Engine My car started to cough/sputter...

use sea foam treatment...it'll work mircales...for only $4.99 a bottle...and trust me its not BS like everything else out on market

Thanks all

I doubt it's an exhaust problem, as I've had it installed for over a year and I haven't seen this before.

This stuff? I pour it into my throttle body..!? That seems weird.

My car started to cough/sputter...

..could it be a bad batch of gas? It started about 15 miles after I filled my tank, and it was very close to empty. Every once in a while, the exhaust coughs/hiccups, and RPM drops a little. It recovers and idles normally..then does it again.

I may run some injector cleaner through, but what else should I check?

It's normal - exhaust scavenging. Aftermarket exhausts are more open to the atmosphere and let fresh air into the exhaust since hot gases cool and compress in volume. The unburnt fuel vapors can combust inside the exhaust if there's any air there...which produces a pop. You just don't hear it with the stock exhaust b/c it is so quiet. Leaky fuel injectors, vacuum leaks or exhaust leaks can make this worse.

Trav

check your plugs and wires. I had to step hard on the brake at the red light because if I didn't, I would roll quickly. After I did that, it was fine and ran , and runs like a champ

YEP! Good stuff. Don't let all the smoke and engine rocking around like it's going to catapult out of the engine bay scare ya. It's normal. It's the only way to get the stuff into the combustion chamber so it can work it's magic. It'll run real rough for a few minutes too. Redline the engine once or twice after you're driving down the road to get all the crusties out of the combustion chamber.

Trav

Hmm..maybe I'll pick up a tenth of a second after I remove 150,000 miles of crud.

I used Seafoam, it rocks. Scary but rocks

i used that stuff then i think i put too much in at once then it front fired.... there was a whole bunch of blue smoke that came out of the vacuum hose.... then I started the car up and shut it off again and it ran for a few seconds with the key out

actually if you have 150,000 miles and haven't flushed the engine (or cleaned the injectors) i would advise against it...... a lot of cars (mainly toyota's) end up having their seals rely on that crud.... once it's removed it's leak time.... my 4age is horrible under the valve cover, but i won't throw any kind of cleaner down it as that could cause many more problems in the long run

i would first just check your spark plugs

yea...decarb your engine. then if the plugs and wires need to be change change them. if it still happens...you may want to check your compression. or get a block tester if your head gasket has cracked. but prolly just a decarb and plugs and wires should work.

It wasn't really a sputter..I used the wrong words. The best way I can describe it is a slight and very short drop in RPM.

Wires are relatively new..plugs are probably tired. I have a compression tester kicking around..I'll have to check that out.

Have you checked your PCV valve? Pinching the hose between it and vaccum source should cause a slight drop in RPM at idle...

when you're really low on gas.... then you risk misfiring a lot.

does it kick down or a slight miss on a high rpm range...we had a saab just in for that and we told the customer that the headgasket is cracked.

where can i get some?\ do they sell them at like advanced auto or something

Not that I've noticed..and it's been way up on the rpms today.

Red: PCV valve? I just bought one at Advance Auto for 2 bucks and change.