Ok Its a 92 VE auto...a few days ago I discovered one of the o2 wires was broke, so i respliced them together and got that working good. Car runs great, seems like mileage may have improved, not far into tank yet tho.

On my way to work yesterday morning I back out my driveway and start to slowly accelerate down the road, it got real sluggish and kinda bucked, exhaust sounded rough. I stopped throttle, coasted, then gave i hit the gas harder, but not flooring it, and it went to buck/be sluggish again, then went away and was fine all the way to work. I left work and it never did it. went to work this morning, same thing. I just drove it to a friends and it did it again but not as bad. was at his house for 20-30minutes, and I left so car was still warmed up. and as soon as I get about 5 blocks away car starting doing it again, I was slowly accelerating and it started doing it so i slowly kept giving it more gas and it seemed to get a bit worse. then coasted for a while and then semi floored it and np. same road 1/2 mile down the road at a stop light it idle started to jump around a couple hundred but then went away. green light and i gave the peddle a quick 30% depress to get going quick and nothing happened....

It reminds me alot like a clogged fuel filter. I've replaced it maybe 2 years ago.

The wire harness to my tps is kinda corroded, I know it needs to get fixed just haven't got to it yet, but could TPS cause this sort of problem?

Only thing I can think of is that I put a little bit of seafoam in the tank, and motor oil a few days ago. and that maybe it cleaned out some debris from the fuel lines and it cloggin up the fuel filter?

any help please, appreciate it.

 

well i guess change the fuel filter first... cheap fix... then see what happens from there.

 

Pointless....it sounds more like a bad/cracked coilpack/s to me...

 

Check the front coilpacks for cracks in the side dude..

 

oh yeah.. you fancy VE types. what sort of effect will a cracked charcoal canister cause? if it makes a difference it's cracked on the bottom face.

 

No idea dude, but i would replace it if you happen to have one of these cracked canisters..

 

hmmm it did have some sort of electrical spike sort of when I was trying to start it a couple weeks ago, I have a post about that somewhere. That went away. But it has done it recently but went away much sooner.

Only reason I skeptical of fuel filter is I changed it when I first got the car, 5 years ago. and 2-3 years ago I replaced it again. I think they last longer than that, maybe not im not sure.

I believe I have extra coil packs somewhere in a box from when I replace motor with jdm one. I will have to look into that tomorrow. From what I remember new coil packs aren't cheap either. Is it possible for one to still seep voltage even if I don't notice a crack?...edit before i even posted: looked at the extras I had..all have huge cracks..

 

yeah that's kinda what i was planning to do. i think i whacked it with the a/t on its way out from under the car back in february... and the engine really hasn't run right since. I was thinking it would be an electrical problem like something in the ignition (the rough equivalent of coilpacks, i guess that'd be the coil plug and the wires) but i hadn't really found any good reason for it to be doing that so far. i was doing unbolting my oilpan earlier today and i noticed the 3-inch crack in the canister...

 

Yes, they are kinda on the expensive side, not too bad though..(about $50)

Yes, it is possible to have a bad coilpack that is not cracked.

 

is there any real way of testing a coil pack without a roadtest? like so you could get one from the JY rather than buying a new one?

 

coil packs are like the only thing left that I've never replaced. I just got done inspecting them, no cracks anywhere. I've heard of wrapping with electrical tape can temp. bandage it. so I threw that nice and tight on all of them. re-installed. did a road test:

started car, it did the same kind of hessitation thing for 1 second. hessitation as if not enough juice...or maybe a voltage spike form bad coilpack? But then it started. I tried to replicate my driving to get it to do it again. ran fine, it would not do it. Took it onto highway, and it gets up quick and without any hesitation at all. seemed to run very smooth.

at idle with shifter in neutral the idles very very slightly fluctuates, maybe +/- 50rpm in no particular pattern

We will see how it runs tomorrow morning when I go to work.

thanks for the help guys

 

Id say not coilpack.. cause when my max needed some new coilpacks, it didnt effect it at ALL at idle.. only during acceleration, and sorta heavy acceleration too.. if i kept it under 2500 it didnt take much effect.

change the fuel filter first definitely, since you havent in 2 years.. its only like a $15 part.. and only takes 10 mins.

since my car was just running sorta how you describe, my guess would be on injectors.

 

kinda yes, kinda no. and i'm not just saying that b/c greeny said so.

his car may not be acting just like yours did, but the same failure can sometimes affect one car differently from another. for example there are many symptoms of injector failure that a car with bad injectors can have... a car with bad injectors may have some of the symptoms but not all, depending how many injectors are failing, how they are failing, the overall condition of the engine otherwise, and other factors. when my o2 had a broken gnd wire, the only symptom i ever noticed was crappy MPGs. none of the other symptoms ever popped up. and sometimes if i forget to replug my MAF plug it'll studder when i press the gas.. sometimes it won't.

plus he bandaged up his coilpacks and they are working better *for now*

 

As said, failed semiconductor does not need to have crack, leaking all smoke out is enough. Tape is bad remedy on smoke ... When all has leaked = dead component ...
--->Coilpacks, packed with coils -and- to be fried -electronics.

Testing a coilpack would need the compressed test bench with the sight glass view to a sprk plug gap. Then pulsing the coilpack and viewing for the spark. Then a blowtorch to simulate the heat, hammering to simulate the abuse...

TPS works on cold engine, and always on tranny. Can be...

MAF...?

 

clogged cat?

 

full warpspeed exhaust, got the cat from them too. maybe 4 years ago.
don't think its the cat but not rulling it out.


as far as coil packs. what do you guys reccomend? All new? used ok? where to buy them and to trust if they work or not? I see an entire set, front and back for $75 used on ebay. but can I trust they work...

 

ebay = crap shoot
used = crap shoot in long term
new = expensive

 

me = broke

anyone here sellin some used ve coil packs that are known to work?

you sell them mr. automart? if you do is it just the top part of coil pack, or the extension too? and how much

 

just the coil itself, the boot is not included

 

I was having the exact same problem as you, and I too put seafom in my gas tank, crank case, and brake booster vacuum.

This problem started after I

1. Had Injector #2 & #5 Replaced
2. Put 1/2 Can Seafoam in Crancase then immediately changed oil, 2 Cans in gas tank over 2 applications over 1 month. 1/2 Can in brake booster 'burn out'.
3. Had Fuel Pump Replaced

The problem has gone away, BUT, last night I wanted to get that Lucas Oil Stabalizer gunk out of my engine, so I drained the oil. Put new oil in. Then when I was idling the car to do the dipstick test it started doing that chugging coughing type thing like it was about to stall. I immediately turned the car off. Prior to this stalling the same day, I replaced the fuel filter.

It hasn't done anything since. I do by the way have a hole somewhere in my exhuast system...likely the Header Pipe, so this may have something to do with it? Could the Seafoam have clogged something?

By the way, now the car won't start. I tried 40X, and now all I get is a single CLICK sound...all the lights and dash work. Before the click I was getting this grinding sort of sound and it wouldn't engage. I looked at my battery terminals and I notice the grease was bubbling slightly on the +ve connector, and slightly smoking.

The car has intermittently been doing this over the past few months. They checked the Alternator and said it was fine. Tommorow I'll likely try and replace the Starter.

 

Id say starter, and hopefully the fuel filter was what was causing your prob, hopefully mine too, I will replace it tomorrow. but I think I have a faulty coil pack(s)

as far as your battery goes...what kind of battery is it? how old? try cleaning all of the connections good with wire brush and use some dielectrical grease and tighten it down good...ive never seen a battery do that

 

IT's a brand new 2 week old Energizer battery I bought from Wal-Mart. 700 CCA. I cleaned the connectors with sandpaper to expose new metal, prior to installing them onto the battery terminals. I coated both the terminals and the connectors with the dark brown NLGI No. 2 Lithium Multi-purpose Grerase, before sliding them on and tightening them.

This intermittent no start problem was happening with the old battery too. Very difficult for me to reproduce though.

By the way, after trying to start it some more, I notice the smoking was either the grease bubbling as it started to heat up, and the rubber cable jacket around the -ve connector looked like it was melting. I tried to hit the starter moderately with a pliers, and I notice the rubber housing around the connector attached to the starter was extremley hot, too hot to touch.

 

hmm, I dont know...you check the ground points? defective starter maybe?

 

btw what are coil packs suppose to ohm at again? 10.8 k ohms? 10.8 m ohms? not sure how high/low to set my multimeter

 

I have been driving it around a bit...with it cold, with it fuly warm...
I am finding it runs great when its cold. But it seems once its warmed up...I have like no power in the lower rpms...1-2.8k once it gets to 3k+ it pulls. Its wierd because when it cold i can do a good launch from a red light, but once it warms up, i cant. Im gonna try a resistor in the knock sensor to see if thats it. you guys have any ideas what else it could be? still coil pack issue possibly?

 

I just drove a few miles now, with car warmed, and resistor in ks harness.
My butt dyno approved. seems to run fine now with that resistor in there.can launch off a red light alot quicker now without the hesitation in low rpm's..I replaced the knock sensor a few years ago..maybe I have a harness issue or maybe the KS was dropped and was faulty in the first place. anyone know where to get new KS w/ harness? looks like I will be doing the job again.

 

Starter is defective - it was doing it again today. Got stranded for about 2 hrs, and started knocking it again with the end of a jack handle, finally it started. Tommorow I'm defenately replacing. By the way the smoke was actually coming out of the starter - I notice a tiny exhaust hose on my starter that the smoke was spewing out of.

 

exhaust hose on the starter?

 

it's the rubber vent tube sticking straight down out of the starter casing

 

So now that is finally warm outside, I was driving around, went to go by my work to get paid. And the car started doing it again, acting like fuel filters clogged...
I thought the problem was the KS, I put a resistor in and it seemed to go away. But today, it did it again even with the resistor in the KS harness.

So I am thinking Green was right...not that I thought he was wrong, but i go with the cheap easier ones first to see if that works. Only thing I can think of is I have a bad coil pack somewhere. I put electrical tape around them also when I put the resistor in the KS. maybe the electrical tape minimized it, because since I've done it, its ran great except for today. nice and warm outside.

anyone else have any ideas other than coil packs? car bucks and is sluggish it seems anywhere from 1-3k..unless I go WOT, or just a notch or two before WOT, hard quick 80% press on the pedal. but as soon as I ease back off the gas so i don't rear end someone, it starts doing it again. I pulled over, looked to make sure the resistor was still in the harness to fool ecu, and it was. Started it back up and go home no problems... Damn intermitent problems

 

Be sure to check ALL of your sensor connectors for corrosion (green looking crap) before going any further.. Remove the connectors from the sensor/look at the male/female connectors inside the sensor and harness for the corrosion..

 

I've looked at alot of connectors to various componets and sprayed with electrical parts cleaner:
--->coil packs
--->injectors
--->TPS (this does need replacing, green crap deep inside the connector ECU side ) I've cleaned and scrapped with wire brush, and tested it with mutli meter, seems to work ok...rarely it gives me a high idle after warmed up, a slight wiggle and it gets back to normal.
--->CTS coolant temp sensor
--->CPS
basically every connector I could get to i checked and cleaned out.

I don't think the TPS would cause the problem of intermitent bucking/sluggishness (except WOT) could it? seems like coil pack issue. plugs are only few months old

 

I haven't read through the thread but have you checked for codes, or just replaced the cts(coolant temp sensor) ??

 

well does anyone know what would happen if the TPS indicated IDLE when the throttle was not at idle? seems like it might mess you up a little..

 

If you can "wiggle" the tps connector, and the car regains it's drivability, then you have found most if not all of your problem right there..The connector harness female pins may be spread out to the point where they are not making good(tight) contact with the tps male pins=intermittent contact problems= life with a woman ..but anyhoo all joking aside, take a small instrument of some type(like a super small flathead screwdriver for eyeglasses) to smash the connector pins inside the tps harness connector, this should give you better contact with the male pins on the sensor

 

Ill go try that out right now. I checked computer for codes and get only 55 meaning all circuits are good. but we all know how well our computer picks problems up.

So TPS could really cause that big of a problem during acceleration? Looks like I will be hitting up the pull a part yard very soon for some connectors i can splice on for a perma fix, until then, guess i will clean it up and wire brush it and try to smash those pins on tight inside the connector.

 

ok so i just pulled the connector off, cleaned and scrubbed both female and male connections. Bent the female connections to make like virgin connector oncemore, touched for the very first time got rid of wizard sleeve (joke)

Test drive and it runs good, accels at lights good, seems to react to when it should shift a tad bit sooner. dont know if its in my head, but sometimes when I am cruisin 40mph then slow to 20, then try to accel it takes a sec, nothing abnormal to down shift, but it seems a bit quicker on the response to shift. And I didn't get any bucking or boggin or sluggishness.

When I was getting the TPS high idle thing which was kinda rare, that only seemed to affect it in neutral, and also its been giving me the rare high idle for a good few months. this bucking/sluggish problem has just been recent, last 1-2weeks.

Hopefully the female connections being loose and sloppy was the problem of my accelerating/ 1-3k rpm cruising. We shall see how it runs when I go to work tomorrow at 3am . I will be combing through junk yards for some connectors soon, and some spare non cracked coil packs if I can find any.