Please help. We just recently bought a 1999 Vitara 2 door, 4x4 convertible. It had been stolen and stripped and the thieves ruined the transmission. We got another tranny from the salvage company that sold us the car and everything seemed to be working fine - until we came to a long hill. The car ran well for several days and on the 3rd day we went about 40 miles before experiencing very bad hesitation and stumble. We had to pull off the road.
When we re-started the engine all was well again. I have since tested the EGR, PVC, IAT, MAF and IAC. A mechanic did a minor tune-up including a compression test, fuel pressure and flow test, and an oil and lube. All was well. I borrowed another PCM from the salvage yard and had the exact same problem at the same place. I replaced the fuel filter, air filter, O2 sensor, Throttle Position sensor, MDP sensor, spark plugs etc. At each step I run up the hill again and the car has the same very bad hesitation again. Again turning off the engine and restarting solves the problem and I can drive home without incident.
Have any of you had a similar problem? What should I do?
Thanks in advance,
Bob and Linda
