Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Zetec Maintenance engine stuttering ish (best description)

ignition wise i have an accel s-EDIS coil and magnacor wires w/ zex 2steps cold 3prong plugs. Now the problem is this...

while it idles it stutters from time to time (maybe once every 5-10 seconds) no pattern to it. drops about 50rpms and then sits back at a normal idle.

This is what it looks like when it happens from the engine bay. youll see the engine wobble front to back at the same time it stutters but then it sits fine and purs fine.

Personally i'd say a single piston fails to fire for that period of stuttering. But what makes that peculiar is that the next time its supposed to fire... it does it just fine. The spark plugs are fine. the wires are fine. the coil is fine. everything works... but as you can tell theres still a problem I was thinking that perhaps the plugs are drawing to much power to spark fully from time to time.

Have you tried cleaning your MAF sensor?

Use an inductive timing light to check each cylinder for misses.

If one cylinder is responsible, it may also be caused by an injector problem.

If it jumps around, it may be a general a mixture problem.

Havent cleaned maf... ill try that

as for the mixture... should i add more fuel to the mix? to fix it? i dont have a timing light handy though :\

The way I cleaned it is by dipping Q-tips in alcohol and then gently swabbing the two wires that are in the "tunnel" in the middle of the MAF. I then blew it out briefly with compressed air. They should be white when they are clean.

-Dylan