I have had this problem for a month now.....2003 Outlander....when hold the speed at anywhwere between 30 and 60 km's at a steady pace or going up a hill......the engine starts to rev up and down....the RPM's jump up and down....and the car sort of chuggs........the way i stop it is to let off the gas for 5- 10 seconds and it goes back to normal....

any ideas? or fixes? any thoughts would be appreciated....i would love to try a self fix before going to the shop...

thanks!!

Greg

Have you tried cleaning your throttle body and mass airflow sensor? Have you checked your airfilter?

I will definately check the airfilter...i never connected the two....but i think i can handle that .....

the throttle body and mass airflow sensor would be something else....

do you have any tricks or tips....i have all the serivce manuals on CD...so i could look that up...

thanks

greg

It's easier than that. For the throttle body just get a can of throttle body cleaner read the instructions and voilà....For the mass airflow sensor clean only if dirty. I've seen one where there was a hair that somehow had gone by the filter and was hanging on that very little wire that sensus air movement. Man the engine was running rough and sometimes almost stalled. After removal of what appeared to be a human hair it worked fine. The sensor is in the inlet pipe held in by 2 screws, just be careful or get it checked by a friendly mechanic. Maybe somebody has an other idea.........

i changed the airfilter but im still haveing the problem.....maybe the spark plugs are next......any other ideas are welcome...

thanks

g

If spark plugs were bad enough to get that kind of rough idle you would get an engine code ( Service engine soon). Your next step is probably mass airflow sensor. By the way spark plugs for an Outlander cost 25$ each and are suppose to last 120000 km. Ihave a 107000km on mine and still running smooth.

is the mass airflow sensor easy to change.....i might give it a go......

thanks

g

The mass airflow usually just needs cleaning....
But if you do need to replace it, 2 screws hold it in place.
Remove connector the 2 screws be very careful because sensor is a tightly held piece of wire. The incoming air temperature sensor is also in this housing it looks like a small electronic gizmo like a tantalum capacitor. It will look similar to this

Attached thumbnail(s)

ok...awsome info...i like the picture...i took the two screws off...and disconnected it...when you say cleaning...what should i do...? How is it cleaned?....i know where it is....thanks for the heads up...im getting closer to diagnosing this....

thanks

G

Your car part store has a can of pure alchool in a spray can that leaves no residue. When you look at your airflow sensor you will see what appears to be a wire strung between 2 terminals. This is what sensus air flow, when the air goes by it vibrates like a reed, the more airflow the more intense it vibrates and translates this information to the sensor attached to one end. On my wifes car this wire actually broke but then you defenitly get an engine code. Now I can't emphasize enough that you should only clean if you can see dirt on this wire. If it's nice and shiny just reinsert sensor and search somewhere else for a problem.

thanks for the detail....thats what i need to get the job done...i will take a look tonight and report back.....thanks for the time...


greg