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I apologize for saturating the board with questions on this new car. I'm taking notes and will use all your comments as I tackle the issues we've discussed.
I've realized after taking the car out for a drive this morning that one issue sits above all others in needing to get immediately addressed, because it directly affects its drivability.
Whenever the engine gets below what I guess is about 1500 RPM, it has a tendency to begin severely stuttering and hesitating. RPM's drop to just a few hundred, and it sits choking and struggling like that for up to 10 seconds, after which it either dies completely or comes back to life. It really acts like an engine just running out of gas, or an engine with horrible timing, or even one running on just 3 cylinders. When this is happening, my pressing the gas does nothing to help it recover, however, pulling out the choke usually brings it back.
Obviously this issue is most evident when taking off from a stop. As it stands, the idle is adjusted up very high to avoid the stalling. When I begin to engage 1st, if I'm not super aggressive on the gas, revving it up to 2500 or more, I can trigger this 10 seconds of stuttering which stops me dead in my tracks until I can coax it back, or it dies and I restart. Additionally, if I engage any other gear while rolling early enough to drop the RPM's below 1500, I can feel the engine stutter as well. Although the rolling of the car keeps it from dying, its as if I have no power while it decides to struggle. I usually have to downshift to force it back up in speed and regain power. I've found myself stranded at lights and pulling out in traffic, so it clearly isn't ready to be driven until this is fixed.
The car has a new coil, distributor, wires, and plugs. It also has a new fuel pump, and a new filters before and after the pump.
I have an old coil I'll swap out to see if that helps. I can also check the timing to make sure it's within spec. After that, however, I'm at a loss as to what I need to look at. My gut says this is a fuel delivery issue, but I suppose it could also be a timing issue.
Any ideas?
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