NewEdgeStang00

When starting up the first time, runs like a charm. But when I parked for class and came back in the hour it took quite awhile for it to turn over. Didn't die, but it's sputtering. Changed the fuel filter out less than 1k miles ago, but my fuel lines are getting clogged.

Is this something that's going to be very costly to fix up? Should I do this right away or do I have some time to spare before it becomes a problem? The car has not died on me YET (knock on wood).

I always ran fuel treatment to help clean it out every 3-4k miles. But if it's seriously clogged I doubt that stuff will help at all. I don't want to seafoam the fuel lines in fear of knocking things loose into the engine.

jthorn9

I highly doubt it's clogged lines, you'd have to get some pretty crap *** fuel to clogg the lines. I'm willing to bet your problem is with the IAC sensor or the EGR.

tdpower

There is a pick up sock in the tank I guess that could get clogged but probably not very likely. I would test your fuel pressure when it's acting up. My fuel pump went out slowly. Were you getting a check engine light? If so get your codes read and that should help.

NewEdgeStang00

Thanks jthorn, yeah just recently now its consistently struggling to start up and on the way to work when I was at a stoplight it kept sputtering like it was going to die. I will check up on the egr and iac. Would it be better to fully replace those or just clean them out? And when u say egr are you referring to the whole egr system or just the valve?

NewEdgeStang00

And tdpower no codes showing but testing the fuel pressure is a good idea thanks.

jthorn9

It could be the EGR valve is stuck open or closed, it could be the EGR sensor is stuck closed or open, or could be a combination of the two. Either way they can't really be repaired when they fail they need to be replaced. The IAC controls air flow at idel and if it fails your car will be hard to start at times and may idel poorly.

NewEdgeStang00

Oh that sounds like the exact symptom of what's happening, no wonder why u diagnosed the iac. Thanks for the explanation jthorn i'll see what I can find out. So if iac is the cause do I replace the whole component or is there something else I have to do with it? If both things are cheap to fix I will go ahead and fix them as preventive maintenance since the car is near 200k miles anyways

jthorn9

IAC sensors are a quick fix but don't always throw codes. Like a lot of sensors when they fail they are still sending a signal, it's just a false signal.

My 95 had both the IAC and EGR sensors fail. After fixer the EGR my car got better but still had issues. Then on a hunch my mechanic said maybe the IAC is bad even though it was "working" and sure enough that was the problem.

My 95 would start up fine cold, but soon as it got hot and I turned off the motor, lets say I was running errands, and got back in the car, it wouldn't want to start back up, and when it did it would idel like sh*t.

NewEdgeStang00

That's EXACTLY what's happening, during the cold it starts up like new. The weather just turned from 45 to 75 and it started having issues, thanks for the insight!

jthorn9

Well by cold I mean when the motor was cold. But odds are that's the problem.