i have changed the fuel pump and filter, and the o2 sensor to see if it would help my problem, going up hills and pushing down the gas to keep it at freeway speeds or sometimes slower, seems to happen more often with more weight in the car, it sputters really bad and rumbles sometimes i can keep pushing the gas and it takes a few seconds and goes away but sometimes the car fully dies, give it five min or so starts back up and the rumbling is gone. so confused!!!!

rumbling...maybe you are losing one (or more) cylinders?

does it sputter constantly or just once in a while?

any ecu codes?

Have you changed spark plugs and plug wires? Also, add a good can of injector cleaner like TL-3 or Chevron Techron. Cost is about $6/can. Don't bother using the cheap injector cleaners costing $3 or $4/can. They don't work very well.

it does not sputter very often only every once in a while going up hill usually, no check engine light, it came on once and hooked up the black wires under the dash and it gave me a 32 which said it could be the 02 sensor, losing cylinders? that doesn't sound good :/

it has been about a year or maybe two since spark plugs and wires have been changed

it does not sputter very often only every once in a while going up hill usually, no check engine light, it came on once and hooked up the black wires under the dash and it gave me a 32 which said it could be the 02 sensor, losing cylinders? that doesn't sound good :/

 

 

Sputtering when going up hill suggests to me that it is possible that you may have gotten a tank of bad gas along the way. That has happened to me in the past, and finally I figured out the gas that I bought had some water mixed in with the gas. Suggest adding a can of "dry gas." If you don't know, that is a generic name of a product that is designed to help rid your gas tank of water or moisture. Any retail car parts store will carry the product. It is inexpensive, and worth a try to see if this will help solve your problem.

ok thanks i will try it and let you know what happens

Change your plugs and wires. Your are probably seeing it mostly on hills and "loaded" because that's when the engine try's to richen the mixture for power and your are not getting proper ignition.

 

These engines seem to like annual plug changes - the wires are cheap so I generally do both.

 

GD

changed plugs and wires, went right out to a hill tried to make it up without the stumbling didn't happen, going up the hill it started losing power and right after the hill it started to stumble so i let it idle for a while while my car was rocking around then maybe a min later the rocking stopped and it was fine! this is getting annoying hahaha

this is getting annoying

 

Amen to that!

 

A longshot: Engine Coolant Temp Sensor need replacing?

 

Question: Did you use NGK plugs & OEM wires?

yeah changed to ngk plugs and oem wires

no other suggestions?

Try the HEET treatment (the water remover in the tank) also maybe a seafoam treatment. One in the tank, half a can in the crank case, and another fulll can through the intake. I made my own "delivery machine" with a 20 oz soda bottle some vinal tubing and an in line peck cock valve. Can take a pic and show you if you would like.

Hey this is just an after thought. But your cat may be starting go out/getting clogged. Thus it is loading up under hard accell and then "cooking" back off and clearing out after the "load" has gone away. Just a thought.

just put the water remover in the tank so we will see, you thinking it my be the catalytic converter?

coil?

A longshot: Engine Coolant Temp Sensor need replacing?

could this cause it to do that?

yeah i was thinking the coil too but i am not sure, and they are about a hundred bucks

The throttle position sensor and MAF sensor are other suspects that should be looked at. A partially plugged CAT is possible also and may explain the rumble noise you hear at times.

Edited August 13, 200916 yr by Cougar

there hasnt been any noise it just starts rocking the car when stopped or idling after going up hills, how would i test to see if its a maf or tps?

i've got spare coils think they are all good, they usually run about 15 or 20 at a junkyard.

A longshot: Engine Coolant Temp Sensor need replacing?

could this cause it to do that?

 

 

No guarantees but it's a possibility. When the ECU gets poor/no temp information it will default to open loop (I think) and cause the engine to go all wonky.

 

It's about $30 IIRC. Or at least it was a few years ago! Replaced mine when having some rough running and stalling problems and that pretty little EJ22 ran like new.

 

And here is a two-for-one trick: Take your IACV for a thorough cleaning, while it's out you have a clear shot at replacing the Temp Sensor!

 

Good luck.

there hasnt been any noise it just starts rocking the car when stopped or idling after going up hills, how would i test to see if its a maf or tps?

This "rocking" sounds like it might be a misfire. My Lincoln does exactly what you're describing when there is a coil going bad. But it usually sets a code for a misfire after a few times.

 

Have you replaced the fuel filter recently?

yeah fuel filter changed about two weeks ago

Do you ever hear any pinging (spark knock) when this happens?

no not any pinging, no real noise just stumbles