Hey guys, As some of you guys know I just got my truck legally on the road and I've been having problems with the engine lately. When driving, sometimes, yes sometimes, the engine will die when accelerating. Its happened in 3rd and 4th gear so far. If you baby the gas it will start to run better and if you try to accelerate through it, it spits sputters, and misfires but eventually catches up with itself. It will also surge, it has done this in all gears I have used, (I don't use 5th gear since I'm just driving around town for now.) I really need to get this sorted out ASAP. I get my license in a little over a week and I need this truck to be running right. I have changed the plugs and wires, there was no build up on the cap and the rotor was fine. I also cleaned the IAC which helped my idle problem. One last thing, this only happens occasionally. My dad said he drove it up our road (about 2-3 miles) and turned around and came back and it ran fine on the way up but ran like crap coming back. Also, when I start it, if the CEL is on, it will run like it just pulled out of the factory, no popping or hesitation, but as soon as the CEL isn't on or turns off it runs crappy, hesitation, popping and overall running like ****. Please help me out!

 

That Check Engine Light is trying to tell you something. Check for codes by running the Key On Engine Off (KOEO) tests and more importantly see what is stored (Continuous Memory). Your truck should display 2 digit codes.

 

How would I go about doing that? I searched the forum but nothing of use came up

 

Warm up the engine then do this: Fuel Injection Technical Library » How To Run a Self-Test

Or purchase a Code Reader such as the Equus 3145.

 

that write up is a little confusing, just to confirm, I ground the STI and count how many times the CEL flashes, right?

 

I just tried to do this and it is really difficult, I got codes 85,42,33,and 39. If these codes don't seem right, Im going to just find a friend with a scanner