OK heres the prob. I let my car sit for a couple months and it ran strong when ever I drove it. Then after going on a vacation I come back get in it and it runs like total crap. First I thought it was a clogged cat but after gutting it out I still had the same prob. Then the car started to surge (if you had the clutch held in and tried to hold it at say 3000rpm it would go from 3000 down to 1500 back up to 3000 again and would keep doing it as long as you tried to hold it steady. When driving slow through town it would seem like it would die and then just surge forward like you just started a race and would keep doing it until yuou let off the gas. When driving on the highway it wouldnt do it as bad it just felt like you let off the gas and hit it again.) As for driving around town it got to be almost impossible until I got mad one night and just put my right foot to the floor and let my car eat(it still ran fine at wide open throttle) and after that it seemed like the problem cleared up. And it did for a little while at least but every time I thought it was cleared it would start acting up again. Then one mourning driving to work I notice a RX-7 fallowing me. By the time I here the turbo alls he could see are two taillights fading in the dark and my car ran perfect. Then I pulled into a store and it just shut off for no reason but it started back up with no problem. then on my way home it stumbles a couple of times and cuts off while im driving down the road. I pull over and start it up with no problems. then as I pull back onto the road I hit about third gear and it shuts off agian but this time it wont start back up. I just put a ICM, MAF Sensor, and Coil on it for a random misfire code it kept throwing. PLEASE ANY HELP WITH THIS WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED. THANKS FOR YOUR TIME AND HELP NATHAN

 

hate to be the bearer of bad news but your optispark is gone.

throw in a new opti and youll be good to go.

 

The next time the car dies,take a rubber mallot ,and bang a few times on the gas tank.If the car starts right up,then your fuel pump (inside the tank) is toast.Have you ever run out of gas?If yes,then you may have fried the fuel pump there.Hope this helps.

 

No ive never run out of gas and it still gets gas when you turn on the key so I dont believe that is the problem. As for the opti is that the way they usually do when they go out? And thanks for the help.

 

Hey yeah I'd say your opti is fried. Mine went out similarly. The dealer couldn't duplicate the problem and no engine light came on at first. But then it did finally and threw a misfire code. We ended up replacing the opti, plugs, and wires and the car has been awesome since. Try that. Optis typically go bad around 80K miles or so from reading other peoples' posts and mine went out at 87K.

 

mine did the same thing. I noticed the wire from the coil to the opti was bad and sending the spark to the block and grounding out. I replaced the coil and wire and it runs perfectly. $35 for coil at O'reilly's. The wire though can only be bought individually at the dealer ($23) of you can buy a whole new set of wires for $26 at Oreilly's. Easy fix to do.

 

Same opti 110,000 miles now.
Coil wire at the dealer about$24.00
Napa auto parts ,about$14.00
Shoebox has a site on the internet for about $13.00 or so.
Do the cheap stuff first.(might get the car scanned.My02)

 

I got a question....does it only surge like that when your foot is on the brake?? Haha, i know this sounds weird, but just stick with me....I've been there

 

Man he explained the same problem im having to a t and my car has 94,000 miles on it and as far as i know the opti,coil,ign module has never been replaced by the previous owner.

 

My opti had 127k on it before the waterpump let go and took it with it. But yeah it sound like its your opti.