08 Mustang GT choppy/hesitating

[Mark Evans]

I bought an 08 GT/CS back in March with 21k miles on it. Since then I’ve driven it a few times a month and it’s bedn very smooth. Today i drove it for about 27 miles and towards the end after getting off the freeway the engine became choppy/sputtery. It would accelerate but not as well and it sputtered as it did so. I got to my destination within a few minutes and parked. After I was done about 30 minutes later, i got back in the car and it ran great again, very smooth the 27 miles home. I waited a few hours and drove it again, with some hard acceleration (chirping the tires in second) and still running fine.

Could this just be a result of sitting too much or is it pretty much certain to come back?

I replaced all fluids when i bought it but as far as I know everything else (filters and such) is original.

 

[Anti]

Could be due to sitting, but with out more to go off of and proper troubleshooting, it is only guesses for now.

 

[Dino Dino Bambino]

Yeah, the car may have sat for too long and the ECU needed to go through a relearning process. Nevertheless, I think it'll be a good idea to clean the MAF sensor and the inside of the throttle body in case either of those being dirty is the culprit.

 

[702GT]

I agree with the others, clean the MAF and remove & clean the TB thoroughly. Some say "don't" move the TB blades manually, I've always removed my TB and moved the blades by hand to clean everything with a tooth brush and MAF/carb cleaner, never had an issue. As long as you're not over-extending the blades or forcing them, I don't see any harm done to the gears. (Never lubed or cleaned the gear motor for the 78k/mi I owned mine either.)

Also wouldn't hurt to check the plugs, make sure they look normal and the gap is consistant/correct. (I try to keep them within .001 of spec, if not dead on.)

If you have a means to datalog, may be worth keeping it handy in the event you catch it in the act again, should you continue to have an issue. Will help narrow down the list of possibilities.

 

[Mark Evans]

Thanks for all the replies. So far it hasn’t come back at all and I’ve driven it about 150 more miles. I asked a friend who ‘s a mechanic and he said it could have just been from sitting so just drive it and see if it comes back.

 

[ChewyR]

Just because no one else said it, could be fuel filter. Maybe even just old gas. I also had this issue with an ebay generic CAI at one point.