97 J30 Low acceration & rough idle

[cathy]

I had check engine light and car would not have good acceleration without constant holding foot to the pedal at all times. Mechanic said, replace throttle sensor. We put it on and drove the car for approx 10 min. Ran just like it should. Went back to the shop, I paid, and turned the car on and would not even start. He adjusted the screws and it would run, but, said, in order for it to keep running the idle was not in range according to specs. I drove the car while it was not in range but would keep running. When I turned a corner the car would die. Brought back to the shop and he kept making adjustments to screws. Finally, I said, I don't care if in range or not, I have to keep the car running in order to drive. This is where I am at. It is out of specs, but, does run. Still no power in acceleration without pressing on pedal at all times or it immediately drops acceration down too quickly. Sometimes at idle it will bump from 1100 to 1800 rpm. Other times, it won't. I purchased the car with 145K last year and it has always had strong exhaust smell. There is no cod e or check engine light on currently. Latest update from mechanic is probably wiring issue. Please help! My son is leaving for college in 2 weeks and the car has to be reliable.

[driverdriver]

Welcome to NICO

I assume you live in the US? Your vehicle is an '97 correct? I would take it your vehicle to a Pep Boys, Autozone or NAPA anywhere where they can pull codes for free. You have an OBDII, so all your codes should be stored. I would report back with all the codes. What your describing can be any number of things.

Couple of questions:

(1.)Are you using at least octane 91 gasoline? The engine on J30's is a performance engine. Premium gasoline is an absolute requirement, you can't get away with using regular gasoline. This could also possibly explain your exhaust smell.

(2.) Have the sparkplugs been replaced? If they where replaced, where they replaced with OEM NGK plugs? Sparkplugs from other brands cause huge engine issues.

[cathy]

Yes, I use midgrade, not top. This only happened after replacing the throttle body sensor. Now, same issue as prior to installing, but, no check engine light......thanks for the response and advice for going to local auto parts vendor.

[driverdriver]

Use the highest octane gasoline on these cars. Lower grades don't burn well (and cause mechanical problems down the road), which would explain your exhaust smell issue.