96 2.3 2wd 5 speed. About half the time it won't start until I get frustrated, look at the engine for 5 minutes then slam the hood. After I finally get it started and I'm going down the road, whether I'm accelerating, cruising, or decelerating, it loses and regains power several times quickly like turning the key on and off. I'm starting to think something in the ignition system gets hot and cuts out for a second, and cools enough to work again, several times in a few seconds. By then I need to accelerate to get back to the speed limit, which heats up the problem enough that it cuts out for about 2 or 3 solid seconds. I panic, turn around and drive home with no problems at all. Another thread described a similar problem and said it didn't throw a code, and people discussed the possibility of the pcm being the problem but they didn't say if that fixed the problem or not. I replaced the O2 sensor and cleared that code yesterday. Now a new code has come up. I need to go get that checked. Is there anyone who has has this problem and found the correct solution?
So I got that code read. ECT sensor. Fixed. That brought back a little bit of power too. But it hasn't fixed the bucking problem. It still cut out a little when I pulled out on the highway. Parked it and shut it off for a few minutes. When I restarted it, it threw P0135. O2 sensor heater circuit malfunction. I just replaced the O2 sensor a couple weeks ago.

 

When you turn the key do you hear the fuel pump coming on? if not it's the Fuel pump or ECM. Check the Fuel Filter too. Don't look at the Engine, you have a female Engine.They don't like to be stared at. . They get queezy.

 

Until you tell us what the code is P0XXX, anything we say will just be a wild guess.

My wild guess is, The upper righthand bolt holding your license plate is loose.

 

Your 1996 2.3l with dual spark plugs can run just fine on 4 spark plugs, it did so from 1974 until 1989
Dual spark plugs added more power, but 4 valves added even more power so dual cams were used in later models

So I would unplug 1 coil pack, move the 3 wire connector back far enough so it can't Arc to coil pack
Then start engine and make sure there are no steady misfires, that would mean 1 of the 4 spark plugs is not working

Then do the same for the other coil pack(the other 4 spark plugs), you are testing if all 8 spark plugs are working like they should

The benefit of dual spark plugs is more power
The downside is you can't tell if one spark plug fails, only when BOTH spark plugs in one cylinder fails do you notice a problem