I have a 95 GLE with 132K miles and lately when i've been driving (the car probably was in storage for about a month or so, plus it was my mom's car so i rarely drove it before) the engine feels like its spurting power on and off (very subtle but i can feel it). There are 2 kinds of symptoms:

1) At a stop a light, I can feel the engine running on idle..but it'll feel like its losing power all of a sudden and then it'll go back to normal. it just keeps fluctuating until I start driving it again

2) While i'm driving, with the foot at a constant pressure on the gas pedal, it feels like its losing some power and then it'll go back again (similar to how it feels at a stop except more pronounced since i'm putting more load on the engine)

It's about time to do an oil change so I plan on doing that soon. I have had the belts replaced half a year ago and the car barely has been driven. I also plan on changing the spark plugs soon.

any ideas?

Thanks!
Tony

 

What you plan on doing might solve the problem. While your doing the maintenance clean the TB and change the air filter. I suggest giving it a good tune up. One thing that came to mind was, maybe the MAF is dirty or no longer doing its job. Best of Luck!!!

 

what does MAF mean?

 

Mass Air Flow sensor... its that black square shape this on th eintake right before the resonator.... when mine was going bad.. it used to do that.....

 

Check the air intake sensor it could be bad, I had the same problem. I replace air intake senser and that fixed the problem.

 

There's a plethora of things you can check to diagnose your problem. If your feeling hesitation and loss of power during acceleration and idle your probably looking at a malfunction or at least something dirty in your fuel and air delivery system.

If you want to pinpoint your problem you'll have a lot of things to check.

Air System: Air Filter, Secure connections, secured sensors, test ground voltage on MAF, clean IACV and TB

Fuel System: Check Fuel Pump, FPR, Fuel Filter, Fuel Lines for leaks, Spark Plugs, Coil Packs, Fuel Injectors, and all respective o-rings and gaskets.

Give it a good tune up and cleaning and your hesitation will probably go away

 

okay i'll go down the list...i just noticed that while the engine is fluctuating..the tachometer also jumps a little up and down

does that by any chance narrow down the possibilities?

and is there any danger in the car dying on me? (hopefully not)

 

probly just dirty injectors, run some fuel system/injector cleaner and see if that makes a difference

 

Also might want to check your IACV (Idle Air Control Valve) - this is on the right side of the throttle body (connected to air filter & air box which is connected to maf). But odds sounds like MAF. After I change my MAF & cleaned the IACV, idle has been consistent after engine has warmed.

 

mines is doing the same exact thing!!!!
it feels like someone with a really big steal toe boot came over and kicked my engine one or two times.. it started only when i was idling at a stop light .. then it started happening when Im driving and i have no clue what it is... ive searched this site for answers.. but haven't really come up with any clear answers

 

as a part of regular Maintenance i've change the belts, sparks plugs, fresh oil and fuel filter .. this problem is still there... its a problem that is more serious than just doing Maintenance and hoping for the best.

 

check your coil packs, its possible that one stopped working. I believe you can unplug one at a time while the engine is running and see if it makes a different in your idle or not. If it does then that coil is fine if it dosn't then its possible that one is defective and you can go ahead and do a proper check on it.