I was on my way home after an extremely shitty day at work and as I was about to get on the interestate my car just loses power, it was still running, but not going anywhere fast. It idles around 500 rpm, and when opening up the throttle (WOT) it won't go above about 3000 rpm and it bounces between there and about 2000. When I get off the throttle it bounces between 500 & 1000 rpm then eventually sticks around 500. I can crack the throttle open part way and hold it at 2000 and it won't surge, but it shakes alot and just doesn't feel right. It was getting dark so I was limited what I could check. I looked at the distributor cap and scraped the points clean, couldn't see the rotor well enough to figure out how bad or good it was. Fuel filter seemed fine. I have a '95 DE in an 89 coupe. Any suggestions where to start? This is a good opportunity for me to learn something (I don't know shit about diagnosing problems)!

Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

when my car was running shitty last week, like wouldnt stay at idle, surging a little, and under light throttle while cruising would fade in and out, a complete tune up seems to have fixed it, cap rotor, plugs, wires.
and i put in a walboro fuel pump, but that didnt really help my problem.

 

Check for vacuum leaks, make sure all hoses are connected to something. Clean out your IACV, its on your Throttle Body. if that doesn't work, check if your EGR is stuck open. If you have no idea what i just said, get a "Chilton's" manual for your engine/car...those are great for beginners and experts alike. And if all thats good, check the MAFS, sounds similar to problems when they're unplugged.

 

Its the MAF for sure.

Make sure the MAF is plugged in all the way, no vacuum leaks and I even had my MAF wires fall into my power steering pulley and short out. Had to get the car towed home when it happened on the way home from autox. Then the next day I fixed it in two seconds with tape.

Good luck

 

Thanks for the replies. Hopefully when I get home it won't be raining and I can check this stuff.

 

It was the MAFS, thanks for the replies!