[DavidH]

Dead spot in acceleration

I have a 91 Spider. When I accelerate from a dead stop in first gear, the car often seems to lose power for an instant. Specifically, the dead spot appears as the car is gaining speed, just a second or two after I hit the gas, but well before the shift into second. Anybody have a guess what causes this, and how I can fix it? Thanks. David

 

[Elio Comello]

Gas pedal to throttle body linkages... sounds like "dead band" check for
Slack, play, wear, lack of lubrication, binding (touching something).

Could also be a leak of manifold vacuum which is most noticeable at "hard acceleration.vacuum" as you go up in speed in 1st which is a high load on the engine.

Also could be fuel rail pressure regulator starting to show signs of hysteresis as you "gulp" gas.

Best regards, Elio

 

[sjmst]

I have a 91 Spider. When I accelerate from a dead stop in first gear, the car often seems to lose power for an instant. Specifically, the dead spot appears as the car is gaining speed, just a second or two after I hit the gas, but well before the shift into second. Anybody have a guess what causes this, and how I can fix it? Thanks. David

Yes!!

http://www.alfabb.com/bb/forums/showthread.php?t=47523&highlight=dead+zone

Seems like the cure is to keep the revs up when putting in first. I don't like the effect that might have on the clutch. I am working on practicing what it takes, as I have only had the car about a month. Never had this on any other car.

 

[DaveC]

I would check the O2 sensor. One of the symptoms of a lazy sensor is a slight hesitation on acceleration.

Dave