2002 Mercury Cougar little to no acceleration

Tiny
RAILA
  • MEMBER
  • 2002 MERCURY COUGAR
2002 Mercury Cougar 4 cyl Manual 94600 miles

two or three days ago, I began to notice acceleration hestitation after shifting gears (all gears). My car hasn't made any abnormal noises and I have not noticed leakage. Today, the acceleration has gotten worse and I noticed an odor coming from under the hood. Earlier today I was parked on flat ground, when I put my car in reverse it took a long time to back out of the parking space and after shifting to first to drive forward. I drove my car home immediately. I parked in the driveway which has a slight hill, I tried to back up in order to park on the flat surface of the driveway but there wasn't enough power and the car only moved forward. I had a couple of leaks last fall which were fixed. I have a new timing belt, serpentine belt, thermostat & housing, water pump and a few other parts ( I will have to look at receipts to specify other parts replaced). I did not get a tune up last October/November because I was told I did not need one at that time. What's wrong with my car?
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009 AT 11:35 PM

1 Reply

Tiny
RASMATAZ
  • MECHANIC
  • 75,992 POSTS
Dirty fuel injectors (cleaning the injectors often fixes this).
Bad MAP (manifold absolute pressure) sensor
Bad TPS (throttle position) sensor
Bad or dirty MAF (mass airflow) sensor
Low fuel pressure (leaky fuel pressure regulator or weak fuel pump)
Vacuum leaks (intake manifold, vacuum hoses, throttle body, EGR valve)
Bad gasoline (fuel contaminated with water or too much alcohol)

Sometimes, what feels like a hesitation is actually ignition misfire rather than lean misfire. The causes of ignition misfire may include:

Dirty or worn spark plugs
Bad plug wires
Weak ignition coil
Wet plug wires
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Wednesday, September 16th, 2009 AT 4:08 AM

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