Howdy,

Got a 95 TS 4 cyl, efi.

Trouble is when you go to take off in 1st gear (manual) the car seems to get to around 1500rpm then stutters. It happens in the other gears as well.

Symptoms - last few weeks the battery light appeared on twice while driving. Never affected the running of the car though. This morning after the car had warmed up whist driving, when i went to take off from the lights it stuttered all through 1-4th gear. Then pulled over and car wouldnt start at all.

Called roadside assist, and he just cleaned the contacts on the dizzy. Car started, but he mentioned it could have been anything since the car had cooled down by then.

Got it home (still stuttered on the way), and replaced the alternator with a spare i had here. Also cleaned the dist cap. Went for a small test drive and appeared normal until it warmed up again, then shows the same symptoms of stutters.

Any ideas what to check and change quick smart? I need the car to get around asap.

cheers.

fuel filter
cap or plug leads
try some injector cleaner
coil exciter
how old are the plugs

fuel filter - changed last service i assume 10K kms.
cap or plug leads - tried a spare dist. cap. Leads appear to be new apart from one. I have a set here I can swap in, but i dont think its the issue. Intermittent stutters only when warm?
try some injector cleaner - can do, but idles fine, and runs fine most of the time
coil exciter - the plug? Its been fixed up by madmax in the past with silicon, and cleaned this morning. I cant do anything here besides get a new plug wired in?
how old are the plugs - will throw in a new set, but again intermittent issue so id assume if they were gone it would happen all the time.

If that is my old TS 2.6, I can help you with the following details:

216,800 km new fuel filter
202,000 New plugs BP6ES and air filter Ryco A489
Ignition coil and power transistor were replaced with second hand items 216,800 km. This car blew the original ignition coil, and its brand new replacement soon after. I figured the power transistor was to blame, so that got replaced when I put the third ignition coil on.
Ignition leads - all original except for the odd coloured one, lol tested ok with a multimeter but that was years ago - might want to check them.

Rubber boot on distributor was perished and the contacts corroded, these were cleaned up and the plug filled with silicone to stop further corrosion.

Definitely sounds like electrical, unless there is an air leak somewhere that opens up under heat. Might want to check the MAF plug and socket for corrosion too.

If the ignition system has gone weak, try replacing the plug leads, and check the gap on the spark plugs. If you close them down slightly from standard, and the problem goes away you know the problem is a weak spark.

Yup, your old car still :) Now on 230K kms. Runs damn great, and this is the first real issue ive had with it.

Ill replace the leads and plugs and see how that goes, and look at the maf plug.

Ok, i went and swapped the plug leads with a spare set off my old car, and put new plugs in (yay for buying service items in advance). Checked the MAF plug (looked ok to me)

Went for a small test drive and it seems to be ok. So it looks like it was either a plug or lead on its way out. Wont know till tomorrow for sure when I have to drive to the other side of town to see if its all good.

Plugs were at 0.8mm, new ones went in slightly down as max suggested.

Nice to see the old girl is still doing (reasonably) well. :facejump: That car is the one that got me hooked on Magnas for life. lol Donno what I will do when Australia runs out of Magnas to buy and do up.:eek2:

I've got the same issue at the moment, seems to be something with the distributor. I had new leads and spark plugs on only a few months ago then it started. So I'd look at swapping the distributor over and see what happens. My spark plugs weren't close enough either, it's just a pain in the arse getting to the back 3 :\

my issue sorta started bit by bit. Coming out of a corner i thought originally that it was me having it in too low of a gear. The stuttering sometimes feels like a slipping clutch, but then you realize it has to be something else. Happened once, then now and then. All of a sudden today it seemed to throw a big tantrum and decide its had enough. Stuttered all through each gear, then wouldnt start once i pulled into a carpark to check it out.

I dont know if replacing the leads and plugs worked, or was a band aid over a deeper problem....will report back and let you know.

mine shudders on take off because the back mount is rooted (doesn't have a solid one in there but meh). mine also use to shudder becuase it had a leak in the air intake tube between the maf and throttle body. its effectively a vacuum leak.
also my had original leads when it was an auto and that made it run like crap. but make sure there isnt allot of movement between the dissy rota button and shaft because that can have quite an odd effect on timing and caused problems also. especially if playing with the dizzy originally fixed it. mine is lodged together with a tooth pick lol.

Ok, went for a long drive today across town and it appears the new leads and plugs fixed the issue. No stutters at all :)

Ok, went for a long drive today across town and it appears the new leads and plugs fixed the issue. No stutters at all :)

I've noticed mine behaves fine if I'm driving and can get clean air, i.e. no cars in front of me. Usually if I'm up early and theres no cars about (4.30am) it'll run fine. If I'm doing city driving it goes mad.

But I might look at replacing the leads and plugs, they were only done about 6-9 months ago when I had the plugs put in. So I might take it back to the mechanic and see if they can do them again.

Magz, is it still running well? I'm wondering if mines the dizzy or it is in fact the plugs and leads. Plugs seem to be a bitch to get to at the back though?

Rear plugs can we reached on the back bank, but not easily. I've done it, but couldn't get the torque wrench on the middle one, so tightened that up by feel. You could do the third gen trick of removing the manifold to get to them.

If your car has the stutters, pull the rear plug covers and check them for oil, a common cause of misfire. You will need to pull the manifold to get to the rear bank rocker cover anyway, so that is a good time to do plugs and check leads.

Yep issue has been all fixed since I replaced the leads and plugs. I also swapped the alternator over with a spare madmax gave me when I bought the car as the battery light came on once or twice, and that issue has gone now too. Fingers crossed it runs well for a long time.

Hmm, the old mans pulling the dizzy apart on Sunday morning. I still think it's the leads and plugs as I'd had them replaced only a few months before and had problems with them after the mechanic put them on. They fixed it straight away, but then I've had this stuttering when accelerating. Only happens when the cars at temp, and around 2000-2500rpm.

Yep issue has been all fixed since I replaced the leads and plugs. I also swapped the alternator over with a spare madmax gave me when I bought the car as the battery light came on once or twice, and that issue has gone now too. Fingers crossed it runs well for a long time.

What? That alternator has a new Chinese made regulator and brushes in it; never tested it though - if I knew it actually worked I would have charged you extra! lol (jk)