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View Full Version : Engine sputter when coasting only?



Mass535Love
02-02-2009, 05:27 AM
I have noticed these things that seem to be somewhat consistant:

When accelerating from a stop the check engine light goes on and it goes off after about 5 seconds.

When driving at highway speeds and barely moving the gas to slow down or speed up to maintain speed, the engine or car feels jerky, almost like someone is grabbing the car and jerking it back and forth. This ONLY occurs when slowly going from accelerating to decelerating and vise verse.

If I rapidly let off the gas or rapidly apply the pedal, not a single jerk or problem. (other than the check engine light which only seems to come on when accelerating from a stop)

I checked the forums and web and everyone seems to only have problems when accelerating hard or at idle only. My car is absolutely fine during these operations. I'm baffled and trying to figure it out.

To describe the jerk feel, it's almost like when there's play in the universal joint and you accelerate or decelerate and you feel the jerk where the universal join had play.

Things to add to help you guys perhaps. Under load there is no stutter, hesitation, or feeling like there is loss of power. When shifting there doesn't seem to be a problem (5spd manual) like when pressing the clutch etc.

I haven't checked at slower speeds than 55-65MPH.

I know there's a thing you can do to check the engine light code. Put in on position and pump gas or something but doesn't that have to be when light is on? If I'm wrong in how to do it, can someone correct me? I lost my Bentley manual :( It's someone around this house.

Thank you in advance to everyone.

632 Regal
02-02-2009, 08:25 AM
http://www.bimmernut.com/forum/showthread.php?p=319294#post319294

ahlem
02-04-2009, 09:45 PM
Check your fuel pressure. I had a very similar problem and found that my fuel pump was on the way out. You have to figure out where to tee into your fuel line but it's not that hard to do. On mine, if I feathered the throttle, I could make the check engine light go off. I messed with it for quite a while before I checked the fuel pressure looking for other things. It got progressively worse.