So it started slowly last night and progressively got worse. The car stumbles (feels/sounds) like it's missing at idle. It gets worse under light load/acceleration. However, as soon as you hit the gas hard it pulls just fine all the way to redline, shifts fine etc. I pulled the plugs (which i replaced the other day, and it ran perfect afterwards, and also passed emissions flawlessly the next day) and they are white. So obviously it's running lean, but i'm not sure why. I'm thinking maybe a clogged fuel filter? Maybe a bad MAF?

Any suggestions would be kindly appreciated. Thanks you guys.

 

Just changed the fuel filter and nothing. Any ideas?

 

How many miles and what year? Can you get a video of this?

 

Check the timing!!! my guess is you might be a tooth or 2 off

 

It's been driving fine for weeks since i've bought it until last night. i can't imagine the belt could have hopped a tooth or something. wouldn't that throw a CEL also?

It's a '96 w/59k miles.

 

mine skipped a tooth on the cam at 48000 miles last summer. Before that I checked everything to find the hesitation. Just check the timing to rule it out. Could save you a lot of time looking.

 

I'll do that today for sure. Also going to throw fresh gas and some BG44k in just for reassurance that it's not bad gas or something.

 

After everything still ran like ****, timing was fine etc etc. Pulled the #5 and 7 plugs out (where the misfires were) and it ran just fine with new plugs. WTF. Oh well.

By the way, anybody done caps rotors etc themselves? I don't think i need them, but it might not hurt to do soon.

 

Cracked plugs? Glad you found the problem. Finding hesitation can be a b!t(#.

 

Glad you found the problem. Gotta love the forums.

 

With the age of the car, caps & rotors are a good idea anyway. They're available at any parts store.

 

Thanks guys, go figure right? MooJohn, how hard of a job is it? I'll search and see if there are any DIY's. Thanks guys, loving this forum more and more every time i hop on.

 

Not bad, removing all the covers is the hard part. You've gotta take the plastic covers on the bottom, once you get those outta the way, it's like two screws per side and done.

 

hmmm. word. might have to try and knock this out soon! it'll have to be in a few weeks, but it sounds like a good idea to get it done.

Thanks again everyone, much appreciated!