Engine skipping during hard acceleration

pryord · pryord's Garage

During hard acceleration, my engine is not providing smooth power. The car lurches and bumps a little. Everything else seems fine. What should I check out first? ... or point me to a thread.

David

Zeke · 10-31-2003, 06:27 AM

Plugs, then wires. If that doesn't do it, check points, then swap out CDI. Sounds to me like it's ignition related. If not, maybe it's the CIS, which is beyond me. Do each step and then try it so you know what it was.

Don Plumley · Don Plumley's Garage

I'm with Zeke - same issue with my '87, after looking at everything else, it was a bad plug.

stlrj · 08:37 AM

Had a similar problem with my 86 Carrera, seems she would foul a plug every thousand miles or so and sometimes even sooner. This had been going on for years, so I chalked it up to "that's just the nature of the beast" and went on replacing the plugs everytime she sputterd.

Then, I discovered something by chance after washing my car. My engine would have a hard time starting and then run like crap until the ignition cables dried...hint? That's when I got the idea to replace my wires and the rest was history. I haven't fouled a plug in over 3k miles and my engine runs fine afer getting wet from a wash or even after being hosed from degreasing.

That's how I came up with the H2O test. You might try that or wash your car with the engine at idle if you're afaid to hose your engine directly.

Cheers,

Joe

pryord · pryord's Garage

Thanks, I'll check the wires right now. I replaced all the plugs a few thousand miles ago. Am I just looking for one that's discolored?

JackT · 10-31-2003, 12:56 PM

If you check all the above and are still having a problem, check the Warm up Regulator. They have been known to cause a miss under load.

Zeke · 10-31-2003, 05:52 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by pryord
Thanks, I'll check the wires right now. I replaced all the plugs a few thousand miles ago. Am I just looking for one that's discolored?

Not necessarily. That condition would indicate an imbalance in the fuel delivery or low compression in that cylinder. All the plugs should be fairly uniform in color. But, if a plug broke down, it might show up on the plug. However, I would think that you would have more of a missing problem than you have if it discolored the plug(s). Go for the wires. I did recently and it made a world of difference.

Speedy1 · Speedy1's Garage

this hapened to me once the coil wire was burned in two new wire and off she went!