sluggish accerleration

so on the way to work my truck performed normally. after work i was going 45mph and going up a slight hill and it started stuttering/skipping a little and was struggling to get up the hill so i accelerated and it dropped to a lower gear like it's supposed to, but just didn't have the power that it normally has. my fuel was low and i put some more in it and still the same thing...it's like it can't breath or it's struggling for gas. any suggestions?

 

was the motor revving out still and just not going anywhere? or did it seem to be bogging and not accelerating?

 

Maybe it literally couldn't breathe. What's going on with the air filter? Fouled plug? Really could be a lot of things.

Answer snowska8air2's question first, though.

 

Maybe op is a 4 banger? J/k
How low of fuel? Really need more info, ( really steep hill? Maybe starved the fuel pump in the tank. )? I don't know, there are and could be lots of variables to your problem.

Brett

 

if i take it easy on the accelerator, it seems like everything's fine. it's just when i get down on it it's not as peppy and bogs down. however will eventually get up to speed. i'm waiting to check the air filter tomorrow when it's light outside, but i really don't think it's dirty because it was changed about 10,000 miles ago and i checked it two weeks back and it was clean.

 

clogged injector?
no check engine light came on?

When i accelerate hard I can hear a spraying noise from the engine. you hear anything different?

 

I'd clean the MAF sensor and look for vacuum leaks before changing out parts.

 

EDIT: Now that I think about it, you may want to try replacing the fuel filter first. It may have sucked up some of the trash at the bottom of the fuel tank with the low fuel level.

How many miles are on the truck?
Throttle body and mass airflow should be looked at/ cleaned. Diconnect the battery, maybe is will reset something in there.
Replace air filter and fuel filter. You would be surprised how many people forget about the fuel filer and how dirty these things get.
Spark plugs are good for ~30K miles.
Fresh oil change and should be good to go.
If it's still acting up.... I don't know what to tell ya.

Good luck!

Nate

 

100k miles on truck. bought with 82k. air filter not really dirty...sucks plenty of air. it's almost as if the problem is gone now....hard to tell. if it is sluggish it's ever so slight, nothing like last night. could it be that i flushed something through by flooring it a few times last night because it's responsive now without any skipping or anything. blows.my.mind!!!