Fuel Problems/Studdering/Hesitation

My '94 V6 (3.2?) automatic 4X4 Rodeo has about 160K on it and recently started doing something weird. It started intermittantly and has gotten progressively worse - but occasionally doesn't do anything.

On acceleration the rodeo will hesitate and buck a little before finally becoming engaged. This basically happens from a dead stop and not during a travelling acceleration. It got progressively worse until two weeks ago I tried to drive it up the steep hill out of my neighborhood and it just wouldn't go. After circling the block a few times I was able, with a huge buck, to force it back home and parked it.

Back in May I had the exhaust replaced and they told me that the cat was going to need to be replaced soon, so I assumed that this may be the problem. Took it to the shop and they removed the cat and the car still ran like junk.

They now think it's a fuel problem, so they tried replacing the fuel filter because it was "partially obstructed". When they first drove it, it was fine, but then started to buck and hesitate again. They're going to "run diagnostics" on it tomorrow to see what the deal is.

Can anyone shed some light on this? I don't know much about car repairs, and don't want to get held over the barrel well they "try different things" to fix the problem and then I end up having to mortgage my life to pay the repair bill.

Thanks!

When I worked at the Honda motorcycle dealership as a Service Advisor, we had a policy of asking the customer if they would authorize a certain amount of time (usually 1 hour) for diagnosis. In most cases, we were able to discover the problem within that hour. If not, we were able rule out many causes of the trouble and come up with a new course of action. I would then call the customer and let them know what we have ruled out and if they would authorize another hour of diagnostic time. Usually the problem would be discovered within a half hour of the additional time and never was the whole 2 hours used.

Unfortunately, diagnostic time is the only thing that can pinpoint the source of failure and it pays to take your vehicle where they employ top notch technicians and keep in constant communication with the customer.

FWIW, your problem sounds to me like there is something wrong with fuel delivery and the filter would have been the first thing I would have changed. The mechanic can check the fuel pressure in a matter of minutes.

Let us know how things work out.


Dale

Did you find a fix??

aey

having the same problem...was told to check the ignition mod. big bucks...if you hear anything let me know. oh, has yours overheated? mine has. oppen for discussion

andy

i ma having the same studdering and bucking problem with my 94 rodeo 3.2 liter only mine is standard. iahve had the 3 best mechanics in my town look at it and we can not figure it ouot so if anyone has any ideas please let me know.

Lance

Where can one find an Ignition ctrl mod.

Andy