Q: Car has been randomly sputtering/hesitating when driving on the road.
When driving on the interstate, it will start randomly hesitating/not wanting to go. It sputters along and usually will go back to normal. Yesterday it would not stop hesitating so I pulled over. I tried to start it up and it would not crank. After about 20 min, it started back up and I got home. Brought it 2 different places today and they could not find any "codes" or anything else wrong with it. One person said it might be the fuel I buy which is from Race Trac. Does that sound right or any other possible ideas? Thanks!
My car has 156000 miles.
My car has an automatic transmission.
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Hi and thanks for contacting Your Mechanic. Bad fuel or too high of a fuel rating will cause a sputter problem. Fuel that has been sitting for a while and is not regularly added by fuel trucks will have excessive water. This water will sink down to the bottom of your fuel tank and when your fuel pump picks it up, the engine will stumble due to the engine not wanting to run on water. I recommend flushing out the fuel tank and putting in good new fuel from a high flowing fuel station and retest the car. If the issue persists, then seek out a professional, preferably a YourMechanic professional who can come to your home to diagnose the sputtering you’re experiencing and make the necessary repairs to your vehicle.
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