Hesitation on acceleration

[stumsport]

Hi, I need some help. I own a 1996 MX3 1.8 V6 and my problem is this. When I accelerate, the car is very hesitant, like it is struggling to get fuel or misfiring. Once I get past 3500rpm it seems to run better but if I accelerate hard again it seems to misfire again and is struggling to accelerate. When the car is idling it seems to misfire, if I press the accelerator and get it above 3500rpm it seems to run ok. I have tried disconnecting the IAC valve but all that does is make the rpm's drop to about 400rpm and doesn't solve the problem. I haven't tried anything with the BAC valve yet. The car has had a new distributor and leads so doesn't seem to be that. Any idea's that could help would be great.

Regards

Stumsport

[mikeetown]

do you hear a large amount of air being sucked around the intake in a random location??? I have that problem now. You should check your OBDII codes. You could have a bad knock sensor, bad ignition timing sensor which is by the harmonic balancer at the crank, You might have a wire backwards on the distributor, you may need a new timing belt........ i hope that helps.

probably something stupid though. post a youtube vid.

[Ryan]

I had this EXACT problem with my black car.

Turned out a piece of the timing cover gasket fell inside and jumped the timing a few teeth.

[Newfie_dan]

Do the simple crap first, check for vac leaks, the idle air control has squat to do with hesitation it only controls idle, being a 96 it would throw a code if it were out of timing. Do you have a check engine light on at all? Also check for a loose throttle cable if its overly slack it can simulate hesitation to a certain degree as you need to press the throttle pedal more to apply throttle. I would start with vac leaks though and go from there as that makes a huge difference to throttle response. If timing was out an obd2 car should throw a code for it and he has a 96 which is obd2.

[Daninski]

I just fixed my MX6 with the same problem. Turns out there were cracks in the accordion hose going to my throttle body. In other words I had a vac leak. Little silicone fixed it up.