need help diognosing problem

[Bulli]

Ok well tomorrow i am leaving on a school trip and will be gone a good 2-3 days.

The question for discussion is what is wrong with my car.

2002 escort zx2.

when i accelerate on low rpm's 1.5-2.7k there is hesitation but after that it pulls good till about 5.5 where the power falls off.

Now when i got the car my neighbor which is a mechanic told me he can hear a vacuum leak and told me to check it out somewhere behind the firewall. (he was about 3-5 feet away from the car) lol so idk how accurate he can be.

I never gave much thought to it since the hesitation wasn't so bad.

I changed the spark plugs when i got the car and that did not help.


when i sprayed a MAF cleaner it helped somewhat but hesitation still came back after 2-3 weeks.

Recently i cleaned it again but hesitation came back about within a week.


First i would like to check if the car has a vacuum leak since its cheap to fix.
Then i will look into other stuff such as bad wires...coil...fuel filter.... injectors maybe?


hopefully i can fix this because it is [censored] me off a little bit. I have to rev up to 3k to get some power to move the car.

 

[jldcol]

You need a vacuum gauge, perhaps borrow one from mechanic neighbor. You also need to know the expected reading for that engine and how to read and interpret the gauge readings. These types of problems, car runs but at less than full potential and the hardest to solve, people whoo know how are very well paid techs. Few guesses iffy fuel pressure from pump or pressure reg, dirty injectors, throttle body dirty, of throttle position sensor off. This maybe tricky to diagnosis and take a while, good hunting.

 

[oilboy123]

Do those engines have a PCV? Worth checking the valve and hose.......
Do you have any codes?

Good points below:
Originally Posted By: jldcol
You need a vacuum gauge, perhaps borrow one from mechanic neighbor. You also need to know the expected reading for that engine and how to read and interpret the gauge readings. These types of problems, car runs but at less than full potential and the hardest to solve, people whoo know how are very well paid techs. Few guesses iffy fuel pressure from pump or pressure reg, dirty injectors, throttle body dirty, of throttle position sensor off. This maybe tricky to diagnosis and take a while, good hunting.

 

[aaxb970]

EGR vacuum leak?

 

[Bulli]

yes i do have a PCV system. and no there are no engine codes.

 

[mechtech2]

Vacuum leaks and intake connections have to be perfect, no matter what. A good place to start. Take your time and trance each line and connection.