So I got a 92 hatch with 145 000 on it now, it had 126 000 when I bought it and ran mint. It still does but lately it’s developed an issue. It’s also completely stock.
So a while ago I notice it started to spudded and miss at idle I ended up solving this issue. It was the #1 cly spark plug gap was to small… now I didn’t do any work on the car for this to happen so it’s still a mystery, but it solve my miss fire.
Everything was good for 2 or 3 months but now something else is happening. So the best way I can describe it is the acceleration is not smooth but jerky. And when your driving at say 50 with steady pressure on the pedal you feel this very slight but it is there, feels like the car is speeding up then letting off but speed stays the same. You can notice your head rock when it does this. Also when in first if you accelerate to about 3000 rpm then let off the gas and watch the tach the needle doesn’t slowly fall but the car rocks violently back and forth and the needle freezes then falls 1000 rpm at a time till idle. Aslo before my idle was a rock at 750rpm right on, now not so much and when I brake hard sometimes the car almost dies.
Then last night I was having an ice cream chilling in my car and notice the temp gauge was almost a line higher then usual. I have never seen it move past 3 lines, car warms up and it never moves a mm. But this time I watched it climb and climb till 1 line from H then shut it off only to hear bubbles from the engine compartment. I popped the hood and squeezed the rad hoses and heard more bubbling. Any last night was cold sooo…
I’m lost with this issue now. I’m thinking it must be some sensor or something small. last mod I did on my car was install an alarm but it’s not even hooked up to the computer yet just 2 hots a ground, door locks and interior lights. So has anyone ever had this kind of an issue, the rocky idle and not smooth coasting. drive ability sucks when it’s like that.
I had a similar issue (rocking) just before i had to flush the clutch fluid because it was pretty much black… does it sort of feel like the clutch is grabbing and letting go? this seemed to make sense when i changed it because at a stop my car would almost die too (because of the random grab). once i did change the fluid everything was ok again so i’d check your clutch out first i guess (my idle also went back to normal).
as for the coolant temp…i recently had the same issue because my water pump was pretty much dead. but i was spewing out coolant pretty fast because the gasket and bearing were pretty worn so i once i replaced that everything went back to normal…so…maybe your water pump is on the go?
Is there any way to tell that your water pump needs to be replaced besides guessing? Also how can I check to see if it’s my clutch fluid, where do I check my clutch fluid and if it is black does that mean it needs to be changed? I noticed once that if I drive hard then try to get into first gear it grinds, kinda like the clutch wasn’t totally letting go but this hasn’t happened in a while.
i have a very simaliar prob, my engine has that a minor miss at idle, and if i stop quickly like you said, even if i have the clutch in the motor drops right down in rpm than recovers slowy, usually i just give it some fuel but its weird, but this happens to me even when in neutral?
well i noticed if i roll up boths windows and hold the button when it hits the top the idle will fall and then recover also if i hit the brakes at idle it will fall then recover.
This is just an educated guess, but it sounds like you may have an electrical problem. It seems to sound like the idle control valve (or unit) or its wiring is shot. I had the same problem on my windstar (days before the 240) and it caused the engine to lose idle whenever i pumped the brakes.
How are the brakes at all tied into the engine? I don’t understand how hitting the breaks can effect the engine. Thanks fargus im going to look into the idle control valve. Any way to test it?
if there’s no leaks anywhere and your lower rad hose isn’t too hot then i guess you could remove it, check the gasket (if it’s the original you should remove the old liquid gasket and make a new one), and check for play in the bearings.
your clutch reservoir is next to the brake res on the driver side…the smaller one. just pop it open and see if the fluid’s black or clear. you should change it if it’s murky just in case.
check service manuals for locations of things, removal instructions, and whatever else you need…they come in handy if you plan on doing stuff yourself.