This one is strange.

Wether im cruising or getting on it it does this. Ill be getting on it then the car will fall straight on its face like i lifted off the throttle hard-- making a sputtering noise until i lift off completely, sometimes itll lock up the rear tires if im near redline when this happens.

If I give the car a few seconds at idle, i can get back on it.

Ive noticed the car is pretty hard to start in the morning, i have to give it 3 or 4 long tries to get her fired up.


Fuel pressure is good, 30psi at idle, 40psi wot and about ~63psi peak fuel pressure (pinching the fuel return line with pliers).

Coils are within specified ohms, CAS too.

My haynes book says that there is no way to test the ignitors, so im looking for a shop to test them.

This problem of mine feels like an ignition fault somewhere.


Has anyone had this problem before? 1988 se n/a

 

Is the ECU throwing a code?

- Dana

 

When's the last time you changed your fuel filter???

You got an s4 or s5?? S5 will store the codes.. s4 bit trickier to get the codes..

Smells like a fuel issue to me.. not ignition...

 

just changed fuel filter. Ill check codes tonight... the old led on the green connector trick.

i had a fuel pressure gauge teed into the fuel feed line, then taped to my windsheild. went for a ride and got it to act up, fuel pressure is fine during this problem.

 

Like this? link to short video

That was a worn out TPS giving fuel cuts.

 

exactly like that!, but i can rev it up in nuetral no problem. its entirely random, so maybe its time for a brand new tps?? i swapped this one already to rememdy this problem, but its a used tps as well.

 

Try some spray contact cleaner in it.

 

also, i can be WOT for like 5 seconds, then it would fall on its face. I would think if the TPS were the culprit, it would happen right away at a certain point on the TPS.

 

With a worn or dirty TPS, the ECU gets confused.
It tries to reset & go, but keeps hitting the fuel cut randomly.

You can see it in that video.
When I floor it, it runs, misses, runs, misses, several times while I was holding WOT.

 

Ahhh.. the dreaded TPS... I remember those days... not fondly, but i remember them!!!

 

I had a similar problem....I added grounds to the ECU and it help......It still show up here and there but I have not drove my car in a while.... i bet the tps is the problem....

I would pull out one day and it would pull to the redline and then another day It would act as if fuel was cuting or flooding.....I check everything.....almost.....I guess I will replace the tps when I start driving her again.

 

MY CEL blinked on the way into work today.
At 100,000+ miles, It's probably a 12 or 18.

It's one of the reasons my S-AFC is tapped to the pressure sensor instead of the TPS.

 

>>SOLVED<<

follow-up:

ok, so i fixed the car.
problems were:

code 03 -- water temp sensor behind the waterpump housing, connector is destroyed

tps wasn't set to 1k ohm, it was at 1500 or so.

 

Way to go!

Light up this thread again if it come back to haunt you..

 

i unplugged my ecu haha

 

I've been thinking my Temp sensor/plug connector is bad as well since I get this but randomly and my car idle surges around 1500 rpm.

I'll see if I can scrounge up a new sensor to see if it fixes it for me.