Car hesitating

[Chris111]

When I accelerate the car hesitates if I give it more throttle or change the throttle a little. This happens under all types of driving. I was thinking it could be the tps but I wasn't sure because I figured that it would throw a check engine light? I'm going to do a tune up anyways tonight but I dont think that has anything to do with it because the car idles and cruises fine. Any help would be great.

thanks, Chris

[s13sr20chris]

do you have a multimeter? you can test the voltages at the pins of the tps to see if it is operating properly.

[Chris111]

No I dont have one so but i'm sure someone I know should have one. What else could it be?

[s13sr20chris]

shoot, it could be a million things. try wiggling the harness and tapping on the maf sensor. determine if its a rich or lean condition or if its spark related. check plugs for fouling.

[Chris111]

I can't really do that because it only does it when i'm driving, not at idle. It might sputter or something.....i'll still give it a try.

[Chris111]

I took the cap and rotor off today and they looked fine. I dont know what the rotor wear should look like so I went to replace it but i have to order the parts because they dont have them in stock. They had the plugs in stock so I bought them but I planned on waiting until I get the cap and rotor as well. I didn't check the plugs because I was going to replace them and I would see them when i pulled them out to replace them. I'm begining to think that it would have anything to do with spark because it doesnt' miss, just hesitates. It seems like it's something a little more than that.

[Chris111]

I forgot to say that i played with the maf and nothing happend. The idle didn't change at all.

[s13sr20chris]

you really need to monitor all your sensor data during the malfunction one way or another.

[Chris111]

Well i changed the plugs today. They all had white tips and they were dirty as junk. Two of them had a little oil on them as well. I drove the car after and it seemed to be acting worse than it did before.

[Prelude Guy]

I have the same problem. I still have not been able to figure it out.

I changed my plugs, wires, dist. cap, rotor, O2 sensor, alternator, ground wire, coolant temp switch, catalytic converter, fuel pump, throttle position sensor, and I checked the MAF on a friends 240. Still bogging/hesitating. I ran injector cleaner and new gas too.

I found the hose that connects to the bottom of the BPT device to have a hole in it. I replaced it but it still doesn't run right. I looked for other holes in the hoses but I could not find anything else.

I am going to have the timing checked

[Chris111]

Well thats not cool. I just dont know what to do. I also changed the fuel filter tonight and that didn't help. I'm running out of ideas and I might just have to take it to nissan just to see whats wrong.

[Prelude Guy]

Chris111, did you buy your car with this problem or did it just start for you??

I bought my car this way so I have no idea what led up to it. The car sounded like a diesel when I bought it but after an oil change, it is quiet again.

Oh, I changed my fuel filter too. No change.

I wanted to see if I could fix this problem myself because all the parts I changed to see if it resolved the issue I was going to change anyway. The only parts that I changed that I wasn't expecting to was the cat and the coolant temp switch. I was going to upgrade the fuel pump when I get the SR swap anyway.

[Chris111]

I bought the car with the problem. When i bought the car it wasn't drivable because the brakes had some issues and now that I have that worked out I have this problem. I cleaned my maf sensor and connections today and nothing helped. I checked the grounds that are from the battery to the chassis that goes to the intake manifold and the one that goes from the valve cover to the firewall. I dont know if there are anymore grounds? I checked to see if it did this when I'm not driving and it did. I eased on the throttle from the tb to about 5-15% and held it and it would sound like it was missing/sputtering, hesitating, ect. and then it would start to rev to the rpm it should be at. I haven't been able to test the tps because I dont have a multimeter. I just dont know what it is.

[benemorius]

I'd get a multimeter if I were you. They're inexpensive and very handy. You can use it to test a multitude of sensors and whatnot.

And if the plugs had oil I'd go ahead and do a compression test as well. Compression is always good to know. I think the compression tester can be had for not much more than a multimeter, though you won't use it half as often.

[Prelude Guy]

Yup, pretty much the same problem I am having. I've been trying to figure it out myself casually since Aug. It's not my daily driver so I haven't needed to fix it until now. My brother needs a car to drive to work. He's waiting to use it now.

I have a spare TPS. If you need it, let me know.

If you figure out the problem, let me know. I will do the same too.

[Chris111]

I already have a comp tester.

Will do.

[Chris111]

I've noticed that it's worse when the motor is cold. It jerks when it's cold and hesitates when it's warmed up.

[s13sr20chris]

is the hesitation like an ignition misfire?

[s13sucksalot]

i've got the same problem going on. It started to act up when it started getting cold back in sept. or so. I'd just be cruising down the road and it would start to have a SEVERE pulse in the throttle. I got it towed home and when i went to show someone, it wouldn't act up. so i thought nothing of it, untill it did it again. I started loosing coolant and spitting water out the tailpipe so we replaced the head gasket thinking this would solve the problem. I was dissapointed to find the problem as returned. after hearing the list of things that Prelude Guy has replaced, this has eliminated all of the things that i thought might be bad. i've found that by sitting on the side of the road with the engine off for just a little while, the problem goes away. it will start, idle rough for a little while, then clear right up. it also seems to be less severe and the wait time is less the more it occurs. so chris, you're not the only one with this problem....

[s13sr20chris]

can you pull individual plug wires off to isolate which one is causing the misfire?