Very unsettling engine behavior - Please help.

[Nobody]

Lately I have been getting an occasional hiccup from the engine while cruising at partial throttle.

Symptom:
When holding speed (between 20-35mph) at partial throttle, the car will sputter/lose pwer for a split second and then act totally normal again.

This morning I was holding speed at 30mph at around 2,000 rpm and the car started to sputter a lot and for as long as I held it at 2k. If i gave it more gas, it would act fine.

Can anyone give me some insight on this issue?

Thanks,
Gabe

 

[BPA]

No dtc's set?

 

[BlackVert]

does it behave the same when in cruise control?

 

[Nobody]

does it behave the same when in cruise control?

Hmm... I haven't use sruise control for months. I am not sure. Last week I took the car on a three hour road trip and it was fine the whole way - but I didn't use the cruise.

 

[Nobody]

No dtc's set?

Sorry, I don't know what that means.

 

[BlackVert]

DTC = Diagnostic Trouble Code

 

[3greenfords]

I'm having the exact same problem with my 95 GT. However mine seems to be worse when it has been several days without driving the car. The more I drive it the less problem I have with it sputtering and cutting out. I almost feel it could be a battery/alternator problem in that when I keep the battery fully charged by driving it every day it works fine.

 

[94-302-vert]

I had that problem in an old Dakota. It needed plug wires. It got so bad that it would actually die sometimes and just start itself again... Noone could figure it out and one day I changed the wires and that was all it took. After that I bought lifetime wires and replaced them every 6-8k miles...

 

[dstanggt50]

I would chk for codes, do a tune up (plugs , wires, cap, rotor, fuel filter,) and maybe try cleaning the maf as well.

 

[Nobody]

Well it's time to do a tune-up. I'll start there. I do'nt have a code reader so I wouldn't know. I'll have to take it to my friend's place to pull codes. I've been reading up on this and some people have had to go so far as to replace the entire distributor. I hope a tune up will fix it.

Thanks,
Gabe

 

[BlackVert]

Well it's time to do a tune-up. I'll start there. I do'nt have a code reader so I wouldn't know. I'll have to take it to my friend's place to pull codes. I've been reading up on this and some people have had to go so far as to replace the entire distributor. I hope a tune up will fix it.

Thanks,
Gabe

replacing the dizzy is really to get to the pip sensor. the sensor itself is not very expensive, the hard thing there is getting the gear drive off and back on. but your symptom does not indicate a bad pip anyways, not until it just dies on the highway out of the blue.

 

[Nobody]

replacing the dizzy is really to get to the pip sensor. the sensor itself is not very expensive, the hard thing there is getting the gear drive off and back on. but your symptom does not indicate a bad pip anyways, not until it just dies on the highway out of the blue.

Oh that's good to know! Thanks

 

[BPA]

you can check for dtc's without a code reader. do a search and you will find the info