Engine Trouble???

It would help to know what engine it is.

Also if you pulled codes on it... and if the Check Engine lite is lit. Note there may be codes without lite

Well after going through all the old posts on this site. We figured out the probem and I figured I would let everyone what the problem was, it seem not to many people do that but alot of people seemed to have the same prolem. I hope this will help someone else out in the future.

It was the MAF (Mass Air Fow Sensor). Thanks Backyard Mechanic, you had a response to almost every post with this problem.

Thanks for reporting back! I may help someone in the future with the same problem. FWIW that is a high failure rate item on a lot of different vehicles which is not good because it tends to be and expensive part, although easy to install. Glad you're back on the road.

But it only needs to be replaced in maybe 1 of 10 cases.

If you clean it with a new medium bristle paint or 'scratch' brush and rubbing alcohol, that almost always works.

The test for the MAF is warm the engine, turn off, disconnect MAF harness, start and check drive performance. CEL will turn on of course, but if there are no other bad sensors, the engine should run well or at least better.

By the way, same is true with alternators on hi-mile vehicles... when all that is often needed are new brushes.