88 Festiva cuts out under load

[perrydm]

My brother-in-law gave me his 1988 Festiva in summer of 07 with 267,000 miles on it so I could transport my husband to a transplant hospital 3 hours away. My husband didn't make it to the transplant -- his cancer spread. The Festiva now has 291,000 but is having some issues that have been going on for awhile and getting worse. It started losing power occasionally and you would have to let it sit awhile and then it would run fine. I was told it was probably the catalytic converter so had it replaced. That did not solve the problem so had a tune up -- still no luck. Last week they put a different coil (not new) on it but it is still cutting out on hills....dangerously so. I've already sunk quite a bit of money into trying to fix the problem and the mechanic's next suggestion is a different distributor. I'm not mechanically inclined so looking for help. I just bought my first house so money is REALLY tight and I don't want to spend hundreds more unneccisarily and really can't take on car payments right now. Any suggestions?

[eurotiva]

check the pick-up coil inside the dist.

[Ogrekhan]

Hello,

My 88 behaved exactly this way. First is it a carb or fuel injection? If its carbed the fuel filter is on the firewall behind the motor i believe more towards the drivers side. Its a plastic Item with rubber fuel line attached to each end. Its a cheap fix to try and it cleared my problem right up.

[batstiva]

If it is an 88, then it is carbed. FI didn't happen until the autos came along in 89. IIRC. Think euro might be on to something. If you add your location, might be someone nearby who could help. Just a thought, we are all pretty rabid about keeping Festivas on the road.

[redstiva]

sorry to hear about your husband.
I agree with the previous posts check your fuel filter and I would throw a bottle of lucas fuel system treatment in the tank on the next fill up. I drove mine back from houston to san antonio it did something similar it would sputter though and then die. But to check and replace fuel filter is definitely the quickest and cheapest fix

[perrydm]

Thanks!

Thanks to all for your suggestions. Took car in today to try fuel filter replacement -- just spoke to mechanic and he said filter was fine. However he pulled off distributor cap and said distributor is worn and loose?....he thinks this is definitely a contributing factor. He is trying to locate a used or rebuilt one. I was hoping for a cheap, easy fix but looks like that is not gonna happen! Thanks for your responses -- I'll post back after the distributor fix -- if I can get one! I enjoyed browsing this website....you folks are some serious Festiva lovers!!! Can't say I blame you -- I've gotten pretty attached to Little Red over the past 25,000 miles. I've gotten REALLY attached to getting great gas mileage so hope I can keep Little Red on the road!

[JPT]

Good luck to you. Hope you get it fixed.