I have a 95 Intrepid that appears to have developed a slight hesitation/studder when accelerating smoothly between 40 and 50 mph. It is as if the transmission is not sure of the gear choice or maybe the engine has some problem allocating power.  I use premium grade fuel from BP and have not had any other acceleration problems at any other speed.  Could this be a problem with the computer choosing shift points or controlling  engine management? Please give me some input. Thanks, David

problem allocating power.  I use premium grade fuel from BP and have not had any other acceleration problems at any other speed.  Could this be a problem with the computer choosing shift points or controlling  engine management? Please give me some input. Thanks, David Hi David, Your Intrepid sounds like exactly what my 94 Intrepid went through couple months ago.  Here's what happened with our Intrepid : 1. Developed a slight hiccup/hesitation/stutter right between 40-50 mph especially when you accelerate or need to climb over a hill at that speed. 2. Took it to the dealer and told them the problem.  I told them that maybe I thought it was the transmission (just like you are thinking). They took a look (at what, I'm not sure) and stated that nothing was wrong.  I'm not sure they even test drove the car. 3. Problem at 40-50 mph then became CONSISTENT whether you wanted to accelerate or not.  Took it back to the dealer.  This time they said it was the fuel rails that were faulty (those are the aluminum looking pipes that go to each of your cylinders and carry the gas to the cylinder).  They replaced the rails and it solved the problem BUT only for a while (see point #5) and a second problem developed (see point #4). 4. After the fuel rails were replaced, the car stuttering problem resolved at 40-50 mph, BUT THEN we noticed that at IDLE the car intermittently had a hiccup as evidenced by the tachometer dipping down to 500 rpm or so and the engine shuddering noticeably, but then picking right up to a normal idle rpm (around 750-800 rpm).  Brought the car right back to the dealer, but they couldn't find what was wrong with it.  They attributed it to a normal variation of fuel injection flutter (whatever the heck that is).  We decided that we had to risk living with this stutter problem at idle because we had already visited the dealer 3 times and hopefully this was not a sign of a more serious problem that the dealer couldn't find. 5. After about 2 months, we were driving on the highway at around 55 mph when a hill approached.  The car naturally slowed a bit and I applied the gas.  At this point, I felt some gut-wrenching hiccuping, shuddering, and jerking that was worse than anytime previous.  I thought - oh no, I've got a lemon and there is something seriously wrong with the engine .  Took it to the dealer and told them that they've gotta find out what's wrong. I was a bit concerned that they didn't know what the hell was going on since I was convinced that the original problem was never solved.  Well, this time I was told they put their lead mechanic on the problem. Apparently there was a service bulletin by CC about spark plug wires shorting out on the Intrepid and they said that one of my wires had indeed shorted out and they replaced all 6 of my spark plug wires.  Also, because of this shorting of the ignition circuitry, the transmission was communicating in a faulty manner with the engine, so they reprogrammed my transmission.  After this job, the car has behaved beautifully with no stutter at idle or at full acceleration or climbing a hill.  It has been now a full month (knock on wood...) I'm sorry this post is so long, but after going to the dealer FOUR frigging times, I thought that they could at least fix a simple shorting-out of a spark plug wire which I think was the problem ALL ALONG.  Of course, I ain't no mechanic, but it seems like such an easy problem to diagnose initially if the people had only listened to my de_script_ion of the problem and TEST DROVE the darn car!! So, I have a strong suspicion that you may have a simple spark plug wire problem.  I may be wrong though.  I will suggest strongly that you have the mechanic TEST DRIVE the car before they start working on it. Sometimes also if you tell them too much of what you think may be the cause of the problem, they will only address your suggestions, but they're the mechanic and they should figure out what's wrong regardless of what you or I think may be the problem! Good Luck!  Tell me what finally turns out to be the problem. Toby Chai

I have a 95 Intrepid that appears to have developed a slight hesitation/studder when accelerating smoothly between 40 and 50 mph. It is as if the transmission is not sure of the gear choice or maybe the engine has some problem allocating power.  I use premium grade fuel from BP and have not had any other acceleration problems at any other speed.  Could this be a problem with the computer choosing shift points or controlling  engine management? Toby Chai gave a very good follow-up to this post describing what turned out in his case to be an electrical problem. I had a problem that I would have described exactly as you have, except mine turned out to be something different. What was happening in my case is that the lock-up torque converter was only partially locking up causing the shudder you describe. The dealer re-programmed the transmission controller with updated software and the problem was cured. Something else to consider. Regards,