Batenswytch

Okay. So. I know my 5.0 is needing to be rebuilt. Its smoking out the pipes. Its a ring problem. I wanted to get one more summer out of her before I pulled the engine. That being said - I've noticed the last couple of times I've driven it that it has a shudder from time to time, like its fuel supply is shut off for a fraction of a second, then off it goes again. It does that whether I'm cruising at 65 MPH or leaving a red light. This morning, it stuttered three or four times from a red light before it ran smooth, and that wasn't me romping on the gas, just a sedate, on my way to work, sipping coffee and enjoying the morning type acceleration.

It has plenty of gas, and its not a faulty fuel gauge - I filled it up just Friday and have only driven it to a show on Saturday, and its been parked since because its been raining cats and dogs lately. Its not overheating, (has a new and improved radiator) and the oil pressure is good. Transmission was rebuilt two years ago, has a 1 year old alternator. (just listing the usual likely suspects here) It also had the ECM replaced in April or May.

I don't know for certain the last time the plugs were changed, I'm thinking four years ago. Don't know if husband put a new wiring harness on it then or not. I am ashamed to admit that was before I was very interested in cars other than driving them. Before anyone croaks over how long ago we changed the plugs, its a convertible, so I've only put 29k on it in five years. It has a total of 145K on the odometer.

All that being said, does this sound like a fuel pump problem, a plug and/or wire issue, or maybe the while thing is going kaput on me?

TrimDrip

I would look at electrical.

You can do an injector balance test to see if there is an imbalance.

scatfox331

check and see if u fouled a plug too. my valve guide seal leaks and fouls plugs, and when the first star to foul it will miss until the motor warms up.

Batenswytch

It may be an electrical problem. Just in case it was a dirty injector, I ran a full tank of premium w/Lucas fuel treatment in it. The problem of stuttering at a take off (like at a green light) which felt like a plug problem, has stopped.

Here's what now has me worried. When I hit a hard bump in the highway, (anyone here ever driven US 69/75 north out of Dallas through SE Oklahoma? FIX THE FRACKING ROADS MORONS! That's WHY WE PAY TAXES ON FUEL) or make a hard turn, its like the fuel supply cuts out for a fraction of a second. The RPM's don't decrease, but the speed does drop. Maybe a fuel pump dying problem? It still has a ton of gas in it, not even down past 3/4's a tank. It was going on before, but I had hoped it would quit when I put the fuel treatment in it. Maybe its not a fuel problem at all. Maybe a transmission slip problem? Electrical problem?

Any other thoughts guys? Its driving me NUTS. My husband's solution? Drive it till it quits, THEN you'll know what's wrong.

And that's all fine and dandy, until I'm in a convertible that just died in a left hand turn that cuts across two lanes of oncoming 70mph traffic as I have to do with the way the highways are set up in this part of Oklahoma.

mjr46

without driving it it's hard to say being a professional I can interpret the feeling often and narrow it to fuel prob or ignition based on feel, but you as an amatuer interpret thing differently than the trained individual.......first I'd do is run a fuel pressure gauge out to the windshield and when prob occurs look at what the gauge is doing, if all is normal then i'D SUSPECT IGNITION PROB, such as a tfi module or stator in the dizzy.

Dj_Seph

I'd just upgrade the fuel pump. My car used to do the same and after getting a 255lph fuel pump, haven't seen the problem again.