InvaderJim

Recently my car started giving me problems while driving. The RPMs will jump up and down while going down the road, and sometimes it just shuts off completely and takes a bit to start back up. When it cuts off the RPMs will drop below zero and I have to pump the gas, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. It also sometimes makes a weird hollow sucking noise sometimes. Any insight would be helpful.

Ladiesx3Me

Could be. Have you tried hooking up a pressure gauge? Sounds like you are having issues that could ultimately lead to a bad pump.

Haleiwa-Brando

Two things to always check. It applies to all gasoline engines:
1) Are you getting fuel to the combustion chamber?
2) Are you getting spark to the combustion chamber?

Since you mentioned the RPM's jumping around, do you mean that the engine is actually revving all over the place, or is the tach needle bouncing all over the place?

Ladiesx3Me

If you are experiencing bogging, or 'rpm needle flying all over'...

- check fuel pressure by hooking up a pressure gauge.
- check your tps. if its out of wack, it will surge all over, causing the car to 'seem' like its bogging.

InvaderJim

I will test for spark and see if I can get a hold of a pressure gauge as well. I just replaced my valve cover gasket because there was oil puddled around the spark plugs. I got that all cleaned up and fixed and it's even worse than it was before so that couldn't have been it.

It's just the needle bouncing around, the car isn't actually revving. How do I test my TPS? Should I also check the injectors?

Haleiwa-Brando

How many miles are on the original distributor? Sounds to me like your main or secondary coil is going bad.

InvaderJim

I couldn't even tell you.

Another thing I noticed, I'm not sure if it's relevant or not, but the car seems to run fine until it gets nice and warm. I drove to work today, then home and it was fine. I live about 3 minutes away from work.