So as I was swiftly driving my hatch down Pacific Coast Highway today all of a sudden it was like I was letting off the gas when I had the peddle to the metal. I let off a bit, put the clutch in and revved up the motor and see the RPM gauge shoot up as normal. When I let it out of neutral and its in gear the motor starts to "put" "put" and sound like its about to die and small backfire from exhaust is heard. So then I pop the clutch, rev it up and it sounds normal again. So the problem seems to happen only when the car is in gear. The funny thing is that the problem is off and on. What can it be H-T? TIA.

 

Transmission might have a bad bearing or broke a gear.. causing extreme load on the engine. the clutch situation helps to explain that. you may also have a bad wheel bearing, but that is less likely because the differential would still be able to deal with that scenario. put the car up on jack stands and turn it on, then have a listen to the transmission. if you hear grinding, clunking, squeeling, or smell burning clutch, your transmission may have taken a dump.

 

Cool thanks I appreciate your response. It's just that the hatch got me to work this morning no problem! This on and off situation is so frustrating.

If my tranny was the problem, how come it works fine some days and other days? When the problem starts I am having to be on and off the gas in order for it to jerk forward, I step on the gas and its like I'm barely pressing on it. I can hear my engine start to make some backfire noises and then all of a sudden the gas gets sucked in and starts to react normally..

 

Do you have a cel??

 

yeah, the first post didn't convey that you were still driving it. it sounded like it got you home and that was it. It may not be a trans bearing after all.

I second, is there a CEL? if so what is it?

I would start to suspect distributor sensor related issues.

 

check and make sure the rotor and screw didint come off the shaft of the distributor. i had that happen to me before and the rotor was loose on the shaft causing it to putter and misfire. The car would idle fine but as soon as i put a load on the engine it would backfire and run bad. hope that helps

 

Thanks for the replies gentleman.

There was a CEL for a lil' bit, but only comes on at times.

I am going to check the dizzy.

 

Check the tps as well

 

main relay may be the issue, the solders crack and cause interm stalling or such concerns like your. if not that i would def check your coil

 

what type of temps does it do it in? like is it only hot days cold days?

 

Was this resolved?

I have the same symptoms.

 

Yessir, it was the damn main relay.

 

Good to hear, I am having the same issue and now I might look at that.

Thanks

Did you just resolder it or did you just buy a new one? Were you having starting issues?

 

Since it happened while I was at the junk yard and needed on bad, I bought a used one for $40 that ended up going bad soon enough, Autozone sells brand new main relays for $40.