92 metro dies on acceleration. please help!

I bought a 92 geo metro 3 cylinder. I started to have problems with acceleration. At a stop I would have to keep the clutch in and slowly push the accelerator until it is really high before I could release the clutch. I took off the fuel filter and it was clogged with red debris. I changed the filter and it was fine for a few months. It happened again and I changed it again but the filter still looked fine. I took off the fuel line to the carb and turned the ignition. I had proper flow. I took off the pressure regulator. It was rusted. I replaced it. Now it fires up better than ever and the acceleration is great in neutral, but as soon as I put it into gear and release the clutch it sputters and dies. Also when it dies sometimes it won't restart for hours. Like its not flooded as if something needs to cool down or something. I'm absolutely lost. I've been working in it for over a month. Please help!!

Sounds like an ignition problem. A bad spark plug or wire will make it run rough and stumble. However a bad coil can also make it run fine in neutral and stumble under load, i.e. in gear. Try checking/replacing these.

I unlplugged and visually checked out the plug wires and by the looks of the new bolts and the cleanliness on the distributor cap it looks as if the previous owner had recently changed those too

Does the '92 Metro use an electric fuel pump? Did you measure fuel pressure at the carb (really, it's not fuel injected?) or just visually see that it appeared to have enough fuel? The symptom you describe of failing to start, then needing to cool for several minutes before it will restart is pretty consistent with a failing fuel pump on an electronic fuel injected car. A carbureted car would require less fuel pressure so the symptoms may not be the same.

-Rod

@Rod, it looks as if its a carb but its not. It has a Throttle Body Injection Unit, so its fuel injected. I took off the fuel line to the carb and did a fuel pump output check by cranking it over and seeing how the fuel comes out of the line. It came out great. So wouldn't that prove the pump is OK?

I took off the fuel line to the carb and did a fuel pump output check by cranking it over and seeing how the fuel comes out of the line. It came out great. So wouldn't that prove the pump is OK?

Not totally. I don't think you'd be able to see the difference between 20 psi and 65 psi, yet 20 psi could certainly cause driveability issues.

-Rod

But remember, once it dies it takes about a day to restart. So something is over heated and needs to cool down, but yet I can push start it. And it will start but be very labored. Today I pulled the ignition coil and put a multimeter to it and it failed. So I'll be putting a new one on tomorrow. I'll let you know if it works.

Yep, and remember, that symptom is consistent with a failing electric fuel pump. Also remember that you said earlier that after replacing the fuel filter things were better for a short period of time (could be indicative of a fuel volume/pressure issue). You also stated the car idles fine, but when you load the engine it stalls (could be indicative of a fuel volume/pressure issue). If you check fuel pressure with a fuel pressure gauge when the car won't start you could quickly rule the fuel pressure as either a possible issue or not the issue. When troubleshooting, confirming something is not the issue can be more beneficial than determining something might be the issue, so borrowing a fuel pressure gauge and making the measurement would be worth the time.

You mention you checked the coil with a multimeter. How did you perform this test? Were you testing for a trigger to the ignition coil or for high voltage from the secondary? Most multimeters, unless you have a HV probe, are not rated for the high voltage produced by the secondary. And if you checked the primary side and didn't have voltage or a trigger, that would be more indicative of a problem feeding the coil rather than a problem with the coil itself. I'm not sure on the Metro if it uses an ignition module in the distributor (could be temperature sensitive) or if it uses a Camshaft Position (CMP) sensor or a Crankshaft Position (CKP) sensor to provide trigger to the PCM. If it uses an ignition module in the distributor, the have been known on other brands at least to become heat-sensitive over time.

-Rod