SOLUTION FOUND.

OP:

I recently performed a tune-up, and since then i have had this problem... when i accelerate (from conservative to spiritedly), it feels like i'm running out of gas.

here's the work i did that may or may not have something to do with it...

seafoam in brake booster... somehow 2/3 (+/-) of the bottle (or whatever was left over from what was used in the gas tank, which was roughly 1/3) got sucked up, killed the engine, and i had to flick the ignition several times before it would turn over, there may be some residue?

ngk iridium spark plugs... they may be overtightened? does it matter which direction they are pointing?

^^ 2 screws from my coil packs got lost (one from each of two rears), but the coil packs seem to be fitting fine and snug?

new WIX fuel filter... faulty filter?

STP oil additive with my quaker state 10/30... probably unrelated?

i'm especially concerned about the seafoam and spark plugs, but i wanna hear your opinions, cause i'm up in arms.

SOLUTION:

2 parts:
1) the 2 coil pack screws missing left the 2 coil packs each missing a screw to be slightly loosened compared to if they had both been fully tightened, possibly causing the spark plugs to not spark.

2) the "EVAP canister purge volume control valve" was malfunctioning... took it apart and it was missing the spring inside.

A combination of the above problems seems to have been the reason for my issue. I'll be monitoring this possible solution from here on out. FWIW, since i replaced/repaired the above problems, i can definitely feel a difference. Could be coincidental, but I'll know for sure eventually.

If this thread is not updated to "solution not found", consider this the definitive solution! thanks for all the help.

tyler

 

None of that will cause issues.

What do you mean it feels like you're running out of gas? Is it misfiring, hesitating, what?

 

i mean...

like...

i dunno lol running out of gas has a distinct feel to it

like gas isn't making it to the engine as well as it should be. whether that is because something is clogged (seafoam), fuel isn't making it through the lines properly (filter), fuel isn't being ignited (plugs / coil packs)...etc

also, i guess i might add...when i was trying to retrieve those screws, my pocket magnet broke at the head, so i have a magnetic head sandwiched in my intake manifold, but the problems were occuring before this happened.

 

you didnt put the filer upside down did ya?

 

wha?

edit: OH. the filter lol. no, i matched it up to OEM and put it in the same way

 

to get to the fuel filter did u remove the intake by any chance? maybe a leak somewhere, but youd probably know that by now or it wouldnt idle at all. any codes? cel flashing at you?

 

no CEL. i did remove the intake (well, the upper half of the airbox) to put in a popcharger, but this was a long while ago and didn't have any problems with it.

 

If your spark plugs are not gapped correctly you may be losing power there. What did your gaps measure? Or did you just throw them in?

 

Maybe a kinked fuel line????

 

This isn't of much help, but the last time I seafoamed my old Taurus it started doing the same thing. I ended up selling the car to a friend for cheap, but in that case I had suspected it was the seafoam in the gas loosened some sort of gunk or heavy deposits in the fuel system somewhere and subsequently caused a blockage in fuel flow. Whether that was the case or not, I have no idea.

Also, when you did your tuneup, you didn't clean or mess with your MAF sensor by any chance did you?

 

i was assured by orly's that they were pregapped, so i didn't bother. should i pull them back out and check? what is the gap for iridiums?

that makes sense. anyone know of an easy way to degunk fuel lines? will deep creep take care of this?

no, should i?

 

Not necessarily, a maf sensor problem could explain the issues you are having with your car, however, since you say the issues started right after your tune up and you didn't mess with the MAF sensor during your tuneup, it is unlikely your MAF sensor would develop problems at the same time coincidentally.


When you say it feels like it is running out of gas, do you mean when you go from accelerating lightly to more aggressively, the car sputters a bit, delays, then takes off? If so that is identical to the problem I had with my old Taurus right after seafoaming it.

 

that is actually very accurate. how can i solve this problem OTHER THAN selling the car?