Odd Issue Today: No Throttle Response? Causes???

[JT95]

An odd thing happened this afternoon after leaving work. This is the second time. The first time was a couple weeks ago. Both times lasted just a short while and were shortly after starting my car after sitting all day. 99 EJ22 OBS w/ auto, btw.

 

I would give the car gas, but there was no response, just like I wasn't really pushing down the gas pedal. The engine wasn't making any noise like it was being starved of either gas or air. There was no jerkiness. No sucking, no backfire, no anything like that. It was just like I only had the pedal pushed 10% down instead of the 50-100% pushed that it was.

 

What could be causing this? It soon quit and may not do it again for days or weeks or months. (Or, I fear, it may become more frequent.) I thought with a fuel filter that needed replaced the engine would cut out some, but I guess I could replace this one anyway, as they aren't expensive, just to eliminate any possible issues there. I'm pushing 130k. Both times the A/C was on. Not sure if compressor issues could contribute? Other than the brief period it was doing this, my car is running fine. I would think a throttle cable/TB problem would not be temporary and disappear as quickly as it happened. I wouldn't think fuel pump would act that way either, but I've only dealt with them on other cars when they just up and die w/ no warning. The first time it did this was after a huge rain. Is it possible the MAF got wet???

 

Just looking for some direction/feedback. Thannks!

Edited August 26, 2010 by JT95

[john in KY]

It was the AFM on my car.

[Fairtax4me]

This would be a good thing on a Toyota.

 

TPS, ECT, MAF sensors all come to mind first.

[rxleone]

Sounds like some weird intermittent sort of Throttle Position Sensor problem to me - I'd start by looking there.