96 , 1.6 Liter or 1.8L sport?
is your check engine lamp glowing or flashing?
have you modified any of the Induction, EFI or other engine controls.
like : cold air pipes, exhaust, etc.?
does this every happen on a COLD engine or only HOT?
engine sounds lean. (or EGR sticking open, too)
One guy had a crack in the air pipe from the MAF to the TB and only leaked during heavy torquing of the engine. One guy had the clamps missing. one guy had cracks in tube, other had broken pipe resonator.
I'd examine this tube very carefully.
Any AIR leaking UP STREAM of ANY MAF is bad news.
up stream is towards the TB.
Flow:
engines see x air as reported by MAF.
but engine is really getting X+ 5 air.
so ECU , mixes X amount (14:1 by mass) of Gasoline.
Mixture is now lean.
I saw one guy build a RAM air in to his Air cleaner,
his MAF when totally Crazy, I could not deal with that.
Do every thing you can to make that MAF happy and you will be good.
Hint: MAF only works when engine is hot.
thus my question about Cold.
powerloss
there are other possible things, and are more difficult to diagose:
clogged injectors , not likely to be intermittant.
clogged fuel filter , pressure ok, but volume , very low.
Fuel pressure regulator bad. (stuck at low pressure) on fuel rail.
bad gas.
i do not think it is spark as that causes BUCKING.
and p0300 or close to set in CEL DTC.
if fogot the most imporant help.
this is an OBD2 car!
you can connect a datalogging scanner and watch the real time
parameters of the engine. Like Short and long term fuel trim and
open or closed loop mode working, and OXY ops, and a host of other values.
This car would be easy to diagnose with the much smarter ECU.
Some places rent them. Autoxray is one.
I use a Harrison Eng. that loads to a PALM. < one of the best >
I can look at anything as a METER or as a SCOPE. way cool.
