Poor acceleration

The CEL has been going on and off for a while now. Car was running fine up until about a week ago when the acceleration issue started. I replaced the fuel filter this afternoon with no effect. Really don't want to sink a lot of repair money into it, the car doesn't owe us anything, thought it might be something simple. In 1994 ford cars and trucks had an EIC (Engine information center) none of the parts stores I've been to have that system you have to go to a ford dealer and pay big bucks to have it scanned

Engine Mechanical problem
1994 Ford Tempo 4 cyl Front Wheel Drive Automatic 72,500 miles

I hear a noise when started the car when it turns over. It is a scraping/ding that lasts for about 3 seconds. The engine idles smoothly. If I rev it up, I hear scraping sound close to rough sand paper and metal. I can back the car up and down the driveway and all seems normal.
With the door open the sound is a bit gravelly and loud.

I don't drive it because the last time that I did I nearly didn't make it home due to the power dying as if the engine could not breath, then the front end shook roughly as if the tires wanted to come off.

The engine light initially came on when accelerating up a hill, but didn't stay on for more than 15 minutes. I then drove on the expressway and had no problems going to my destination, but when I returned by another route on flat city streets for at least 45 minutes, I lost so much power I had to pull over for a time. The car never stalled, just seemed choked and vibrating. No odors, no smoke when at idle.

The transmission was fixed a few months before and all the plugs and wires less than a year. The Catalytic converted was new in 2006 and driven less that 3,000 miles.

After reading about the Emissions control systems, my question is---if the idle is good shouldn't the emissions systems be ok?

A friend suspects the Catalytic converter being loose, but haven't got the car up to look.

What else should I look into? Engine light not coming back on if idling in driveway.

I don't know what the CEL is.

Engine Performance problem
1994 Ford Tempo 4 cyl Wheel Drive Type unknown Automatic 52000 miles

After driving car for a short period of time I can remove my foot from the gas pedal and car will keep going and not slow down. Sometimes after a little bit it will start to slow down and other times it will not. Once I stop and place it in park the engine races. If I turn the car off and restart, it is no longer racing. Please help!

I have a 1993 ford tempo and it has about 170000 mileage on it and its a good looking car and it runs good for a 1993. The engine size is 2.3 L HSC but i'm sorta having a problem with it. It seems when I drive it, it doesn't shift right or it loses power going up hills. I had the motor mount fixed on it because I thought maybe it was that and it was fine after it got looked at but it started losing power or it wasn't shifting right again.I don't think its the transmission doing it can it? Because the transmission in the car seems to be okay. It doesn't stall or anything like that so what could be causing it to do that if its not the motor mount?

I mean it slows down going up hills and it doesn't shift right

I have a 1992 Ford Tempo and all of the sudden it feels like I can't push the accelerator down, it feels like its stuck on something. This is causing my car to not accelerate or change gears until high rpm's. My car tops out at 75 now and when I go up hills it loses almost 25 mph. What can I do?

1993 Ford Tempo mileage: 104,000. My car will slow down like it's coasting and you can press on the gas and nothing happens. Sometimes it will clang and quit while you drive. Other times you can hear it caught up and the engine will rev up if you press the gas. I have had it put on a machine one time and nothing showed. I'm afraid it will quit on the interstate. It does sometimes quit.

If a major tune-up has not been done recently, this could be the cause of your problem. Replace the spark plugs, plug wires, fuel and air filters, etc. Also, replace the oxygen sensor and multi-rib belt. In addition, service the fuel injection system. Clean the carbon deposits from the throttle bore and idle passages. If the problem still exists, scan computer for trouble codes.

It is also my understanding that a sensor is on those cars that will cause the car to die if the oil is low so as not to let that do damage to the engine. Check your oil when it happens again and see if it is low

Hi I have a 1993 ford tempo four cylinder it starts fine but once the engine is on it lopes really bad and trys to die sounds like its choking when I push on the gas it sounds like somethings blocking it from a smooth rev in the engine I have to really put my foot into it to make it rev up and when I drive it down the road it wont go over 10 mph acting like its trying to pull its self but wont ive replaced the spark pluged gaped them right sprayed the throttle body cleaned it im lost I dont know what to do it was a good car intil this