Anyway. 1998 Ford Escort manual, 137,000 miles. Yes, I need to buy a new car, but hopefully this won’t end too bad.
About a month ago, it started stuttering when accelerating. It’s gotten worse since then. I thought it was the fuel filter, as it followed the classic examples of fuel filter contamination, and I hadn’t changed it in around 100k miles. Took it in for an oil change and had them change the fuel filter. Fuel filter was disgusting with sludge falling out of it. That’s that, right?
Except it seemed to get a little bit better, but it still exhibits the stuttering while accelerating, and now the “service enging soon” light has come on.
I love you too zuma (One of my favorite beaches BTW)
At a 137K a stumble on acceleration could be caused by many things.
Are you doing the work yourself, or having it done?
If you are having it done, have them read the code(s) and go from there.
If this is a DIY project, then the fuel filter would have been near the top of the list. Also up there would be plugged fuel injectors bad spark plugs and a vacuum leak.
The solution for spark plugs is simple, screw in a new set. Fairly cheap,and like chicken soup, it can’t hurt.
Injectors: You can either take this to a shop who will gladly charge you between $60-100 to clean them, or you can try adding some Techron* fuel additive to the tank, and run a couple of tanks of Chevron Supreme and see if the stumble gets any better.
Vacuum leaks can either be easy or hard to find/fix. First off open the hood and with the engine running listen for a whistling/ sucking sound. If you hear it, find the source and fix it. At 137K it is not uncommon for vacuum hoses to get cracked and break, or harden and fall off of their nipples. If you find hoses that are loose on their nipples and leaking air if you don’t want to replace them, go to the auto parts store and look for some Teflon pipe dope. A little dab of this on the nipple will seal a loose vac hose.
The next step to finding a leak can be dangerous and you might want to skip it. If you do this this wrong, or get unlucky you can set your car on fire.
This is not quite as serious as it sounds, if you can keep your head. If however you panic at the sight of flames, stop reading now.
[snip]
On second thought, I’m not going to post this procedure on the board. If you (or anybody else) wishes to read it, send me an e mail, and I will send it to you along with a terrific disclaimer.
*Buy Techron by brand name. It comes in a black bottle. Nothing else.
Cars haven’t been built with points since the 1970s, so that’s out. Your car might have two fuel filters, and the Iffy Lube place may have only changed one of them.
On preview, I see that Rick’s covered everything else that I was going to mention.
This is by no means a DIY, but I’ll try the new spark plug thing today and see what happens. After all, it can’t hurt. I am afraid to admit I’ve run this thing for 100k without ever changing spark plugs. Feel free to hold me up as an example of a clueless car owner.
I’m not an idiot, but I am when it comes to car things.
The spark plugs are connected to wires and are covered in a rubber sheath thing. Can I just pull the rubber things and that would disconnect the spark plugs from the spark plug wires? From there I have to unscrew them with a spark plug wrench, right? Am I safe yanking these?
Since you have check engine light on, you can get some more data easilly.
By '98 all cars were required to conform to the OBD-II data standard, which means Auto-Zone can read the computer code for you for free.
Sometimes that will pin-point the problem, sometimes just give a clue, and rarely points in the wrong direction entirely.
One thing, If the fuel filter was dirty enough, the computer may have been compensating and you only noticed the problem when it could no longer compensate. With a clean fuel filter, it may take time to readjust the fuel map…if at all. Occasionally I think the adaptive stratigies can become unstable. There is always a procedure to restore the defaults, but I don’t know what it is for your car.
Get someone to run a fuel pressure and volume test. After so long without a free flowing filter the strain on the pump might cause it to weaken near the point of failing The pump is in the fuel tank. Fun job to change :dubious:
I should give genius Rick an update. It was indeed the spark plugs. Also, while they were in there, the pvc hose (whatever that is) had a hole in it!
Cyl 2 and 3 had misfires and the qem gap (not sure what that is) was .070 inch when it should have been .0520 - .056. I had the plugs, wires, and pvc hose replaced. If someone could decipher that it’d be fun. The car runs nice now!
The problem with pulling old plug wires is that you can pull them apart. A cheap puller is available to get behind the end piece.
I agree that you should try to decode the engine fault light. Find someone with a code reader and hook it up. At 137K you could have a bad oxygen sensor or air meter. You can save a lot of time by narrowing it down.
Is this the 1.9 liter of old that Escort’s use to have or is it a different motor?.
::: Runs zuma’s post though the jargon to English translating machine:::
The spark plugs were worn out. the gap between the electrodes should have been 0.052"-0.056" when in fact it was about 0.070". In other words the gap should have been about fifty two thousandths of an inch, but due to excessive wear, it was seventy thousandths of an inch. This caused cylinders 2 and 3 not to fire correctly all the time, and set a check engine light. qem= OEM (Original Equipment Manufacture many times just called OE for Original Equipment.) In this case the term was used to denote what the factory spec for the spark plugs should have been set at.
PVC hose = PCV Hose. Stands for Positive Crankcase Ventilation. Part of the emissions systems that takes oil fumes from the crankcase and routes them though the engine to be burned, rather than being dumped into the air to make smog. A broken hose in the PCV system allows extra air into the engine, and causes the engine to run lean, promoting misfire.
