So, here's what I have been experiencing for the last few days:

During high-acceleration I experience a 2-level stutter; in other words acceleration is interrupted for literally 1/2 a second, during which I feel the stutter (loss of acceleration/power).

I hooked up my code reader and there are no DTCs present and of course, no CEL. My sparkplugs were swapped out about a year ago and I have not had any issues with them, so I doubt it has anything to do with that. My wires were never changed so I suppose its a possibility (vehicle has 44,000 miles). I am also worried about the quality of gasoline I put in the car the last 2-3 times.

Any ideas?

 

How harsh is the stutter? If it's pretty hard, like you hit a wall then carries on like it didn't happen it could be fuel cut.
What mods do you have?

 

It was not like hitting a wall...it did not knock me forward or anything. It was more like a 2-level hesitation (prr - prr). The strange thing is that it came out of nowhere, and I have almost no mods (WORKS air filter, APS BOV, APS TB exhaust).

If it IS fuel cut, would resetting the ECU (disconnect battery) do anything to fix it?

Thanks

 

Bump

 

Do you have a fuel pressure gauge? If would be nice to see what´s happening to a/f and fuel pressure.

 

try new spark plugs. You can get the copper one for cheap and try it.

 

My a/f is normal as far as i can tell, but i do not have a wideband to take more precise measurements. I would be surprised if it IS the spark plugs because I have less than 45,000 miles and I already swapped them out once. They are supposed to last 50-60k miles!

I suppose that since i DO have a few extra pairs of NGK's laying around, I could swap them out to see if it makes a difference.

Thanks everyone, I'll keep you all updated.

 

Could it be knock? Kinda sounds like its pulling timing to me... Who tuned the car, and how long ago? Do you know what software was used?

 

Are you losing boost?

 

+1
boost leak could cause these symptoms and then the turbo has to work extra (thus the power returning)

 

Check the fuel pressure regulator vacuum hose if you havent yet.

 

Late reply sorry. Disconnecting battery won't stop fuel cut. Fuel cut is related to your map and how much boost you're running. To stop fuel cut, turn your boost down a fraction or get a re tune. A better explanation:

Load is relative to boost so it basically means the boost exceeded a preset limit. It is possible to delete fuel cut but it is there for a reason so strongly advise against that.

However, with all that said, it doesn't sound like fuel cut is your problem.

 

I am going to check for boost leaks & secondly the fuel reg. hose.

FYI, the car was never tuned; it is stock given the fact that I have few mods (APS exhaust, WORKS fuel filter, APS BOV and some other minor things - I suppose a tune SHOULD take place at some point, but I am selling the car so I question whether I should do it or not).

Thanks all.

 

So, I checked the FPR vacuum hose and it seems fine, no leaks.
I am still getting this hesitation at WOT (two-step as I said before, and only MOMENTARY - after the hesitation it continues to accelerate).

Any ideas (specific locations) about where to check for boost leaks?

 

Make a boost leak tester just to rule out the possibility of a boost leak. What is your current setup? Has the car been tuned recently? Have you added anything else to your setup since your last tune? Is this happening in any specific gear or all gears? I had a similar problem, and it only happened in 5th gear. Answers to these questions could help narrow down why this is happening.