kilika85

I just bought a 1999 GS400 a couple months ago. I bought it with 120k miles but figured it was a good by because it was at its' low end of miles for being 10yrs old. It's my second month owning the car, and I started experiencing some problems that I'm hoping someone can help me figure out. I first noticed that my car was sputtering whenever I accelerated from a stop sign/stop light. I figured it might be my fuel injectors so I put a bottle of seafoam in my gas tank and that cleared the problem for about a week then the problem started again. I was introduced to this site from a friend and he printed off a forum of someone who experienced the same problem except they used a fuel systems cleaner from chevron. So I did the same and instantly felt a difference. No more sputtering from acceleration. However, now I feel my car sputtering when I'm sitting at a complete stop at a stop sign or stop light. I'm thinking it could be the fuel filter, or just the fuel injectors itself but I'm not quite sure. I'm a first time owner and pretty much a virgin when it comes to cars. Can anyone please help if they've experienced the same thing or if someone can suggest anything I can do to solve this problem??

tmf2004

iTrader: (15)

Welcome to CL...

First i would try another bottle of chevron 20oz fuel cleaner with fresh gas maybe from another gas station..(could be bad gas ) You may need a few applications depending how dirty those injectors are with 120k..

When was the spark plugs changed, fuel filter, etc..


Than i would change the spark plugs and fuel filter and go from there..

Others will chime in but this is a start..

RUSSOM

iTrader: (4)

FWIW, whenever I buy a new to me used car and if I didn't recieve service history with it I just consider a major service as part of my buying price. I draw a line in the sand basically, I look in the service manual at whatever the last biggest service was and I do that service just as if it were at that mileage interval and then I just service as the manual instructs from there on.

In your case, is there a CEL? If not and everything is up to date service wise, then I would consider the simplest things first. Also consider what may've recently happened when you noticed the problem, maybe the pump truck was at the gas station when you were filling up, or...? The FF on these cars is accessed through a door under the back seat, its a sock on the pump itself, and then wires/plugs are pretty simple. CRC sells a MAF cleaner. I always do the easiest and most obvious things first and move from there.

Clifton

Injector cleaner is crap. Anyone who has sent high mileage injector off for a sonic clean with before and after bench results will confirm this. It also is not your fuel filter. If it was "clogged" enough to cause a miss at idle or part throttle, it would get worse at WOT at higher revs. I would suspect the maf or a vacuum if it's missing at idle.

kilika85

thanks for the quick response! really appreciate it...I did receive a full vehicle maint. on the car from the previous owner and he had everything dealer serviced. And after looking throught the history, looks like he got a tune up on the car at 94k on the miles and he had the timing belt replaced, fuel injector cleaned, new spark plugs etc...the only thing I don't see is anything about the fuel filter. Do you think that could be the case?

tmf2004

iTrader: (15)

First try cleaning the MAF and TB before spending money on the bigger items. The cleaners are cheap and it will be under 10 bucks.. GL..

kilika85

what do you use to log the car with?