Ok so first off I have a 2000 Galant es 4 cylinder.

We were on our way from ny to atlanta last night and everything was going great.

All of a sudden the car starts to sputter bad.

Here are the symptoms:

-The need service now light is on

- when you accelerate it sputter like crazy and has no pick up

- when you start going its fine but if you press down too much on the accelerator it starts to sputter again.

- when idling it buck back and forth

- cant go up a hill unless you have speed because it starts to sputter and the car has no pick up


we thought it could be bad gas but then when the tank ran out we filled it back up and put a fuel injectot/ gas treatment into the system and nothing changed.

Luckily we got down to atlanta but somehome we have to get back up.

Please any help would be amazing.

Thanks

 

Not an expert here, just had something similar happen to me. Have you checked your spark plugs? More so check to make sure the split wires are in good condition and seated properly. I have one sparkplug wire that likes to pop off . When it does pop off it runs as you described.
Just a thought.

Also, get the code pulled to narrow down the guessing. My car bucks at idle right now and I am sure it's the IAC. Just got my replacement tonight.
Without the code it's hard to tell with all the electronic controls and sensors on these cars. There's a reason I have a strong love for my 69 f-250.

 

timing belt

 

Go to autozone and get the code scanned. It's free and it'll tell you what's wrong.

If you get an o2 sensor or catalytic converter code then I bet the cat is clogged or the o2 sensor is out.

If it's just recording a misfire, I bet you have a spark plug or a spark plug wire that has gone out. You might just want to replace them both anyway.

 

This happened to Mazda and it turned out that a spark plug wire went bad. Like someone stated before. Get the codes and post them here. Bet you get a cylinder misfire or something of the sort. I ended up tuning up my car with new caps, rotor, wire, plug, air filter and oilchange .. I now runs great.