So, this started happening 4 days ago and then vanished until this morning.

When I get on the freeway and hit about 60mph, the car will start to lurch or jerk as long as my foot is on the gas. It went from being a minor lurching to a pretty severe / violent jerking within a minute or two. The delay between each event is random. Usually a few seconds, sometimes longer.

Before I jumped off the freeway in a panic though it was pretty bad. Think "teaching a teenager to drive a stick" bad.

Strange thing is, keeping it below 50-60mph the car was fine. Maybe the slightest whisper of a lurch once or twice in the remaining 30 minutes it took to get to work.

To my mind, it feel like the car is shifting when it shouldn't. I don't know if that is an accurate perception, but that was my immediate thought the first time it happened.

I am moving from Washington to the Midwest in 2 months, the car won't be joining me, so I hesitate to dump much money into it. If it is cheap and simple though, it would be nice to get the car stable so my sister can have a second vehicle.

Thoughts?

 

So, this has morphed a bit. The jerking / lurching started up on the way home going around 35. So this being speed specific is incorrect.

By this morning it was sputtering / jerking while idling. It has actually died a few times as I let it sit.

I pulled the fuel injectors and soaked them in cleaner (SeaFoam), and it made absolutely zero difference.

Now my battery light is on as well as my Service Engine light. The battery light is a new addition to the situation, but I am wondering if the alternator is going?

I actually have a new one sitting in the trunk of the car. I don't know why (I thought the previous owner had the alternator replaced).

I know this will be painful to replace myself, but I don't know that I have much choice. Going to head outside and make sure the alternator is correct for this car (I'd have assumed if it was wrong they would have returned it, so I suspect it just never got installed).

 

In case anyone was wondering. It was the alternator. I went ahead and replaced it with the one in the trunk, and she is running better than she has in a while.

 

out of curiosity, did it have trouble starting? mine is also doing the chug and lurch, and the battery light is on also. i turned the headlights on to test, and it dimmed for a bit when i tried to start it, but no change, really, other than it wont start.

 

Both of you are describing the exact same symptoms I began experiencing and it turned out that my catalytic converter was plugged. Disconnect your exhaust from the header and see if your car will run.

I disconnected mine, used a wire to tie it down and then drove around to make sure that it would respond both at the low end and at highway speed.

 

During the chug-a-lug problem my system didn't have any problems starting, although toward the end (prior to the alternator replacement) it did have a hell of a time STAYING started.

It sounds very much like this may be partially your problem, just taken to the point that the battery is dead due to the alternator failing to keep it charged. I didn't quite get to that point with mine.

In respect to the catalytic converter, I think my car has an issue there as well, although I don't know that it is plugged enough to be a problem, but that was something I considered at the time because it has been rattling around for the better part of two years now and I know it needs to be replaced.