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Bucking in 3rd gear

S

starjammir

Hard-core CEG'er
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Aug 14, 2004
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Lapeer, Mi
This is for a 01 cougar v6 5 speed. 90K miles. I replaced the plugs but that did not do much. It only seems to buck between 2-3500 RPMS in 3rd gear only. Some days its worse than others. Any thoughts on this?
 
If it's about 40 mph when it bucks, could be the ignition wires, carbon tracking on a plug, or loose connection. I had a problem where the #2 sparkplug had a carbon track on the insulator, even though plugs and wires were new. The carbon came from dirt on the plug. Try cleaning the sparkplug boots inside and greasing with silicone ignition grease. Also, sometimes it's hard to snap on the plug boots. If you have less than 1/4 tank see if the problem stops with a fill up. If it does, fuel pump issue (common problem).
 
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mine bucks in 4th at like 2500 to 3k somewhere in there
if i put it in 3rd or 5th it stops weird its got 114k miles orignal clutch engine and tranny
 
starjammir said:
This is for a 01 cougar v6 5 speed. 90K miles. I replaced the plugs but that did not do much. It only seems to buck between 2-3500 RPMS in 3rd gear only. Some days its worse than others. Any thoughts on this?
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you replaced them eh?

gonna have to go with trying different wires, but I almost feel like this is an issue that wont get resolved and will just nickel and dime you till you give up.
 
Sorry Jared, you replaced the plugs lol. Ill try out the wire ideas and see where I get. If that doesnt work...IMRC from the SVT
 
I've had exactly this problem for about six months...weird that it's only in third gear. Took it to the shop and the mechanic (whom I've dealt with for years and trust) said everything checked out okay and to "learn to live with it."
 
katabatic said:
I've had exactly this problem for about six months...weird that it's only in third gear. Took it to the shop and the mechanic (whom I've dealt with for years and trust) said everything checked out okay and to "learn to live with it."
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Thats what I told her to do. Its really weird though. Oh well life goes on.
 
DeepDishSVT said:
check the fuel pump. had similar problem in third gear when I floored it.
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Yep, get a fuel pressure guage & keep an eye on it when the symptoms occur. If you haven't replaced the fuel filter in the last 30k or so, do it now - won't hurt, it's cheap, & is needed maintenance anyway.

It is quite common for the bucking to be plug/wire related, but that usually becomes less noticable when rpms are way up (5k+).
 
Wonder if it is an alternator issue like mine.

Between 1500 and 2000 rpms my lights and engine buck and surge. Faster or slower all is well. Will be doing alternator replacement soon...
 
my fuel pump has also been replaced very early in its life, but iv still always had a weird stutter sometimes when i shift. it is a fuel pump. my problem anyway. fuel pumps are very finicky sometimes. though you should run the vehicle with a scan tool and watch every sensor and such and see what the ole beast is really doin when it does this. a fuel pressure gauge would be a great tool, but on a returnless fuel system i believe it may be able to be watched with a scan tool due to our lack of a fuel pressure regulator. ours have a sensor instead. thats why a wet kit can only be used instead of a dry nitrous kit. i would ohm out your spark plug wires, also ohm out your ignition coil.
 
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