my car is acting like its out of time

[aar0s]

but its not, all the ignition stuff is new(ish), plugs, rotor, cap and wires were changed this past fall. swapped out the coil with a known good one and put a new distributor in today. timing is at 12. the car feels like it bogs then with a little more pedal will take off like nothings wrong. sometimes it will backfire once after it bogs then drives fine. At part throttle it has what feels like a small surge at about 15-1700 rpm.
fuel pump has about 10k on it and the filter was changed this spring. the only code its giving up is the neutral safety switch code. did have a TPS code but i changed that and took care of the code. where should i start looking next?

 

[HISSIN50]

Are you real sure the plug wires are not leaking?

 

[aar0s]

you mean arcing off to a header or something like that? I guess they could be, ill check that today. Im going to go back over the tps and make sure that i didnt move it out of range when i did my intake gaskets a couple of weeks ago also.

 

[HISSIN50]

Yes, the spark can short to a header flange (etc) or the wires can crossfire if they're touching. If you spray the wires with a water mist at night (being careful of moving parts and all that), you should be able to see leakage.

Good luck.

 

[aar0s]

ill try that tonight, inspected them today and didnt see any places that looked burnt or bare.
another buddy said it could be the coolant temp sensor, could a bad temp sensor cause these problems?

 

[HISSIN50]

I doubt it. A dead spot in the TPS would have been my initial guess but if you replaced the TPS and know it's functioning properly..............

Spark leak is often most apparent under a load (i.e., not idling) at low RPM. Thus I felt it was worth checking.

 

[aar0s]

me and the FIL checked the TPS this morning for a dead spot and to see where it was and it checked out. ill check the spark leak tonight after we get back and the sun goes down. Thanks!

 

[aar0s]

ok, had to wait till tonight to check them but didnt see any arcing going on under the hood.
The car sits for long periods, sometimes being driven less than 5 or 10 miles a week. could it be as simple as lots of moisture in the gas?

 

[HISSIN50]

I've almost never seen wires not leak a little when sprayed with water. Yours must be in great shape.

I doubt it's something like bad gas or it would affect all ranges of performance, not one RPM range only.

Have you had any issues with the EGR (and is the EGR even connected)?

 

[aar0s]

it was giving an egr code last summer but i changed the thing on the pass. side strut tower, i forget what its called, and took care of that. its still hooked up.

 

[aar0s]

now that i think about it, i changed the solenoid on the back of the egr valve too.
went up to the garage a few min. ago and tried the wire leakage test again, this time i chocked the tires and pulled the brake and put it in drive. still no leakage when sprayed with the water, wires have about 2k on them so they should be in good shape.
cars going in on Tuesday to get the 3.55s installed (finally), my have the mech. take a look at this problem if i cant get it lined out between now and then.