If I drive "properly" then I really don't have any of these problems, just to keep in mind. The reason I think it may be the clutch is because a couple weeks ago it started to smell, but that has since gone away but this problem remains. Whenever I give the car lots of gas, in any gear, the car kicks and sputters (if the windows are down you can hear what's comming out of the exhaust doesn't sound right) and catches at around 2k-3krpm, it will still accelerate but it sounds dampened and doesn't produce much power, then around 3.5-4K rpm it kicks in again but drags again around 4.5K rpm. It only kicks when I first step on the gas, then just goes the dragging thing. Is this the pressure plate or collar being semi-disengaged with gear? I'm at a loss so suggestions are appriciated!

 

No, it's not, it's misfiring, I'm hopeful that it's just a little gunk in the injectors or rail that can be cleared out, if it was a plug/electrical problem I would imagine it would do it even when I wasn't giving it lots of gas... weeee.. mods can delete if they would like

 

Problem solved, it was the spark plugs..... the damn spark plugs. There wasn't any real excessive burn on them or anything but they definately left their mark, I wasn't supposed to change them for another 12k miles under regular maintenence so I guess that is how bad I abuse the car. Go , now I just hope the timing belt holds out until I can get it replaced.

 

inspect your plug wires and coil packs for signs of arcing

 

Do you mean the boots that go into the spark plug housing or the physical wires and packs that are sitting on top of the engine and visable all the time? I checked the rubber boots when I took out the plugs and a couple of them were brown but I didn't know if that could just be attibuted to dirt/dust