Why is my car sputtering?

[NismoMan03]

Ok I have a 92 coupe, with a 97 engine swap. Now when I get first start my car and its cold I can get onto it well and it acts normal. But after the engine warms up and when i mash the gas it starts to sputter or spit, and has no acceleration or power. Does the s13 and the s14 engine have the same ECU? What is diffrent between the two engines? I heard just the cam gears but im not sure... But If you know what the deal is I would greatly appreciate it.

P.S. I checked the spark pluges already.

[dennydizzo]

i wouldve guess sparkplugs...how bout the wires...mines was like that and it was the wires...

[NismoMan03]

I have new 8mm spark plug wires. Spark is good on all of them.

[redsledguy]

My car is doing the same thing. when it's cold it runs great. once it gets warm won't rev up or anything. I can put it on the floor and it just stops at like 3k or so, just depends on its mood. It had been sitting for about 6 yrs, I just bought it friday. I put a new fuel pump in it and it fired right up and ran great the first couple of times I drove it and then it started this. Put a new fuel filter on it and didn't help. also took pump back out to make sure the strainer wasn't stopped up. it was fine. I'm gonna try plugs and wires tomorrow. If that doesn't work does any1 think it could be the coil? O and when it does it if you turn the switch off for about 10 secs and turn it back on sometimes it'll run fine.. sometimes it doesn't help.

[redsledguy]

New plugs and wires. helped a little. took ignition module to O'reilly's and had it tested, tested fine. Could it be the distributor?? please someone help

[NismoMan03]

Even though I have newish plugs and wires, I guess im going to try Totaly new ones. And top of the line plugs. I have 10.2mm wires on the way and getting the NGK iridium plugs. Hope it works.

[redsledguy]

Me and NismoMan really appreciate all of the help guys. thanks alot. I have searched my butt off and have found ppl with same problem but nobody ever bothered to post anything about what fixed it. Guess we're on our own nismo...

[rockinthefans]

Sounds to me like it could be a bad ect. It lets the ecu know when the engine is at operating temerature to adjust for fuel. when an engine is cold it runs really rich. once at operating temerature it leans out the a/f mixture with help from the 02 sensor. So by chance if yours is bad, you're running too rich once the motor is warmed up causing your motor to spit and sputter. Not to mention the part is only about 17 bucks from your local auto zone etc. Good luck

[NismoMan03]

Ok well i can live with a $17 option even if it doesnt work. i'll go and order the part tomarrow and see if that works. Thanks!

[95silviajake]

maybe the coil, or the temp sensor? if it's the ecu try to use someones ecu.

[redsledguy]

Now mine won't rev past 2500 even when it's cold. I've read it could be the maf so I checked voltage. People have said it's supposed to be around 1.2 volts at idle.. mine is. then when I hold it wide open it goes up to about 3.6 or so. does that sound like the maf is bad or do I have some other issues?

Any help is greatly appreciated

[moulton712]

i had a problem like this once and it was my maf.

other possible things are o2 sensor, injectors sticking.

[murdersled]

Hello, I'm in this boat now. summary:

Car set for 6months

Drove car to work and it ran fine.

Drove car home about half way it started sputtering and spitting when I try to accelerate.

After driving again it seems to work fine while cold then once car warms up it will some times do it and some times not.

It seems to do it most after I shift into next gear.

Also one last thing, It seems to work fine if I give it gas slowly. If and when I was driving home if I held the accelerator at steady spot it would sputter and spit but if i gave it gas it would go away and if I left off it would go away.

Now it works fine if I keep the accelerator in one spot but when I give it gas it starts to sputter and if i let off it will start working correctly.

CHECKED: Checked plugs they all look light power white. The plug wires arc to the DIST

Check Fuel injectors pulled harness on each one engine bogged down.

ECU reads 55 on code

Also car idles at about 400 mm/hg Final thoughts...:It drove fine and I had no problems then on the way home from Work it started this... Could it be the gas that was in the tank setting for 8 months? When I parked the car it worked completely fine and never had a problem with it running.

AND I HATE CODE 55 when you know something is wrong.

Figures though I was getting it ready to sell and it had to start this.
Modified by murdersled at 1:33 PM 11/16/2008

[manzo240]

check your distributor cap, pull it off and check the points the may have corrsion builduo robbing the engine of spark energy

[murdersled]

I'll give it a shot, tomorrow I'm going to go buy a Coolant Temp sensor and put it in. Since the car is doing it once it gets warm... also try a O2 sensor

[Johnny_B.]

I have a 89 with a swapped 96 motor and I'm hitting the same problem. I'm not sure if I have the 96 ECU or the 89 so I don't know if I can be much help there. The only thing I've done that did help was clean the EGR system, the car runs really rich so it didn't last long but for about three days it was a new beast. Responded quickly, no hesitation, would rev as high as I felt comfortable. I know it may not be a permeant fix but its worth a shot and should only take 30 or 40 minutes.

[murdersled]

how did you clean it?I have never messed with EGR on it? EGR is new to me coming from long history of Hondas.

[Johnny_B.]

I'm in the same boat you are murder, the car has been sitting in my garage for close to a year so I don't remember if I'm using the right terms but I pulled the the valve on the back of the intake manifold. I saw it in a post on here ages ago how to do it, I'll see if I can hunt it down, if not I was going to re-do it tomorrow so I can throw some pictures up for anyone who is interested.

[murdersled]

cool, The only problem is I just remembered the EGR system is gone LOL..I'm using a SR20DE.. and I was thinking PCV valve when you said EGR...So I guess back to the drawing board.

[redsledguy]

Well, I went to a junkyard and got a maf.. it runs worse with it than the one I already had. So I put mine back on it and it revved to rev limiter. but every time after that it just went lower and lower. Then one time I just pushed the gas real slow and it went on up to redline. I thought hmm... I'll check the tps. Well it's showing .46 volts at idle and goes up to like 4.3 or so. Then I checked the resistance and it was all in spec too from what I've read. This sh*t is drivin me nuts. I'll try the egr tomorrow I guess

[murdersled]

UPDATE: Cleaned Maf with whole can of Maf cleaner. Cleaned throttle body Replaced Coolant Temp Sensor (that goes to ECU) Checked TPS voltages

I'll be test driving the car today. If it still does it I'll continue down my list of things to swap till It's fixed.

I'll keep you guys posted.

[redsledguy]

Good luck, keep us posted

[murdersled]

Update 11/19/2008 Car still having same problems.. After replacing the Coolant temp sensor car idles better than ever though still having this sputtering issue seems to be getting worse.

While test driving it I have started to notice that it is BACKFIREING.

Now it backfireing and chopping out like this makes me think it maybe a injector.

The fuel pump is brand new about a year old and is a walbro.

Anyone have any suggestions on this injector thing.

The car runs fine when I slowly give it gas but I can still feel its chopping/missing as it revs up its just not as noticeable. I almost think I can hear it backfireing from the engine bay.

I also can only get it to do this backfireing/chopping sputtering thing under load if i set and rev it doesnt do it it at all.

[murdersled]

I'm going to check ground wires today or tomorrow. I have read some info on ground wires corroding over time while setting and then causing this kinda of problem. Hopefully I can get lucky.

[murdersled]

UPDATE::::

I have just traced my problem to a Defective O2 sensor I believe. I ran the car balls to the wall while it was cold and guess what It ran fine.

I then let it warm up and then it started to run like ****.. which means 1 thing after ecu comes out of cold start mode it is pulling bunk data from some sensor.

I then stopped the car and unhooked the O2 sensor. Drove the car for about 15mins and it ran just like it never had a problem

I then stopped hooked the O2 sensor back up made it 1 block and guess what.. the Car Died..

SO o2 sensor seems to be my issue.

This proves ONE THING... Never trust your ECU.

Mine says code 55.. even though the O2 sensor is throwing a load of bunk numbers at it.From what I'm experiencing I think I was getting overloaded with fuel as I am have horrific back fireing.

[redsledguy]

Well, I unplugged my 02 sensor... nothing changed. I'm purty much convinced mine is some issues with the computer. I unplugged my 02 sensor awhile back and it didn't help but I figured I'd give it a try again. I've got a computer comin' in the mail off ebay so I guess we'll see.

[NismoMan03]

Hey!!! I got the damn sputtering to quit. Ok well It kinda started with replacing the timeing chain,, That was alot of work. After I had put it back together i found that the shaft for the timeing to the distributer cap was off a tooth. So pulled it out and moved it a tooth and walla its perfect!Just get the 1st piston at top dead center then pull the shaft and get the diagram off the web for proper timeing. I found that most 240's have issues with the timeing chain and alot of them have been replaced in there life time. So IDK if that will work for you guys but I def worked for me, and it takes a whole 20 min. Try that and good luck.

[redsledguy]

Well, I turned my distributor to the right, it ran alot better but not perfect, so I took it out and moved it a tooth, then it was so advanced it wouldn't hardly turn over. I may have went too far, but I took it out and moved it back a tooth and im back to square 1. so either i moved it 2 teeth both times, or i've got different problems. Wat you guys think?