VP Calais Running Rough

[Filippimini]

Hi all,

I was driving home the other night and my 92 VP V6 Calais started to stutter a bit. By the time I got home it was stuttering a lot and really lacked power. My gut feeling says it is a blocked fuel filter as it sort of came in surges, but I haven't had a look yet. Any other suggestions of things to look for?

Cheers
Ryan

 

[hi_ryder]

did it studder under acceleration? could be a bunch of stuff. could be coolant getting past your inlet manifold, throttle body issues, sensor problem ect ect...

 

[Filippimini]

it stutters at idle a little bit but gets worse when trying to accelerate. I checked coolant level, it doesn't seem low, but then again I didn't drive it for very long. I will try swap out the filter tomorrow. The reason I think its fuel is because I had just filled up the tank.

 

[hi_ryder]

done anything in the engine bay. i knocked off the map sensor vac tube one day and did this same thing. check for error codes too.

 

[Filippimini]

No, Haven't touched anything for a long time. I will check codes tomorrow arvo before replacing the fuel filter.

 

[Filippimini]

Checked the fault codes, got a 12, so that all good.

Changed the fuel filter. It did run better, but the stutter is still there. Hopefully it will clear up a bit more. Its going to the mechanic later in the week. So I will drive the sunday car between now and then.

oh and I checked the coolant and oil again today. Oil looks good. Coolant looked a tad low and a bit greasy. So hopefully its not a head gasket or similar. I couldn't see any signs of water in the oil.

 

[hi_ryder]

greasy coolant could be either trans oil getting in through the radiator, or your inlet manifold gaskets as well. the lack of power and stuttering under load sounds like it could be manifold gaskets....

 

[1991VNvacationer]

My bet is that it is the inlet manifold gasket. My car did that and had all the symptoms that you have, poor acceleration and oil in the coolant, i also changed the fuel filter and had slight improvements, but once i changed the gasket it ran sweet.

 

[hi_ryder]

water gets by these gaskets casing your problems (possibly).

what a replacement kit looks like

 

[Filippimini]

Well, it was a dead spark plug lead. Upon testing all the leads they all were a bit crappy. New set of leads and plugs cleared the issue right up. It was a bit odd because it felt totally different to the last car that had an ignition lead failure.