intermittent sputter under acceleration
 

My '88 350 TBI started sputtering under acceleration a few weeks ago. was acelerating up an on ramp and if i pushed the petal down to get up speed it would sputter. felt like a backfire without the noise. i could give it a little petal and it would not sputter. first thing that crossed my mind was fuel filter. so i changed it. it ran fine for aproximately 100 miles. then i was at a store one day and when i got in to leave it started sputtering again. so i figuered maybe the tank was so dirty that it clogged the filter again. so i changed it again. it ran fine for about another 100 miles. then today i drove it to the park to walk my dog it ran fine there. when i got back in it to leave it was sputtering again. i got it home, parked it, got my daughters car and bought another fuel filter. when i got back i was going to put it up on a ramp but it was running fine. so i took it for a little spin. ran fine.

so anyone have any ideas.

Re: intermittent sputter under acceleration
 

My 98 recently had a bad miss at cruising speeds but idled fine.
It would miss badly between 1500-2000 RPM's...and I mean badly.
It was the plug wires.

Re: intermittent sputter under acceleration
 

Sounds like time to start checking a little deeper into the fuel delivery system.

There are numerous posts on here that will help you check pressures under several different conditions.

Re: intermittent sputter under acceleration
 

Just after I bought my 94, it started behaving just like what you are describing. I replaced the fuel filter, it seemed to run better, but the problem kept comming back. In the end it turned out to that the sparkies were fouled up, one sparkie had deposits that completly filled the spark gap.

Re: intermittent sputter under acceleration
 

I'm pretty sure I am having the same problem with my 88 GMC. I had the timming light on it a few nights ago and it would pick up a miss now and then. I'm going to replace the wires as soon as the snow melts!!

Sean :gmc2:

Re: intermittent sputter under acceleration
 

Don't know if it helps but my 88 350 TBI had bad hesitation if you gave it gas quickly would die if you didn't let off, acted like it was getting flooded. Would do that in park or reverse/drive too. However, if you slowly pressed down on the gas pedal, it would do fine. Check engine light was on so I checked and I had a code 22, TPS low signal voltage. Changed out my TPS (throttle position sensor) (Along with checking 5 volt from ECM, it was good, but the connector was bad on old TPS so it wouldn't allow the plug to be fully inserted) and now it runs like a champ. Have read that you may or may not have a check engine light. Might want to check yours to see if all is good. My Haynes book has test procedures, so wouldn't think it would be hard to find it and check into it at least. New TPS only was $28.xx at Autozone.

Re: intermittent sputter under acceleration
 

my experience tells me to tell you that the fuel pump and pump harness should be changed

Re: intermittent sputter under acceleration-my solution
 

My 1988 chevy 1500 pick up was doing the same thing, but it got worse and worse until it was undrivable. It would start up fine idle decent but if you gave it gas even in park, it would cut out and stumble like either it was running out of fuel or losing spark. It turned out to be the spark. At first I suspected fuel, changed fuel filter... no change, checked fuel pressure... 13 lbs perfect, so... not fuel. Started looking at electronics, checked the MAP sensor... good, checked the TPS sensor... questionable... changed & re-checked TPS... good but no change in motor running, changed cap and rotor... no change, changed coil... no change, tried a new coil wire... no change. I then decided to look into the distributor, removed the ignition module and took it to the parts store to get it tested... heres where I learned something... when I was removing the module i noticed that the plug going into the distributor shaft was "sticky" and not really whole anymore, it turns out that the ignition coil pick-up was bad, and was shorting out my ignition module. The crappy part of replacing that coil pick-up, is that you have to pull the distributor out and dismantle it. I reassembled the distributor with the new pick-up and new ignition module, put it all back in and reset the timing, and so far so good. Runs great! :metal:Good luck!