not smooth acceleration

This forum has been very good to me with solving my other problems in the past.

Now I have a "minor" problem which might lead to a "major" problem - so I would like to "nip it in the bud", sort of speaking.

When I accelerate fast, The engine performs like new!

When I accelrate slowly, she acts like she hesitates or bucks, but not violantly, but very gently.

A new driver might not even notice this but I do. I have had the car for 1 year and I do not remember that it did this then.

Is this "characteristic" of my model or do I need to do some tune-up?

It still has everything original except the battery, air and oil filters.

Maybe I need new wires, plugs and fuel filter?

Any discussion is appreciated!

plugs wires and a fuel filter are a good start ...


all I can relate to is when my plug wires went bad I got major hesitation at low rpm ...

BrApple said:

plugs wires and a fuel filter are a good start ...


all I can relate to is when my plug wires went bad I got major hesitation at low rpm ...

Click to expand...

Gonna have to agree with brapple on this one, although you have an astonishingly low amount of miles for the age of that car, Some things still wear out only with age (not mileage). Plug wires would be a great start... In fact I would say while you are at it you probably should just replace the spark plugs too. Get a set of Autolite or Motorcraft plugs and throw them in there. A fuel filter would also be a good idea. All of these parts shouldnt run you any more then $50

looks like time 4 tune-up

looks like time 4 tune-up

Thanks guys - A tune-up it is - maybe within next couple of weekends!

Aliasjerk - got the garge-kept car with 33,000 miles on it from a small town used car lot owner who personally knew the 80 year old owner who could not drive any more. The old guy just put a set of excellent tires and new brakes then couldn't drive it. Even the interior looked new.

Hey Dennis,
Fuel filter, plugs, and wires are all good suggestions. Something else you may want to consider is the EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) system. There's a sensor in there called a DPFE (differential pressure feedback blah-blah) that can cause some symptoms similar to yours. Mine had a slight hesitation under part throttle cruising- mild acceleration, and the DPFE seems to have been the culprit.
A quick method of ruling it out is to just disable the EGR by either pulling and plugging the hose to the EGR valve, or clamping off the hose that supplies vacuum to it.
Make sure the car is warmed up before trying this method (EGR is disabled when the engine is cold). The car may run a little warmer while the EGR is disabled, the EGR dilutes the intake charge with a bit of exhaust, and helps to cool combustion temperatures.

Here's a couple of links to articles that will help explain:

http://www.focushacks.com/index.php?modid=66 and http://www.focushacks.com/index.php?modid=80
An excellent description of the EGR/DPFE system is in this link: http://www.fordscorpio.co.uk/egrmonitor.htm

Good luck M8,
Will

great stuff!

great stuff!

WillBob

What a guy! Great info. I printed all the info and will put it in the car's file. Will do tune-up 1st and if I need a new EGR, I will do that also.

By the way, in the past I replaced EGR and other electronic sensors in a 2.2 Subaru horizontally opposed 4, a 2.5 Dodge inline 4, a 3.8 Dodge v6, a 3.4 Chevy v6. Don't recall any of them running better after wards.