93 Escort 1.9L Automatic, acceleration problems/ some solutions for common problems.

[jon_public]

Its a long story, I'll try and keep it brief and to the point.

So, I bought a 93 escort as a beater car for $500, just for the winter. It had some engine problems/transmission problems, I wasn't concerned, as I wasn't going to keep the car. Fast forward, turns out I'm going to keep the car for a while. I've poked around in the forum and looked at what people have done with similar problems. The engine light never came on.

Initial round of problems:
High RPMs after leaving the highway
Rough idle at low rpms
Transmission jerky/rough at low RPMs
bad gas mileage / 20 mpg

What I replaced:
Mass Air Flow Sensor (MAF)
Intact Air Control (IAC)
Oxygen Sensor
Spark Plugs

The car seemed to be running better, much better than it had been, but not super great. Gas mileage didn't improve much. RPMs sometimes still were high, but not as often. The idle was still rough at low RPMs. The engine light came on occasionally when idling.

I changed my oil.

The engine light now came on all the time and I couldn't push the RPMs higher than 2,500 when accelerating. If it was in park, I could easily push the RPMs up to 5,000. The car could go fast, it just took a long time to get there.

I examined the spark plugs and checked the compression and the timing. Turns out, one of the spark plugs wasn't firing evenly at the low RPMs, the cable between the spark plug and the distributor had a short.

Replaced cable.

Engine idle is normal. No problems with the transmission anymore. I now think that what I thought I was feeling with the transmission was the engine shaking. Car runs well, except acceleration is still bad. Engine light still on.

Went to a local shop, had them check out the check engine light, the car said the Throttle Position (TP) sensor was bad. Installed new throttle position sensor. No change in what is currently wrong with the car. The engine light still came on, I still have the acceleration problems.

So, my question to you is, is there anything that I could have done during the oil change that would have caused the acceleration problem? Any other ideas about the acceleration problem?

[Ralph Marontate]

I Had A Problem With The Acceleration Of My Escort Wagon. After Much Grief I Found Out The Damper Pulley Has A Rubber Insert That, When Worn, Allows The Damper Pulleys To Rotate Slightly.
This Changes The Timing Point On The Pulley And That Tells The Crankshaft Position Sensor That The Engine Is Advanced So The Computer Responses By Retarding The Ignition Timing Resulting In No Or Long Drawn Out Acceleration.
Change That Damper And Your Problems Are Over.