ok let me start by saying i am new to the avenger. I love the style, the drive, the whole 9. I have a 96 with a 2.0, with a 5 speed tranny. Lately I have had some issues with this car and finding the cause is proving to be more than i bargained for. The issue is that when at a steady speed the engine seems to stumble. While idle, or accelerating it is fine, thos sometimes when taking of there is some hesitation.

I at first thought it was mt spark plug wires shorting out because i had a bad valve cover leak that would fill the number 1 and 4 spark plug well. I change that gasket and rvt'ed the hell out of it. still had the problem, my next step was to change my wires. Still had the problem, ii checked all my injectors for resistance and got 13.2-13.8 on everyone of them, as well as putting a screw driver to them and listening for the click. They seem to be fine. My pcv vavle is not stuck and my air filter seems to be ok as well.

Now it could be the spark plugs, as when it was doing this the last time i changed the plugs and it stopped, all tho my oil stick was broken and i had to get a new one.. the whole time i did not have one the oil was really low, all the while it was low i had no problem. The day i get my new dipstick and add the needed oil it started back.. could this be oil related somehow? I am unemployed so i am fighting the fuel pump buy, or anything like that. I guess i'm looking for someone that knows more about this car than I so i don't speed cash i don't have...lol,,,CAN someone HELP me?

 

Describe the Stumble ??
Is it an RPM fluctuation ??
Check engine light ??
Have you rechecked for oil in the plug wheel ??
Have you replaced the coil??

 

The stumble, is essentially a miss. I have rechecked the spark wells and all are dry. I have a 96 stratuse with the 2.4 in it. They share the same part numbers when it comes to the coil, and the MAP sensor. I exchanged both and seems to stay the same, maybe even a lil worse.

Once i drove it down the road after changing both the coil and the map, I decided that since it seemed a lil worse that i would pull the map off first and put the old one back on, and leave the other coil on.. took it for a drive, just to have the same problem so i then put the original stuff back on it.

I was told that my oil pump could be clogged and this could cause the problem, but that doesn't seem all that logical to me. I could be wrong tho. I bought some sea foam today and put half in the tank and half in the crank. I only drove it about 15 miles since it has been in there.

When it stumbles there is lil movement in the RMP's tho there is some. It's not jerking so much as missing. The only time it jerks is in a parking lot and I'm riding 1st. I have a sports pipe on it and you can here the miss in the pipe as well.. I say this because its almost as if the stumble was a improperly balanced tire ( as far as feel goes ).

I was also told that a cracked head gasket could cause this as well, which i has failed to mention another symptom earlier. sometimes if you let the car just sit and run there is a thin whitish smoke to the tail pipe. It looks just like condensation smoke but has a fuel smell to it.

I had the same problem out of a 98 neon I had with the same 2.0 420a in it. I mean almost to the tee even the white smoke. I sold it tho.

Is there a way to test the coil or the map sensor? should i preform a leak down test? I can't really afford the shop prices right now but if thats all i have i rather do that then let my ride die. I don't want to sell the car, I LOVE IT! I was told a back yard way to check for a cracked head gasket is to take the radiator cap off and take a air hose and some kinda plug the size of the spark well and blow air in the spark hole. If bubbles come through the top of the radiator then I have a blown head gasket, is this true?

sorry about the frantic questions, i'm desperate at this moment and will do anything to get her fixed.

 

btw there has been no check engine light set. I was getting a egr Insufficient air flow code but i found that the air line from the egr solenoid was cracked, i patched it with a like sized rubber hose and and the code has not since been on.

 

After driving it this morning, it seems that it is worse when its cold. Once the engine warms its still there just not as bad.

 

OK I have never ever seen an oil pump trouble cause a miss ...
The head gasket should not cause a miss either , it would be a constant trouble

I'd try blocking off the EGR and see if it runs better

 

ok i will try that, i have noticed now that the lifters seem to be taping something bad now too.. lol.. OH how i wish i had something else to drop in this.. do you know of any other engines that will go in this thing and bolt to the manual 5 speed thats in it? or something that can be converted fully?

 

the 2.4 can be adapted

 

it will bolt up to the same tranny? I was trying to swap a 1.8 out of a kia which was dsm, i snatched a motor out a 99 kia with auto, and the back of the crank was different my pressure plate and clutch would not match up.. would i run into the same problem with this dsm motor? and is the 2.4 all that much better than the 2.0? how about a 2.0 dsm turbo from a 95-99 eclipse? BTW thanks for all the help.. i checked out your ride... very nice man.. have you thought about a wing or spoiler?

 

The 2.4 needs a pt cruiser tranny

You can turbo the 2.0 you have ,
the 2.0 turbo from the DSM can be swapped but needs a TON of electrical/computer/harness swaps to get it to swap.
hell you can swap the AWD in too if you want ...

I've got $1000 in my carbon trunk and no way I'm drilling to mount a spoiler