2003 Hyundai Elantra engine stalling

JKAMIN81

MEMBER
2003 HYUNDAI ELANTRA
4 CYL
FWD
AUTOMATIC
98,805 MILES

Alright my car was stalling or hesitating when I accelarated of the line and it would do it for a couple seconds then it would be fine, I asked around and friends said that it sounded like it needed a tune up, and that it could be a misfire with the spark plugs. I am in the process of taking care of that myself. I recently bought a new air filter for it. My friend then told me that it could be an MAF sensor failure. Which then all I would have to do is spray some carb cleaner on it to clean it off, because it could've had some build up on it causing it to do that well I did that today and drove for a few miles and nothing happened. So I assumed it was fixed. But then at the end of the road while accelarating it hesitated again.

Saturday, November 8th, 2008 AT 3:39 PM

1 Reply

IMPALASS

MECHANIC
3,112 POSTS

Hello

Well I need you to check on and do a couple of things to provide you better assistance.

First, please go to Auto Zone or O'Reilly's and for free they can pull the codes to the car. Most important. Once they check your codes, if they find something and you don't get it fixed and need to get back with us, please make sure you tell us exactly what the code was, number and all. Example, if the code was E0568 O2 Sensor bad. Then make sure you give us all of that. While there for free also they can bring their tester out and check your battery, alternator and starter.

For the tune up, make sure you ONLY use the OEM plugs for that car. NGK plugs BKR5ES-11 and if you cannot find that then Champion RC10YC4. The gap 0.039 - 0.043 inch.

The other recommendation is OEM plug wires. The may be a little more but worth it. Before you remove the old etc, do me a favor and take a spray bottle with water, start the car and spray a mist of water over the plug wires and see if anything changes. Let me know.

Next, get a can of BG-44K fuel injector cleaner and run that through the tank.

Looks like you may have some recalls on your vehicle. The dealer may fix these for free. Please contact the dealer service department, give them the VIN number of your car and have them check on these to see if they apply to you. A couple concern me as a fire can result or loss of braking effectiveness and possible crash. So check on those to make sure all is well.

Then do all the above and get back with me and we can take it from there if that doesn't make a difference.