Hesitation and throttle does not respond in gear

Hi all,

 

I am new here and this is my first post and I appreciate any help.

 

I have a 2001 Legacy, 2.5 , 4 cyl, auto with 300k. It is my daily driver.

 

Lately car hesitates a bit while in drive and it is getting a lot worst now. It seams in very cold it was doing fine (-20 F) or maybe then the problem was not that bad.

 

It idle fine. starts fine. but when I put in drive, throttle respond is not consistent and it comes and goes and car jerks on and off.

 

I have no warning light. in very cold winter I smell gas a lot, checked under the hood and did not see any leak.

 

I did the following so far:

 

Changed ignition coil with a used one

replaced air filter

today I cleaned the MAP sensor

 

None of the above helped.

 

Any Idea what I should do next?

clean the throttle body

nosaint,

 

Thanks, I will try that, however I am not sure that is the problem, since the car idle fine.

I would have checked the spark plugs first. Unless you changed them in the last 30k.

Get an obdii adapter and monitor what changes when the hesitation happens.

 

Look for. Cylinder roughness. Check temps etc.

I have a simple code reader, but not a real time scanner. I can buy one for I think 300$, but would not know what to do with the data. I am not a mechanic.

I hate to just replace parts without knowing what is the problem, but at the moment that might be my best option.

So, I might try the spark plug replacement today and see what happens.

 

Thank you

Do you have an android phone?

 

If so then download the torque app which doesnt cost much and will give you live data when paired with a cheap obdii Bluetooth adapter from eBay.

NGK plugs 2756 are 10$ for 4. It's like doing your oil change early, doesn't hurt.

I just finished changing the plugs. Problem still exists.

 

Again, the car idle fine. soon as I put it in Drive I press the throttle and sometimes nothing happens and all of a sudden the car revs up and jumps. Is there a relationship between gear in drive and throttle? any sensor that receives command after car is in drive?

 

I can tell the problem is not necessary the load, since this happens in downhill as well, although we dont have too many hills here in MN!!

Maybe a bad front o2 sensor? if so, can I disconnect and see if it gets any better?

Could be a transmission issue also. Which freessm might help with.

With a helper prop the hood open. Hold the brakes and have the helper watch the motor move while you go through the gears. go to neutral then to drive, then neutral, reverse. It should not shake or move violently. Also check the torque strut mount on the fire wall to the trans under the air box. You will have to take the air box off to take this off and inspect it.

Have you checked your trans fluid level?

Bud,

 

I got you on this one. I drive the same 01 legacy and I had the same problem a while back. Turned out it was a burnt transmission solenoid...not costly to have it repaired...no workaround, have it fixed. I can imagine you are burning some gallons of fuel since the transmission is not shifting beyond the 2nd gear, 3rd if you are lucky. Thank me later.

 

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