Any help or suggestions will be appreciated...

[lessersivad]

If this problem just all of a sudden started, my vote is for bad fuel.

Not festy, but a guy here in town had a problem with a '91 GMC doing basically the same thing. It DID have CEL lit up so jumpered and got the codes.

He changed the parts and all was fine till one day it ran like you are describing. No CEL and he was about to throw more parts at it.

Before doing that, he drained the gas and put in fresh from a different station. Problem solved.

[TorqueEffect]

Yeah I had some gas with too much water in it when the worst of the cold happened a few weeks ago, and car ran, but ran like complete crap, like it would barely stay running. Then by noon it had got about 5 degrees warmer outside and finally decided to start running properly again.

Needless to say I started putting HEET in the tank on those extremely cold days to remove the water.

[bravekozak]

I did not think of hesitation for some reason...I searched "fuel starved".."bucking, stuttering". I guess hesitation would of described it better. Bad search skills I guess.

I am only typing in the words that you yourself used to describe the problem in post #1. The next search would have been for "jerking" or "stumble".

Good luck.

There were a lot of cars damaged in Toronto once by bad gas from Shell.
They lost a lot of customers. I had no EFI so it just ran bad for a while. I had no idea. A lot of other people had to pay out of their pocket.

BP had the same problem last summer.

I always keep my gas receipts.

[TorqueEffect]

Just switched to using Shell myself, already notice a very slight improvement over Speedway/Maration gas.

Maybe Shell and BP are just sending their crap gas to Canada. :p

By far the worst gas I ever seen is Sunoco. Never tried Swifty, but I just don't trust their gas at all.

[lessersivad]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVOJ2RqNYzg

[zoom zoom]

Ground that wire out and make sure that it's not throwing a code, they don't always cause the check engine light to come on!!

[jimdigs]

Ground that wire out and make sure that it's not throwing a code, they don't always cause the check engine light to come on!!

Ground what wire out?

[dalebwilson]

The wire Zoom Zoom may be referring to is the ST1 diagnostic wire. It is a single wire with black connector located near the brake booster area. It should be yellow in color with a green stripe. With the ignition switch off, run a jumper wire from ST1 to ground. Turn the ignition switch on and count the number of times the CEL flashes. That will be your code. Do you have a Haynes manual? The entire procedure and code identification is covered in the manual.

[dalebwilson]

Here are the codes that I retrieved from the Repair forum:

Carb Trouble Codes

01- Ignition coil signal

09- Coolant temperature sensor

13- MAP sensor or circuit

15- Oxygen Sensor Malfunction

17-Feedback system

18- Air bleed control valve #1

19- Air bleed control valve #2

20- Air bleed control valve #3

21- Air bleed control valve #4

22- Fuel shutoff solenoid/ circuit

28- EGR vacuum solenoid

29- EGR vacuum solenoid

31- Air Control Valve solenoid

34- Idle-up solenoid

35- Idle-up solenoid

38- EFE heater relay

70- Vacuum switch

EFI Trouble Codes

01- Ignition Diagnostic Monitor (1990-1993)

02- Crankshaft Position Sensor (1990-1993)

03- Cylinder Identification Sensor (1990-1993)

03- Camshaft Position Sensor (1994-later)

04- Crankshaft Position Sensor (1994-later)

06- Vehicle Speed Sensor

08- Airflow sensor (1990-1993)

08- Mass Air Flow Sensor (1994-later)

09- Coolant Temp Sensor

10- Intake Air Temperature Sensor

12- Throttle Position Sensor

14- Barometric Pressure Sensor

15- Oxygen Sensor

16- EGR Valve Position Sensor

17- Oxygen Sensor

25- Fuel Pressure Regulator Control Solenoid

26- Solenoid Valve (purge control)

28- EGR Control Solenoid (1994-later)

29- IAC Solenoid (1994-later)

34- IAC valve (1990-1993)

[jimdigs]

Thanks for taking the time with all the info.

[jimdigs]

You guys think the Volume Air Flow Meter or VAF lever might be sticking or dirty? Would that cause whats happening or do most of you still think its just bad gas?

[dalebwilson]

It's possible. Pull the hose off that attaches to the VAF. Take a pencil eraser and gently push on the door inside.

[jimdigs]

Well, the door inside the VAF moves freely. I took the hose from the VAF to the throttle body off and cleaned it out best I could. The car is strange. One day it will run pretty good with little hesitation but still no power in 5th gear. I put the pedal to the floor and no response. I just filled up the tank with premium gas and that didn't help either. Friday when leaving work it didn't want to turn start for a minute. It eventually fired up. What the heck. Guess this will be another of those threads that never get an answer to them. If I ever find out what fixes this mess I'll post it in this thread, some day.

[SiliconSoul]

You should try seeing if its throwing a code but not reporting it like zoom-zoom suggests. Quick and easy to do!

[jimdigs]

So this afternoon I went to the festiva to go to work and the car would not start. We had a bunch of rain last night and today. I check the distributor cap and plug (both new) I wipe em all down anyway, still no start. I check if I have spark by putting the coil wire close to metal and I have spark but its orange looking. I try starting the thing til I kill the battery. I call in to work to let em know I'm stranded. The crazy part of this is that today in the mail I received a coil that I had ordered online. I bought it because of suggestions from other posts that it may help with my hesitation problems I'm having. I slap the thing on, getting soaked out in the rain. The festiva fired up. After a jump start from my daughters vehicle of course. What the heck!! What are the odds I would receive the coil the same day it won't start without it?