"sputtering" issue

[forango]

I have a '95 5.0 and am having a continual issue of it "sputtering" and bucking...it is similair to a fouled plug or bad plug wire condition, but I am concerned it goes farther than that...

it does it the same time..about 1 mile down the road from the first start-up of the day(sometimes shorter distance) and it only does it while in gear..if i put the car in neutral it will be fine, put back in gear and it will do it again...usually "goosing" the throttle while in gear snaps it out of this and then it drives fine.

my main cause for concern is that it did this last week and when i went to push the gas to smooth it out the car flat died and wouldn't restart....a piece of the distributor broke in side that sends the signal to coil to fire....I am not wanting to break that again....maybe unrelated but I doubt it.

Could this possibly be a computer issue? or should it be as simple and plugs and wires, etc?

 

[evilcw311]

The pickup coils inside the distributor are notorious for issues. When you say yours broke, how did you fix it??


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[forango]

The pickup coils inside the distributor are notorious for issues. When you say yours broke, how did you fix it??


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mechanic replaced distributor...it was a tiny little metal piece in the distributor that broke off.

 

[forango]

the cap and rotor are still the same from old distributor however

 

[forango]

any ideas?

 

[forango]

Also, this car is an automatic if that makes a difference.

 

[evilcw311]

Could be the dizzy. Autozone dizzy' are notorious for being bad out of the box. Rich porters from oreilleys are your best bet.

Problem is this could also be a fuel problem such as fuel filter.

We need more info tho, when did it start?? Did it start before or after the last dizzy broke?!?


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[forango]

Could be the dizzy. Autozone dizzy' are notorious for being bad out of the box. Rich porters from oreilleys are your best bet.

Problem is this could also be a fuel problem such as fuel filter.

We need more info tho, when did it start?? Did it start before or after the last dizzy broke?!?


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it started the day I drove the car home after buying it.lol...got 200 yards away from seller and it did it but smoothed out and was good the rest of way home so i assumed wire or plug...then did it again one other time before the third time when the distributor broke.

The distributor I am thinking should be good..it is a NAPA part and warranteed

my plan is to try and get the fuel filter, plugs and possibly wires,cap,rotor handled next week and see what happens.

 

[forango]

OK, so i am fairly convinced this issue is somehow connected to the transmission...the last 3 times it happened it only starts when the car goes into O/D....if I put the car into neutral the engine revs fine, no hesitations at all...put it back in gear and it sputters and kicks again until I give enough throttle to make it downshift and push through the problem and then it is done for the remainder of the ride.

The fact that the O/D switch is not working possibly have any impact on this? I still have not figured out which relay controls that switch, but think I have a couple fuses narrowed down to check.

any info on this is greatly appreciated

 

[evilcw311]

Free-Reving the engine doesn't tell you anything as it's not under load. The fact that it happens when your in gear and worse in od just shows that it's surging at low rpm under load possibly


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[forango]

what would that lead you to believe my issue is coming from?

Free-Reving the engine doesn't tell you anything as it's not under load. The fact that it happens when your in gear and worse in od just shows that it's surging at low rpm under load possibly


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[forango]

I guess I will grab a code reader and see what it says...at the shop 2 weeks ago the only codes it was throwing were simple stuff...O2 sensors, smog delete, and the O/D switch

 

[07GtS197]

It sounds like it could be the torque converter. Pre 98 aode's and 4r70w's are known to get torque converter stutter. Pressing the gas while this happens unlocks the torque converter and stops the studder. Also it could be a bad pdfe sensor. They cause very similar symptoms. Does the od off light work in the cluster?