For the past few weeks my car has been jerking pretty bad when accelerating, but there was no check engine light. A few people told me I might need to just change the fuel filter. So I bought a new one and put it on today. Now the check engine light is on... and the car still jerks like normal? Anyone know what might be wrong?

 

what does the CEL say it is now? Thats the first place to start

 

Have you tried reading the codes for the check engine light?

It could be a few things like MAF or fuel pump, but go to autozone and have them read the code for you or do it yourself if you have a tuner.

 

No, I don't have a tuner to read the codes. I'll take it to a shop around here and see if they can figure out whats wrong. Just thought it was weird that there wasn't a check engine light with the old filter and all the jerking, but now there is one with the new filter?

 

fuel pump.

 

I bet bet it's something simple, you can get it checked for free at a lot of auto stores like pepboys, autozone etc You'll know what's wrong then you can replace it.

I wouldn't trust what some random shop says, but extra advice couldn't hurt.

 

Thanks for the help guys. And yea, I'm going to take it to autozone. Hopefully I can get it taken care of pretty soon, so I can get back to modding. lol

 

spark plugs?

 

I guess it could be, but I had new plugs and wires put on a few months ago, and the car was doing fine with them. Could a bad fuel pump cause a missfire?

I'm going to take it to autozone or carquest soon though.

 

I'm not saying it's not the fuel system but when my car was jerking last (about six months ago) it was actually the alternator going bad, which was screwing with the battery and sending pulses to the plugs and whatnot, causing surging and misfires. My check engine light was on then too.

On another note, my car has since then had a bad fuel pump. If your car if running but jerking, I'd say if it IS the pump, look into it quick because the next step is your car failing to start someplace or leaving you stranded on the roadside. I have good experience in the these situations unfortunately. Best of luck hope it isn't serious.

 

what you described is what my car did 2months ago and it was the fuel pump. so it might be that or it could be something else you never know but i have a feeling its a bad fuel pump.

 

Thanks for the help guys. I'm getting it checked out soon, and I'll make sure to ask about the alternator if the fuel pump isn't whats causing it. And now that I think about it, there was one time early this week it sounded like it was hesitating to start at first, but then turned on. But I'll let you guys know what it was when I find out. Hopefully it's nothing to serious/expensive.

 

The check engine light went off this morning, but the car still kept jerking like usual. I finaly took it to carquest and had them hook it up to their machine, and sure enough... it was the fuel pump. Gonna get it taken care of Wednesday.

Also, one of the guys at the shop had what looked like a black Terminator outside. I asked him if it was a true Cobra, because I noticed it was missing a wing, and had stock GT wheels on it. Turns out it was just a regular GT with the Cobra bodykit. Looked good though... even though he had snake emblems on it.

 

Not sure about the jerking, but for the check engine light, did you disconnect your fuel cutoff switch when installing the fuel filter? I do that to mine and start the engine and let it die to removing any pressure and such. If you did, then you'll throw a code for that.

 

Yea, I did that... and I'd say thats what threw the code. It was my first time changing a fuel filter, but it was really easy. But still, it didn't solve the problem... it was still jerking like always, which is why I finaly got around to taking it to carquest today.

 

Well i think you decision is right go head and check that in the autozone. and i think it should also be a problem with the fuel pump.