't have one, i'd have to check and see if we have one at the airport, if we do, i'll be sure to give it a try. The pump is only say a year old, replaced at a shop back in St. Louis when the one i had in there died out on me. The one that's in the car now sounds fine when it primes, and primes everytime it's supposed to.

Having hooked up a multi-meter to the alternator yet, but....according to the gagues it's output is alright, it's above 13 volts minorly, w/o touching the 15 line, so rough estimate 13.5-14 volts.

kinda wondering about the cat, it's been on there for a while, and wasn't replaced when i had the exhaust done, so that is more than a possibility.

Not exactly sure how to adjust the TPS, i haven't messed with it, and it's tight, so besides those two things unless it's failing (giving false readings) but since it's still giving readings the computer is tripping a code, i don't know...possibility.

The car acts like this all the time, or it can act like this at all times i guess. Initially the problem was tempermental, every once in a while i'd have a lil' hesitatoin, then it'd go away, and not return for 2 weeks, then back, then gone for 3 or 4 days, then back. It did it last night, and was still doing it today, so i'm assuming it might be here to stay this time around.

Tom, ya think fuel filter might be an issue, didn't change it when i did the rest of the tunin, only reason i ddn't buy one in autozone is because i thought i had one sitting in my car (which i still might have, but my stupid hatch pop didn't want to go up, and i didn't feel like climbing all over the cleveland heads that are on my back seats right now, to get to the hatch from the interior.

Also, is there a way to check for a clogged cat? And what are the symptons, besides hesitation. Thanks a million tom, more things to look at tomorrow.

PS-
I had pulled back into the parking lot, and disconnected the MAF, then the TPS there was a change in RPM , but the idle didn't smooth out, (IAC maybe, but the problem is there even at WOT), it did throw the codes it was supposed to though, so i'm not sure if that's the actual problem....But, there was a slightly ackward burning smell, not quite oil, not quite tranny fluid, just something really hot, cat? thouhgt just popped into my head as i typed it.

 

fuel filter is one of the easyist things to eliminate. i would start with that. if that dose not do it clean your iac with *air intake cleaner) pull it out and clean it good.

 

Ok, another Question for ya, if the IAC is dirty or clogged, will it effect the way a car runs in the upper RPM's? I"m still leaning towards somethign electrical. Another sympton that i had, the car's tach had a bounce or shimmy in it, at all RPM ranges, but i never felt it. I'm thinking something related to, or close to the distributor? anyone else have an idea on that, since that was the problem that preceeded the one that i have right now...fuel filter might get changed as well, i'm really looking forward to driving the car fixed w/ the new coil and ignition componets on it, the car felt like it was pulling much stronger w/ the new coil than it did w/ the old one...but other issues still remain. lets work through em.

PS-I'm in Kansas city now, the car made it the 60 mile trip, hopefully it'll make the 60 mile return, then i've got 5 days to find and fix the problem b4 a 200 mile trip home for christmas break...if the prob isn't fixed by then, i'll have 1 month at home, if the car makes it that far.

 

hey, got another Q for anyone...what about a computer going bad? don't know if they're water proof on these cars like they are in the 4th gen models, and my Heater core had been pukin on it for quite some time...like i said, i think the issues electrically related, because just b4 the real problems started, my tach started bouncing erratically, and if there were no "ignition" problems, a comp coulda been screwing around for a while b4 this happened...what ya think?