Here's the story, I have a 86 SC 4 cyl Manual. Ever since.......I guess probably about mid June, whenever I would start to accelerate, the car would kinda buck and chug only in first gear. When it would start to buck, and whatnot, if I let off the gas, and slowly (......slowly) started accelerating again , it would act normal. Then probably around the end of June, beginning of July, it started to do this bucking business in 2nd gear, and then a week or two later, it has done it a couple times in 3rd gear. What problem am I looking at here? Timing?

Austin

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Practice makes perfect, but since nobody's perfect, why practice?
If life gives you lemons, take them and throw them at people you hate.

I'd guess Ignition Coil. I don't have any Dukes, but when the V6 starts doing that, thats usually what it is.

My mind is at a total blank right now. I can't remember if the Ignition and Pickup Coils are the same, but have replaced the pickup coil....about 4 months ago. I've also replaced the fuel filter, spark plugs, wires, starter, rotor, air filter, and.....probably some other stuff. I haven't worked on my car for a month or two so things are kinda fuzzy. Also one notable thing, lets say I'm in 5th gear (any gear at all in this instance) and lets say I go like 35mph in 5th gear without accelerating, it will buck as well. And it keeps bucking til I give it gas until its passed a certain RPM range (tach broken). One other notable thing as well is that when it does this bucking business, it doesn't just buck, it bucks because the car wants to shut off, and if I'm not careful in 1st gear, it will shut off. It did it to me today twice in fact.... thanks for your input by the way.

Austin

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Practice makes perfect, but since nobody's perfect, why practice?
If life gives you lemons, take them and throw them at people you hate.

Hi Austin, you probably remembered it by now but the ignition coil is the one outside...and the pickup coil is the one inside the distributor.

I remember that you were tight of funds when you bought some of the other replacement parts a few months ago. If, like I've done, you went for one or more "cheapest" replacements, then I guess it is time to recheck them. Oh, before going for anything more complex, take a hard look at the distributor cap and rotor...wouldn't it be great if things were that easy!

Let me say, your car must have better torque than mine. If I try to drive my 86 4cyl/ 5speed at 35mph in 5th gear, I'd better be going downhill. I can berely keep it going at less than 40 on flat roads. Its shift point seems to be 42 mph in 5th, if I obey the indicator light. Below this, I get a jumpy car.

Beno

I had very similar symptoms with my 4cyl 88 coupe. It would be running fine then suddenly have little power. I would press the accelerator and it would lose power. If I pumped the pedal it would slowly speed up. Did this for a couple of days then wouldn't run for more than 30 seconds. Fuel pump was running less than 2 lbs! New pump and it's fine now. Hope this helps!

Man Beno......don't you go away? hehe jk man. Thanks for your help. After I submitting the message I realized what my ignition coil was. I have replaced that as well. webgopher, my problem doesn't sound like yours does, but thank you anyways for the tip I'd like to just find out what the problem is so I can enjoy my car again without having to freak out when I accelerate. And also Beno, what I meant was when I shift into 5th gear normally, and then let the car decelerate until about 35-40 mph, that's when it starts bucking. It will do it in any gear if it gets below its normal "operational" mph deal. (like in 4th gear, when I hit about 20 mph....etc) Does this problem look like it could be timing? Could it be something major? Tranny or engine? If the car is making it seem like it wants to turn off rather than skip, I don't know if it could be dist. cap or rotor, but I'd mine as well take a peekskie while I'm at it. Thanks for your guys' help. Much appreciated.

Austin

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Practice makes perfect, but since nobody's perfect, why practice?
If life gives you lemons, take them and throw them at people you hate.

I had this same problem in my 86 4cyl. It turned out to be a plugged CAT. It ran fine until I tried to push too much exhaust through too little space. I had to replace the entire exhaust system but it ran fine after that. Don't know if this is the same problem as yours but its a thought.