Need help, gas engine.

[Ryan Rønning]

'01 PT Cruiser. Will bairly start. Runs very rough and if you dont keep on the gas it dies. Check oil light on. Oil is fine.

[alabamafrog]

Might get more replies here; http://www.powerstroke.org/forum/ford-gassers/
I think I’d scan the computer for codes, If you don’t have an OBDII reader then most parts stores will do it for free.

[Ryan Rønning]

I don't and I dought it would make it the 23 miles to the nearest one!

[alabamafrog]

A lot of them have a loan a tool program where you basically pay a fee and take the tool home and get a full reimbursement when you bring it back. I just spent about $150 and bought me one, figured I’d need it anyways.

[BRS]

Is it a check oil level light, or an oil pressure light? Also, when you say "keep on the gas", how much are we talking about?

[Ryan Rønning]

Originally Posted by BRS

Is it a check oil level light, or an oil pressure light? Also, when you say "keep on the gas", how much are we talking about?

About a quarter pedal, and there is a slight tick from time to time but not constant.

Wondering if its a clogged fuel filter or something.

[szyd]

Sounds to me like a timing issue. With the oil light on.

Or cloged cat but with the oil light being on i would look more towards timing. The light being on might be due to the engine not getting up to good RPM.

How many miles are on it?

[alabamafrog]

If it were a clogged filter then it looks like it would act worse with more throttle?
I don’t know nothing about that particular vehicle but I have seen some vehicles with idle control motors that when messed up will cause a similar problem to what you describe. My wife’s old 99 explorer had that problem, all of a sudden it got where it would not start unless I held it to the floor and would die with anything less than ¼ pedal. I removed the motor and cleaned it up good with carb cleaner and she worked great after that. But a code read might send you in the right direction and if not then a real scan might be in order.

[BRS]

When you said keep on the gas it almost sounded like a throttle positioning sensor of some kind, but those usually leave you nailing the pedal to the floor.

Couple possibilities:

Assuming you have oil pressure, it could be the sensor is bad and sending it to a limp mode of some kind. If you rule out computer, then you're left with basic fuel and air of course. Vaccuum, fuel pressure, etc. Like bad fuel pump (I did have one pump reduce pressure at load instead of dieing like the others did - very hard to diagnose), vacuum leak, etc. I've rarely had an OBDI or post with a timing issue? Throttle is compensating for bad balance in some way, mere act of opening throttle could have computer dosing extra fuel, or the other way around.

Does sound like code scanner is your best bet right now though.

[Ryan Rønning]

-UPDATE-

Took for test drive........gutless!

Oil light gone, now check engine light flashing at me.

Ticks real bad with throtle, no tick without.

Heres the biggie. Pulled the #4 plug (only one I could get too). They are Bosch Platnum +4's about two yrs old. One prong broke off, all three others touching the core!