Car sputtering

[Brianerstad5]

I have a 92 ex.. With the f22a6 engine.. And for some odd reason the engine seems to sputter at low rpm's... The only way to get rid of the sputtering is by pushing the gas pedal all the way down.. Anyone know why it does this??? I'm open to anything you guys have

[deevergote]

Is your check engine light on?

[Brianerstad5]

No..

[deevergote]

Does the check engine light work?
What RPM range does it sputter?

[GeoffM]

By sputter do you mean shake? When the rpms fall really low the car will vibrate as each piston fires.

[Monza]

Have you checked your timing?

[James Matteu]

Take off your intake air pipe to verify the Idle Air Control Valve (IACV) is unblocked. While cold and the motor is going through its fast-idle sequence, cover the bypass holes individually and one at a time, you should get a change in idle speed and or stalling. Once warm, one of the passages should stop drawing air, the other still free is the IACV. Cover the IACV to see if there is a significant change in idle or stalling. You want to compare the flow of the IACV while warm to that of the Fast Idle Thermo Valve when motor is cold.

Check for correct resistance across both primary and secondary ignition coil windings.

Be sure your Engine Coolant Temperature (ECT) sensor is reading correctly under controlled conditions, bad temp data can fool the ECU when switching from Closed-Loop to Open-Loop.

Make sure the Positive Crankcase Ventilation valve is free and operational.

It sounds like motor is starved of air under low to no throttle conditions.

[deevergote]

It's entirely possible he's used to driving cars with larger engines. I've had people complain to me saying "my car doesn't want to move when the RPMs are around 1000!" It's not a V8!

The best thing to do is 1) figure out if the car is exhibiting any signs of trouble (which is why I asked about the CEL first, and then again to make sure that the light actually works...) and 2) figure out exactly what the OP is observing, and what he considers to be poor performance.

Until we know what we're dealing with, it's useless to start naming parts to adjust or replace. Every part he touches may introduce a new problem, if it's not the part that requires attention in this situation!

[Granite CB7]

Alot of possibilities, EGR service ports maybe? EGR is active starting @ 1800 rpm, cruising. To add to J. Matteu's post, IACV t/b port is the top, FITV is on the bottom.

[Brianerstad5]

The CEL light came on yesterday and the sputtering stopped... But this morning I turned it back on and the CEL light was off and it started doing it again.... Before winter the car was fine... I've had this occur in the summer but it went away in the fall

[Brianerstad5]

The RPM's that it starts to do it is between 2000 and 4000

[GeoffM]

The CEL light came on yesterday and the sputtering stopped... But this morning I turned it back on and the CEL light was off and it started doing it again.... Before winter the car was fine... I've had this occur in the summer but it went away in the fall

Go pull the codes and tell us what they say!
It tells you how in the stickies

[Dani Filth]

ive had code 43 come on and off like that. o2 sensor was the problem. just replace that and see what happens. its a good thing to replace anyway. denso or ntk. no bosch.

[Brianerstad5]

Or could it possibly be a vacuum leak???

[SilverShadow]

My car sputtered and loss power so bad.. a bike went faster. I truly thought it was a transmission problem. Maybe all that guessing on above posts. Believe it or not I replaced the plugs, wires, distributor cap and rotors, gaskets and oil change. NO shit! The car ran like a bullet! So I did the coupe cause it ran bad too...shit had no bottoms on the plugs...? the part where you gap it was GONE on all four! So get a tune up and then see if it still shakes. Eliminate the easy to the hard.