Looks like Borkie's gonna get a good washing today. I fixed a problem today which had been plaguing my car for at least a week.

The symptoms: At part throttle acceleration above 1,800 revs or so, the car would stumble, miss, and jerk back and forth unless I either let off the gas completely, or gave it much more gas. This would also happen at part throttle cruising around 50mph+. It felt like, as Jason Knier described it: "tow hitching" like I was pulling a trailer with a towball that was slightly smaller than the hitch on the trailer. I had tested the O2 sensor with a voltmeter, and the engine was going lean (.2-.3 volts) when this crap running was happening. This led me to believe the problem was fuel related (not getting enough). This problem was getting worse, so I had to do something about it.

I got great suggestions from Jason Knier and "jon" so I tinkered with what they suggested. I replaced the hose leading to the FPR and tried to get the thing to unstick itself by tapping with a hammer with the engine running. No luck. Then I heard wierd noise coming from under the distributor cap. It gets cocked sometimes, so I jiggled it a little, and the car shut off. I couldn't get it to restart. I've got a fuel cutoff switch rigged up as part of a 'reengineered external computer circuit' so I tried cranking with it turned on or turned off. With it on, the engine would lock up hydraulically and kick back violently while cranking. With it off, it cranked fine but wouldn't start despite all the extra fuel sitting in the cylinders.

I pulled the cap and rotor, and having only changed these things a few times in my history as a home mechanic, didn't know much about what constituted a good or a bad cap and rotor. My dad seemed to think that they were bad, so he took me to discount auto parts and I picked up some new ones.

I installed them both, jump started the car, and it sprang back to life faster than it has in months. It was purring very nicely which it hadn't done for a while, so I took it for short drive. Wouldn't you know it, not only did the cap'n rotor fix the no start, it also fixed the shite running at the same time, and my car pulled a lot harder when floored! Rock on! So there you have it, a quick fix for a badly stumbling engine. Thanks a lot to Jason and jon for their suggestions.