This mornin while drivin in the city, i stopped at a red light. When it turned green, i lightly pressed my gas pedal to start moving...

All of a sudden, the RPM needle was bouncing up and down like it's struggling to get gas, burn gas, or clogged pipes or something. RPM would bounce between .5-2000 RPM or so... iono, u guys tell me. Went a few more lights, and the same thing happened.

But in addition to this, i think whatever is causing this, is probably causing my difficulty starting as well. In cold weather, the only way my car would stay started is if i press on the gas. Or else it would just die.

Other facts: changed to +4 Bosch spark plugs few months ago (i know this aint good, but they are brand new and shouldn't be causing this much of a problem this early), almost time to change my oil (3000+ already since last change), and my fuel filter needs to be changed which i will be doing.

What i think it is:
possible clogged injectors?

very slim chance of wrong spark plug type?

very dirty fuel filter?

 

ECTS- Engine Coolant Temp Sensor
probably gone bad, i had the same problem about a month back

 

Bosch ? Put in NGKs and then get back to us.

 

Was the engine RPM's actually jumping around or was it only the tach that was really jumping. If it was just the tach, then I'd say you have a grounding issue.

 

It was the actual engine, not just the meter, i could feel the car jerking sorta...

ECTS- Engine Coolant Temp Sensor - what does this have to do with rough acceleration etc. ? just curious.

 

same question i had asked, the rpms are trying to drop while your gettingon the gas, sounds like exactly what i went thorugh and thats was how i solved the problem...

 

NM here's what i found:
ECTS- Engine Coolant Temp Sensor is:
-a temperature switch (~100 F) which goes to the idle control module
-the thermo-time switch which activates the cold start injector
-the temperature sender for the gauge
-a temperature sensor for the fuel injection
-another temperature switch (176 F) wired in parallel with the previously mentioned sensor

depending on which one of them fails...
-idle speed could be out of whack
-it will be hard to start when cold
-non-working temp gauge
-incorrect fuel mixture while the engine is warming up
-warm running might be less than optimal as the motronic box might not know to switch to closed-loop mode

Is it hard to change this? and how much is it?

 

25 bucks, 10 mins, in the upper radiator hose near the valve cover.... if you have a Haynes - its shown in there... if you don't have a Haynes, nows a good time to get one.

 

i'm having a similar problem, around 40 mph if i am on a slight downhill grade and not giving it any gas, my rpms bounce up and down until i give it some gas. really annoying. can't figure out what it is though.

 

I have the same problem. I was told it was a vacuum leak.

 

hmm...as far as i know all my vacuum sources are fine, no leaks. it frustrates me not knowing if more problems are going to arise from this.