Hi - I hope somebody has an idea for my car problem. I live in Poland and drive a 5 door, stickshift Daewoo Lanos. For some time it’s been jerking as I give it gas, mainly in 1st and 2nd gear or if I haven’t driven it for a couple of days. Sometimes it’s quite a violent motion. I took it to a mechanic here to check the universal joint. He said it was fine (but didn’t offer any other advice or suggestions). I’ve added fuel injector cleaner at least twice as well as something to dry up any water in the tank (we don’t always get the best gas here, although the octane level is higher.) Any other suggestions for what I should look at/do? Thanks!
When was the last time that the gasoline filter was changed? Another possibility is your fuel pump.
Right. Start by changing the fuel filter and the spark plugs.
Tell us what model year, and how many miles, your car has.
Hi - I changed the spark plugs and cables a few months ago. Gas filter about 2 years ago. It’s a year 2000, about 86,500km on the odometer. I’m the original owner. Generally it’s in pretty good shape and has not needed much work on it so far. If the problem is the fuel pump, would it likely need replacing and if so, what kind of cost would I be looking at?
The fuel filter may need changing, again. Don’t you want to do any kind of checks before you jump to changing the fuel pump? How about a fuel pressure check?
The TPS (Throttle Position Sensor) tells the engine computer when you move the gas pedal. If it’s bad, it can cause erratic acceleration (so can other things). You (I mean, someone) can do an ohms checks on the TPS.
You bet I want to check anything possible before I change a big part. Problem is I don’t know what other things to check - that’s why I wrote in this forum. Is the TPS-ohms check- something you have to check on the computer or is that something manual? (And now I have to figure out how to translate all this into Polish… 
(When I get off my sprained ankle I’ll take the car in to a mechanic) Any other suggestions of things to check?
It’s fixed (and don’t ask me what it was -I’d have to break out my Polish-English dictionary.)
Ok - finally replaced the fuel filter and it is still jerking. I will try the TPS check next…
don’t forget a spark test to make sure all cylnders are getting spark and firing
Have you had this recall applied to your car (04V357000) ?
ON CERTAIN PASSENGER VEHICLES, THE CAMSHAFT POSITION SENSOR MAY MELT
RESULTING IN A BURNING SMELL AND VISIBLE SMOKE, WHICH MAY SUBSEQUENTLY
LEAD TO THE MELTING OF THE CAMSHAFT COVER AND THE CAMSHAFT POSITION
SENSOR WIRE HARNESS.
Does it do this only when cold, and clears up once warmed up? This may be normal.
Getting a recall performed on that car may be difficult, as Daewoo ceased operations several years ago. As there are no Daewoo dealers in existence any more, where would the OP get this free repair performed?
Of course, if he can identify the exact parts that were to be changed as a part of that recall–and if he could actually get those parts–he could probably have the work performed–on his dime–by his own mechanic. But, even identifying the exact nature of the recall repairs might be very difficult, given the orphaned status of that make of car.