Hiccup

Maintenance/Repairs
1

I have a 1998 Toyota 4runner with 113000 miles on it. I have this problem that I can only describe as a hiccup. As I am driving the car, it hiccups. As in it jerks very momentarily. I can feel the loss of power in the gas pedal too. It only lasts for about a tenth of a second, but it does it pretty frequently. I took it to my local shop and they drove the car. It worked for them too, but they had no idea what was causing it. They replaced the spark plugs and wires. But it still did not help. They then let it sit over the weekend. And it actually solved itself. The problem went away. That was about 4000 miles ago and the problem has come back. I drove it cross-country to Colorado and it was fine. But now within the past few weeks it has gotten really bad. Last night it hiccuped about 8x in the course of one mile. I also had just filled up with a full tank of gas…I have no idea. Anybody have any solutions? Thanks!

2

Does the check engine light come on when this happens?

3

I’m thinking: change the fuel filter. (I can be a small thinker.)

4

You said the (hiccup) only lasted about 1/10th of a second.

This leads me to think you may have an electrical fault. Quite possibly in the ignition system.

5

no check engine light comes on

6

thanks, will get it checked out

7

A failing fuel pump can act like this. They may work fine for a week, a month, or 6 months and then intermittently conk out for a few seconds. This will then lead to a hiccup at the least or bucking/jerking and eventually even a total pump failure.

If the fuel filter has never been replaced then the pump would be my first guess for sure.
(Filters should be replaced about every 25-30k miles or even more often if a fuel contamination problem is even suspected. It only takes one load of even lightly contaminated gasoline to clog a filter. A clogged filter, even if the car runs fine, will cause the pump to work much harder and have a shorter life.)

8

I know you said you did not have a CEL, but I would suggest finding an auto-parts store that will read codes for free and see if they find anything. You can have a code there and not have the light still on. It’s worth a try.