90 Skylark, 2.5, 80K mi. Acceleration problem

[lfm4me]

My 90 Skylark ran fine for about 3-4 months after inheriting it from an aunt. It has the 2.5L and has about 80,000 miles on it. Recently, it has been sputtering and stalling when you put it in gear or try to accelerate from a stop.

Once you get it going at normal road speed, it runs fine. The only issue that I found was that when at 55 mph, and you push the accelerator down hard, it would start sputtering and popping back through the throttle body.

When you start it in the morning, it takes about 2-3 times turning it over to keep it running, and the engine acts like it is loaded up or something. You have to feather the accelerator pedal until it "clears out" and then it will idle fairly normal.

I'm scratching the hair off my head trying to figure this out. I'm looking at changing the fuel filter to see if that helps anything (cheap way to go, I know). The check engine light is not on. My aunt was very good about taking the car in and getting regular service done on it.

Any help or ideas is very much appreciated.

[Blue Bowtie]

Replacing the fuel filter may help. You can verify that by testing fuel pressure. TBI engines with low fuel pressure can exhibit those symptoms. You might also want to inspect the ignition system secondary parts, such as wires, coil, and plugs.

[lfm4me]

Thanks for your input. I'm going to replace the fuel filter and check the ignition system like you suggested. I hope this works.