93 ford lx surging while driving and ruff idle

I have 93 ford escort lx 1.9 5 spd
It has a difficult time keeping a good idle speed. also while driving sometimes it jerks. not when I step on the accelerator just when trying to maintain the same speed. jerking stops when I let off the accelerator or step on it. when it idles it will ocasionly die. I know the transmission is fine. If I turn the car off and restart it it runs fine for 5-10 minutes before it starts again.
ok here are the things i have done
checked egr valve
cleaned the injectors
new fuel filter
checked the vacum lines
new mass air flow sensor
new o2 sensor
a hose that comes into where you add oil is hevily cracked. Will change it but was told it was not the problem.
new pcv valve seems to have fixed ldle a bit still get an check engine lite
I have not yet reset codes, Not sure how to
Help plz. current repair cost are about to equal value of car.

I have 93 ford escort lx 1.9 5 spd
It has a difficult time keeping a good idle speed. also while driving sometimes it jerks. not when I step on the accelerator just when trying to maintain the same speed. jerking stops when I let off the accelerator or step on it. when it idles it will ocasionly die. I know the transmission is fine. If I turn the car off and restart it it runs fine for 5-10 minutes before it starts again.
ok here are the things i have done
checked egr valve
cleaned the injectors
new fuel filter
checked the vacum lines
new mass air flow sensor
new o2 sensor
a hose that comes into where you add oil is hevily cracked. Will change it but was told it was not the problem.
new pcv valve seems to have fixed ldle a bit still get an check engine lite
I have not yet reset codes, Not sure how to
Help plz. current repair cost are about to equal value of car.

I have another car that had same problems. To fix it I connected a wire from the (-) battery terminal to somewhere on the engine (I chose the bracket that holds on the alternator).

Use a jumper cable to test while the car is running - for me the difference was like between night and day.

PS. I had to do this in order to get my 93 escort to start.

hey I found the problem! It was a missing vacum hose from the left side next to some sensor near the injector. The auto shop I had taken it too earlier had just pluged the one on the top of the intake and just left it. he never really looked for it. It is hard to find though because it runs underneath the the the pipes that run into the back of the engine.

My 93 ford escort Lx idles fine when it heats up but intell then while ita cold the engine surges after bout 30 seconds if i dont keep tapping the gas it will stall. i have no Clue what the problem is.

You can reset codes by removing negative lead from battery for a few minutes....clears your radio presets, too!

You checked it, so you know how to find it, Right?

Like others on this forum, I have looked but not found. I can't even find a vacuum line for it on the 93 LX 1.9. On the 96, it's a piece of cake, on the rear of the intake plenum, near the throttle body.

I'm thinkin it might be on the exhaust manifold, under the heat shield. Am I getting warm?

While we're on the subject, could stored codes 181 and 186 indicate an EGR problem? What else could it be? I've already cleaned the MAF and replaced the forward O2 Sensor. I also had a 171, but cleaning the MAF with throttle body spray cleaner seems to have fixed that.

Oh yeah, someone complained about a code reader with a beeper and a blinking light. I have an Equus Digital Code Reader that has a display for codes and their source KO/EO/CM, about 3 to 5 bucks more than the beeper!

Don't use any kind of spray on your intake or throttle body that has silicon in it. It will mess up your O2 Sensor.