20 bucks says it's a loose throttle cable. For all you drivers out there that like to punch it....you're gonna experience this sooner that anyone else. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if you traced the cable from the throttle body and found it to be sagging. Of course it could be a number of things, but if you have decent miles on the engine, then chances are it IS your throttle cable sagging like grandma's sour milk sacks... h:

 

how would a sagging throttle cable make the car feel like its ridding up on itself?

 

mine kinda sags, how do you fix that?

 

There is a quick fix to this problem, but I would highly suggest a technician replace the cable instead...You can remove the cable from the throttle body itself, then twist it until it becomes taught and is no longer sagging. Make sure your engine is running when you do this because if the cable is twisted too tight, your idle will be higher than normal. It may take a few tries, but atleast you will know when it is too tight. Basically if it is too tight, the idle will be higher because more air will be allowed to flow through the throttle body so atleast there is an obvious sign... The only thing unstable about this fix is that there is no real way to tell how long the cable will last considering you just twisted it tighter than normal, but chances are the cable will last just as long as normal.

 

As far as sagging goes, when you hit the gas the cable pulls open the passage through the throttle body, but after you hit the gas the cable pulls and then gives slack almost instantly (only for a short moment...I'm talking a split second or two), then as you give more gas to take off it just pulls as usual. I've ran into this problem before and those are the exact symptoms as I observed. Nothing else was wrong with my motor and that fix (as far as I know) got rid of my "lag".

 

no offense but that makes no sense whatsoever.

maybe if your cable was stuck in the tube you could have a lag or something, but a wire that you pull taunt is going to stay taunt unless its hanging up as your pulling it. But even if that was the case, it still does not explain why the car feels like your on the front brakes when this problem occurs.

 

if you punch the gas a lot, eventually the cable will be stretched, that is why it starts to sag, not hung up. when you shift gears you should be letting off the gas...when you go to hit the gas again the same thing happens as before. as you cycle through the gears it becomes less noticeable (i.e. 3rd or 4th-5th). it feels like the car is not accelerating right away, sometimes like it jerks forward and then sluffs off and then accelerates again. tell me if that sounds like your symptoms...

 

If it is not happening frequently then perhaps the cable IS getting caught on something...just a thought...when i was experiencing that problem the cable needed to be tightened..thats a fact...there was nothing else wrong with the engine. just tell the crowd if you punch it a lot, that could lead to a a more clear conclusion.

 

this might sound dumb, but what spark plugs are u running?

 

i have a 99 GSR and i get the same hesitation. but its only if i press the gas ever so slightly to accelerate. if i punch it, then it GOES.::thumbup: