bignickwaite

Hi gentleman , I know this has probably had a million threads but each situation is different as I have searched the threads. Ok heres the problem, when driving down the road at just about any speed theres a slight hesitation when staying at that speed not accelerating or decreasing speed . I noticed this when i bought the car and figured it needs a full tune up. After driving about 60 miles today it was warm (I live in Florida) and I was trying to pass a car to get on the highway. At that time i shifted down to 2nd gear and put the pedal to the floor (love that sound) at which time the car started to bog out, so i slowed down shifted to 3rd. once on the highway doing around 40 mph I tried to do it again it bogged down again. So I slowly got up to around 55 stomped the pedal again in 3rd this time ,it bogged down again. As long as i wasn't trying to accelerate to fast it was fine but if i put the pedal down to fast it would bog down and sputter. Well long story short I pulled over and had lunch about 5 min after I noticed this problem, ate lunch and started on my way home. for the first 20 miles or so the problem was gone but then it started again as i got closer to home. So any incite to this problem or advice on how to fix it would be very helpful thanks again -Nick

bignickwaite

By the way theres a strong smell of gas whenever you park the car but ive looked for leaks and cannot find any ,i don't think this has anything to do with the hesitation problem. -nick

b96gtman

first i would check your vacume lines that go from the iac to the intake pipe and check the others too. Clean your MAF sensor with some brake cleanCan u tell if the gas smell is coming from under the hood or from the tail pipes? do you have some Blue smoke coming from the exhaust pipes at all? Or dark black smoke?

bignickwaite

ok ill check the vacume lines around it and see what i can come up with as well as clean the MAF . i would say its coming from the pipes because when i open the hood its not concentrated any more than being around the car. Also theres no smoke at start or anytime during driving.

-nick

devongarver

The way you describe it, the hesitation starts after the vehicle has had a chance to get hot, leading me to believe it is possibly your ignition coil packs or plug wires. You say it needed a tune up, I assume you didnt actually perform one? Get some new plug wires on there, pull and check the plugs. As for the fuel smell. Get a flash light, lay on your back under your right rear wheel where the fuel door is, and follow the fuel filler neck tube from the body of the car down to where it enters the tank. There is a gasket there at the tank entry, and it is a common issue on these cars for failing. I just replaced mine last weekend in fact. It should be bone dry around the entry, if it looks dark and stained, the gasket is bad. It's about 30$ from ford and less than an hour to replace.

bignickwaite

cool thanks for the replys ok now im driving the car down the highway about 55 mph and it shuts off . i figure its out of gas being the gas gauge ,read it was low. i go get some gas put it in now it cranks but will not start. just cranks and cranks . when it shut off there was no sputtering or anything just quietly shut off.

bignickwaite

JJJJJ