HELP! SERIOUS STUTTER!

[Flw Sock]

I had the same exact problem in my ranger, as well as my CRX. In my Ranger AND my CRX, I checked the distributor and noticed that they had some water in there, so you may want to check that. Even though that helped a little, I replaced the plugs and wires which totally fixed the problem.

Just my 2c

[TheresGabe]

Replaced the Fuel filter. No luck... Hmm... What next?

[meg4x]

Sometimes my car stutters too, more often in second gear, and occasionally in higher gears. I noticed it would happen more and more frequently the emptier my gas tank is (it starts at around 1/2 tank). Once I fill up the tank, the stuttering disappears almost completely. I'm thinking it might be a fuel filter issue of some sort.

[TheresGabe]

Fuel filter?

That is what I'm thinking...

[crazyrog17]

Fuel filter?

[TheresGabe]

Yee-haw... my poor little car is a Bucking Bronco in first gear this morning.

I ran it last night after dark, and no sparks. The plugs are new within the last 6 weeks, as are the wires.

I guess I'm going to do a cap/rotor tonight and see if that fixes the problem... Hmmm... I'm getting seriously frustrated. It won't do it for 10 minutes of stop and go, and then it'll buck. Sometimes it bucks only in 2nd gear, sometimes it's in 1-2-3. Usually the bucking isn't as bad, or it's not there at all, if I'm driving it like a racecar, foot down from take off...

[Bert]

I had infrequent engine stutter and occasional engine 'quits' last fall. Ultimately it turned out to be the electric sensor inside the distributor (EFI engine) that was beginning to fail. Situations like this can drive us (me, for sure) mad because injector cleaner, new fuel pump, plugs/wires/cap/rotor did not correct the problem over the course of a few months and I only ever did find out because the car died outright out on the road one day and after being towed home a replacement dizzie rectified that plus all the previous problems instantly.

[WmWatt]

Take a clean cloth and wipe off the igniton wires and distributor cap and see if that clears it up before spending time and money on the problem. If you can, remove the spark plugs and clean them too, and if possible crimp the ends of the ignition wires a bit to ensure good contact. While the spark plugs are out you could compare their condition to a spark plug chart on the Internet.

[scitzz]

I had friends who's (jeep) tps was bad enough, that they just thought their trans was actually going out! Imagine how relieved they were when I replaced that for them.

HA!

I had a recent employer who paid 2 grand for a new transmission on his tow truck, turned out all they replaced was the TPS, and pretended the job took longer than estimated.

I hate transmission shops....

[iceracerdude]

I had friends who's (jeep) tps was bad enough, that they just thought their trans was actually going out! Imagine how relieved they were when I replaced that for them.

[scitzz]

Not the gumout. David88 might be on to something. When was the last time you did a tuneup? A really easy way to check the wires is wait till dark, be somewhere with little light, and lift the hood with the engine running. Look all along the wires for little blue flashes from wires to ground. If it looks like the fourth of July under there, or even just the occasional flash, do a full tuneup.

[David88]

Plugs and wires. Plugs and wires. I had the same issue. It was plugs and wires.

[georgeb]

How much Gumout?

[Ape]

Pull yours plugs and check for hairline cracks in the porcelain. Just one tiny crack and it will cause a stutter.

[TheresGabe]

I just filled it up with Premium. It held about 7 gallons.