I just bought a 97 ex. When the rpms are around 1500 the car starts to putter and do a sort of two-step. it pauses acceleration and just bumps up and down on the tach. It makes a very steady "womp womp womp womp womp" noise and is very annoying to drive with. If I am not accelerating and trying to cruise at a steady speed the car jerks back and forth a lot.

I've been told it could be several things and from what I've tried to research it could be 1 of 100 things. I don't know TOO much about these cars so I'm not sure how to check all of the things people are telling me to check.

Any help would be greatly appreciated and I have a video of the sound it makes, I just don't know how to post it here lol. Thanks everyone

 

First off, don't try to cruise at 1500 rpm, that's "lugging" it. Choose a lower gear and get the rpm up around 2000.

 

I know that, but when im trying to just move a little or cruising slow in second, it does it.

 

Like you said.. It could of tons of things and I don't wanna just speculate without seeing what the problem is. If I were you I would post that video you have on youtube and link us all, that way we can actually see what we are working with. Cheers.

 

Does the check engine light work? It's a yellowish light on the dash near the battery light. It should come on when you first start the car and then turn off after about 3 seconds.

I theorize that it's misfiring and the CEL should be blinking.

 

it is blinking yes, and i will post a video tomorrow. I checked the sparkplugs, and they are in bad shape, buying some tomorrow

 

If it's misfiring, it could be several things but it's most likely ignition related. At this point, it could be anything between the plugs and the distributor.

If the plugs look bad, it's likely that it needs both plugs and wires. Spark plugs are cheap. Hit up your local Autozone and get yourself some NGK plugs. (They're OEM spec. Paying extra for the double platinums or whatever will NOT help you. Just go with the NGK's.)

Then, you'll have to shell out around $50 for a new set of spark plug wires. I recommend Bosche, but the store brand of your choice will at least get you running. Pull and replace the wires one at a time so you put them back on in the proper firing order.

If you want to do a test first and you have a digital multimeter, you can measure the resistance between the ends of each plug wire. I don't recall the specs, though.

If routine maintenance (plugs + wires) doesn't solve the problem, you would look at the distributor cap and rotor next.