I have an 89 Ramcharger with a 318 FI. It has always started and ran wonderful for the 4 years that I have owned it until recently. It now hesitates, jerks, and "sputters" when I accelerate from a stop. It runs much better once I get up to cruising speed. It actually also seems to run better when it is colder outside until the truck warms up and then it is back to the hesitating. Has anyone had a similar problem? Does anyone have any ideas what may be causing this? I would appreciate any ideas.

 

u have already looked at ur plug wires // next if the canester is still on the fender... check to see that the carbon isnt getting in the line and the t b i.. qp

 

I'm sure you've figured out your issue by now. But just in case you haven't, or someone else is having the same issue, I had the exact same symptoms. I replaced every electrical item I thought might cause the hesitation. After a month of it gradually getting worse, I finally gave in and took it to the dealer. After 3 days of testing they finally diagnosed it as a bad diode within the alternator. This being the only part I didn't replace. $400.00 later, she was purring like a kitten. The issue was just to intermittent for me to figure out. Hope this helps someone if not you.

 

another thing it could be is a dirty IAC, just do a search for cleaning the iac, and that may help.