07-31-2005, 11:23 PM
For those of you you haven't following my agonizing journey, my car has had a severe stumble/hesitation upon acceleration for close to six months now. After testing/ruling out about 20 things, upon the suggestion of a neighbor, I watched the engine run in pitch darkness, and after the engine had fully warmed up, I began seeing random sparks and flashes along the plug wires, including the coil wire. I could make the sparks happen by suddenly blipping the throttle, exactly the condition that brought on the hesitation. I ordered a new set of Bosch plug wires from Paragon, but they were back-ordered, and arrived the day before our two-week family vacation. Aaaarrggh!
Upon returning, I replaced the Nology wires the previous owner had installed with the Bosch's, fired it up, and immediately noticed a smoother idle. Took it for a long spin in the 96 degree Austin heat, mashed the throttle, and, like magic, nothing but smooth, strong acceleration. All symptoms of the problem have vanished. What a rush! Now I just need to put the Racer-X chip back in (replacing it with the stock chip was one of the steps of my troubleshooting). Thanks to all the stuff I did during the troubleshooting, including having the injectors cleaned and blueprinted by Marren, the car will undoubtedly run better than ever once I get the chip back in. All the time spent testing under WOT also must have done its part by cleaning up the combustion chambers. <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/biggrin.gif" class="smilie" alt="" />
I'd like to thank everyone who offered suggestions on troubleshooting this very tricky problem. Also, I hate to use this forum to bad-mouth anyone or their product, but based on my experience, I would not recommend the use of Nology wires. They were in the car just over a year before the problem started. One of them broke apart in my hand as I was removing it to check the condition of the plugs (I replaced it with a new Nology wire). The Bosch wires fit perfectly, and make a satisfying "click" when seating onto the plugs, and the distributor connectors. The Nology's had a very sloppy fit. Hopefully this is the beginning of a long stretch of healthy running; it's been a long time coming...
Upon returning, I replaced the Nology wires the previous owner had installed with the Bosch's, fired it up, and immediately noticed a smoother idle. Took it for a long spin in the 96 degree Austin heat, mashed the throttle, and, like magic, nothing but smooth, strong acceleration. All symptoms of the problem have vanished. What a rush! Now I just need to put the Racer-X chip back in (replacing it with the stock chip was one of the steps of my troubleshooting). Thanks to all the stuff I did during the troubleshooting, including having the injectors cleaned and blueprinted by Marren, the car will undoubtedly run better than ever once I get the chip back in. All the time spent testing under WOT also must have done its part by cleaning up the combustion chambers. <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/biggrin.gif" class="smilie" alt="" />
I'd like to thank everyone who offered suggestions on troubleshooting this very tricky problem. Also, I hate to use this forum to bad-mouth anyone or their product, but based on my experience, I would not recommend the use of Nology wires. They were in the car just over a year before the problem started. One of them broke apart in my hand as I was removing it to check the condition of the plugs (I replaced it with a new Nology wire). The Bosch wires fit perfectly, and make a satisfying "click" when seating onto the plugs, and the distributor connectors. The Nology's had a very sloppy fit. Hopefully this is the beginning of a long stretch of healthy running; it's been a long time coming...
