bogging on acelleration.

Well, I my escort has poor power on the road, and the highway is even worse. When I step on the peddal more than half way, the car starts to shudder and will barely gain any speed. It isn't terrible if I gear down to 4th to keep my revs up, but still not great. I should mention that recently I did a headgasket swap, but this issue cropped up before the swap so it is likely unrelated.

I did a compression check today, and the results were: 150-135-90-60 when dry, and with a squirt of oil it was 150-140-125-120. This just tells me that my rings are in poor shape, cus if I had low pressures with the oil, then the headgasket would be bad.

I also cleaned my MAF sensor. One of the little filiments the one closest to the base of the sensor has some hard brown stuff on it that wouldn't dissolve with break cleaner. I put the sensor back in, no effect. The fuel filter has been replaced chasing this problem as well. I also put in a bottle of fuel injector cleaner too. All plugs are getting spark as well.

I'm leaning towards fuel pump, and possibly MAF sensor. Am I on the right track?

Bobby it could be that the timing is off if you changed the head gasket. A real stupid question, but did you line up the notches on the crank and camshaft pulleys? I'm sure you did. If the timing is slow (off a notch or more) It will make it bog down. Could be the MAF. If you disconnect the MAF the computer will automatically richen the mixture by default. You could do this to see if it is running lean as the problem. The reason I suspect the timing to be slow is that I didn't get the marks lined up on my 97 and it would just bog down and not go anyplace. No power at all. If when you turn on the key but don't start it and hear a whrrrrr sound it is your fuel pump and it should be okay.. If it whrrrs all the time or not at all I would suspect it to be faulty. You sure are having a lot of trouble with your Escort. What year and engine is it? I forgot. Sounds like #4 rings are bad. If it didn't come up with a squirt of oil it usually is a bad valve. If it doesn't smoke I wouldn't worry about it. The other 3 cylinders look pretty good.

95LX 1.9L Manual

Thanks for the response. I finished replacing the fuel pump assembly with no better results, and ran some fuel injector cleaner through the old girl just in case.

When I did the head gasket, I was very careful to get the crank and the camshaft pullys lined up, and even rotated the motor twice and the marks were still right at the top lined up. It is a faint possibility that I jumped a tooth, and since I am running out of options, I'll check it out again. I'll borrow a timing gun first and check it before I tackle that timing cover again.

Main reason I'm holding off on replacing the MAF is mainly cost. I may get a junkyard unit and give that a try. I just wish this damn car would throw some engine codes to help me out.

When I unplug the MAF with the car idling the RPMs drop really bad and the engine dies. That means the MAF is doing SOMETHING, just not sure if it is working correctly. BTW, my fuel milage is suffering as well.

I'll get this car dialed in at some point. Everything else is in such good shape I can't let it go!

Havent posted back in awhile because the problem seemed to cure itself. Now it is back, same deal. Bogs on acelleration, and bucks occasionally.

Could this be the ignition coil assembly heading south on me? The problems only seem to arise when it is damp out. It poured and poured out last night, and today the problem never went away after 5mins like it normally does. I wouldn't think the MAF would be effected by moisture in the air, so I doubt that is it.

Any insight would be great.

Plugs and Wires.

Get either 9mm or double silicone plug wires. Don't get Bosch +4 plugs. Autolite has a good rep for our engines, but I prefer Motorcraft for mileage.