# Shaky acceleration

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/shaky-acceleration/27565>\
**Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\
**Created:** [March 10, 2009, 5:57pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/shaky-acceleration/27565 "2009-03-10T17:57:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![melb331](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@melb331](https://community.cartalk.com/u/melb331)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2009, 5:57pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/shaky-acceleration/27565/1 "2009-03-10T17:57:10Z")

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My 2002 Ford ZX2 doesn’t accelerate smoothly. When I step on the gas, at a light or backing out of the driveway, it starts to move, then kind of hesitates before it starts to move again. Any ideas as to what it could be? Once it’s up and running it shifts gears just fine, but it struggles with the initial push.

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**Author:** ![circuitsmith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/circuitsmith/32/40376_2.png) [@circuitsmith](https://community.cartalk.com/u/circuitsmith)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2009, 7:49pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/shaky-acceleration/27565/2 "2009-03-10T19:49:08Z")

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How many miles on the clock?  
Kept up with basic maintenance like air/fuel filters and spark plugs?  
Try running a bottle of Techron in a tank of gas.

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**Author:** ![melb331](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@melb331](https://community.cartalk.com/u/melb331)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2009, 8:35pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/shaky-acceleration/27565/3 "2009-03-10T20:35:29Z")

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77K miles, oil change and check filters every 5K miles. Spark plugs are maybe a year old. I’m thinking last May I put in new ones though.

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**Author:** ![cigroller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c68b51/32.png) [@cigroller](https://community.cartalk.com/u/cigroller)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2009, 8:42pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/shaky-acceleration/27565/4 "2009-03-10T20:42:17Z")

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Ever change the fuel filter?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![melb331](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@melb331](https://community.cartalk.com/u/melb331)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2009, 9:14pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/shaky-acceleration/27565/5 "2009-03-10T21:14:48Z")

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About a year and a half ago.