Studder(near stall)when accelerating from a stop?

2005 4x4 53,000 mi automatic V6

My truck has developed a studder recently. It happens when I try to accelerate from a stop. It feels and sounds like the truck is about to stall for about 1 second or less then it begins to operate normally after that.

Has anyone else had this issue? Do you have any ideas as to what could be causing this?

I have already tried running some fuel injector cleaner in the gas.

 

sounds like it may be a clogged fuel filter.
you could also try bringing it to an auto parts store(sometimes they have a scanner that they will let you use).

 

Could be some water in the gas tank or gas lines, try adding some fuel additive that is specifically made to get rid of the water.

 

x2 yeah good call now that our gas has so much ethanol in it, it will absorb water more quikly. has your truck been sitting for a while?

 

Agreed...sounds like a fue/air mixture problem and/or a lean misfire. You may be approaching time for new plugs too?! I think the stock plugs last 100k mi (at least on my 4-cyl), but I changed them around 60k anyway. Gives a good opportunity to "read" the plug and see how your engine's running.

 

No the truck has not been sitting.

I'll check into the fuel filter and the additives.

I just checked my maintenance history and it looks like the previous owner had the spark plugs changed at the dealer at around 35000mi. So these plugs only have about 180000mi on them.

 

I just read up on the fuel filter and found out that it is inside the gas tank and difficult and expensive to replace. I really hope that isn't the issue.

 

What gas are you using? Try using quality gas like QT or Chevron 91 for a tank and see if it starts to clean up.

Also, i4 or v6? Even if they did change the plugs, that doesn't mean they're good now. I'd inspect them myself (very easy to do just need a few hours and the tools if you've never done it before). Plugs are dirt cheap (like 16 bucks after tax I think?).

Also check your air intake filter... make sure it's not dirty. Start with the basics then go for more...

 

Thanks for the advice everyone. I have a couple of things to try now. Hopefully one of these things or all of them combined can fix my problem.

 

Just a follow up to my original post. I think I just got some bad gas somewhere because the problem went away on its own after refueling.