Haven't been here in a while, but I come hoping for some advice.

I have a 2002 V6 Mustang, just a shade over 90000 miles. Today she was driving just fine, like always but tonight I went to dinner and on the way home she started giving me some fits.

Right off the bat pulling out of my parking space she was jerking a little bit. She did the same thing accelerating out of a red light. I got home and pulled into the driveway, put it in park and rev'd it up and she still sputtered.

I saw another thread on here that sounds like someone having the same problem and the general consensus seemed to be either a fuel pump or fuel filter. Which I will take a look at tomorrow. Just wondering if this is usually the diagnosis for a problem like this?


Also, when I popped the hood it smelled like there was something burning a little bit. A sweet kinda burning smell is how I would describe it, which makes me think antifreeze so I am not sure if the smell is related to the jerking problem.

Now the biggest question is, what do I drive to work tomorrow? The Mustang which is jerking? Or the Dodge Ram that is idling too high?

 

Those symtoms are sometimes related to the fuel system but not 100%. Your "burning smell" sounds more like antifreeze being burned. Check for any signs of a leak arond the intake and heads. Keep a very close eye on the coolant level. Sometimes you can blow a head gasket and it will leak into the cyliner and be burned, hence the jerking and smell. The only way to dia. is perform cyliner pressure test or a radiator pressure test.

I would try changing the fuel filter and spark plugs first then add a can of Seafoam in case there is water in the tank. If this does not fix the problem then proceed to the pressure test. Good Luck

 

Alright, running to auto zone now for a fuel line disconnect tool, a fuel filter and spark plugs.

Will update when i am done.

 

I had a similar post about this. Same exact problem.

About my car: I had new plugs and wires put on about 3 months before the jerking started, so I don't think thats the problem with mine. Changed the fuel filter... didn't help at all. Brand new fuel pump... didn't help either. It's sitting in the parking lot at carquest right now waiting to be worked on.. I'll let you know what they say the problem is this time. Don't know what else it could be, but I'll find out soon enough.

 

I drove over to my father in laws house where I am going to work on it and it is clanking when I accelerate as well. Sounds like it is coming from the passenger side under the hood. Don't know if that hints at anything. I think it could be a cylinder misfiring, which could mean spark plugs.

I saw your thread Shadow Stang, hopefully it gets all worked out for you. If you could update as soon as they let you know I would really appreciate it.

 

I'll let you know what the guys at the garage say whenever they call. I don't think it could be the fuel pump again, since they put in a brand new one and cleared the check engine light. But who knows. I'll let you know.

 

Couldn't do any work on it tonight, it got dark too quickly. Planning on working on it this weekend. While I was driving home my "service engine soon" light came on. I don't know if that means anything but I read Shadow Stang's light never came on (I think I read that) so I just thought I would mention it.

Is it worth driving it down to a part store to have them hook it up to print out the code/reason for it?

 

My check engine light never came on when the jerking first started. It wasn't too bad, and I was always too busy to get it worked on. However, about a month later the check engine light did come on, and I finaly took it to the shop. That's when I got the new fuel pump put in, that didn't help at all, neither did losing 300 bucks in the process.

 

so what was the code it had??

 

I have not had a chance to take it in and have it hooked up yet. It started jerking and clankin really bad the other day getting it home so I am afraid to even drive it down the road for a diagnostic.

 

I called carquest today, and they said that it had a head problem, and that I would have to take it somewhere else to get it fixed. They weren't sure of the exact problem, because their machines couldn't find it.

The guy said he drove it down to his brothers garage though, and his bro said that maybe I might need to run some dye through it? Does he mean seafoam? If that doesn't work, he said that it might be kind of expensive to fix.

And I just had a new set of bbk shorty headers put on last summer because my stock manifold cracked.

 

Hang on, I'm getting confused here. We got two threads going on here that are very close to being the same. Shadow, you called about your car, correct? Did you drop it off there for them to check?

 

Sorry guys, I sort of hijacked Crimson's thread, since we both have the same problem apparently.. lol. I'll start posting in my original one... but I hope we get this figured out soon.

Crimson... any luck yet?

 

Hey Shadow, I'm sorry I got confused. The answer to your question is no. When he said he was going to run dye though the system, he was not talking about Seaform.

Sometimes when you can't find a leak or something like that, you can add a dye to whatever system you are working on (i.e. motor oil, coolant, trans, AC, etc.) The dye mixes with the fluid thats leaking and you use a UV light and special glasses to find the leak. The dye glows under UV light. This works very well when troubleshooting HVAC systems for leaks.

If you can't do the work yourself, I would ask them to run a compression test on the cyliners and a radiator pressure test. These are very simple test and you can borrow the tools needed from AutoZone. We can walk you though the steps. These two test should tell you if you have a blown head gasket. Good Luck

 

No luck for me. Been too busy with school to work on it, I've just been driving my truck around so I'm not in any real hurry. Hoping and praying it is just the fuel filter, and not anything expensive because I can't afford anything expensive right now.

Will certainly update you as soon as I get it done though. I had to move my car in the driveway the other day though and it feels like the car is having a seizure as soon as I turn it on.

 

I had a bunch of stuff some up the last couple of months, so I have just been driving the truck. Now it is time to fix up the car since it is window's down driving weather.

Changed the fuel filter about a month ago, will change the spark plugs and a can of seafoam this weekend and will update on what it changes, if anything.

 

I forgot to ask. Does anyone have suggestions on what spark plugs to get? I talked to my mechanic the other day and he said buy the ones made by Ford because they are designed for Ford vehicles, but I am pretty sure that I have read here that as long as you aren't buying bargain basement plugs you should be fine.

 

Pretty much. I buy NGK out of habit because thats what my dad always bought growing up.

 

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/par...er=942664_0_0_


Look good?

 

Okay. Just made it to the parts store and got some plugs and a can of seafoam. I have looked online and found a couple different set of directions, but still not sure the steps to go through to do a seafoam treatment? Some directions have the car off, some on. Some of them say dump the whole can into the gas tank. Some say 1/3 goes into a vacuum line, 1/3 into the oil case, and the last 1/3 into the gas tank.

 

there's a set of directions on the can of seafoam itself, it tells you what to add i think. I added a whole bottle to my 3/4 full gas tank. idk if i'd add a whole can to the oil or not, seems like it's a lot to me.

 

Hey man, the same thing is going on with mine. It sputters and jerks while accelerating. And every so often i hear a clank from the passengers side, as well. Also, after a couple days my check engine light came on. Did you ever find any solutions? Thanks.