I've had this same problem for years. But different: mine's a 1.9L, and
the problem occurs in cold (read freezing or below) temperatures, with a
cold engine. I have this mile-long generally downhill street I go down
when I leave the house. It's not long enough for the engine to warm up.
At the bottom is a stoplight. Usually red, as such things go. The street
turns uphill at this point so there I sit at the limit line with the
nose of the van pointing up a very slight grade, the engine idling, a
minute or so, then the light turns green, I press on the gas, and the
engine grumbles and barely moves the van. Sometimes the engine just dies
and I have to restart it to proceed. Not until I've crossed the
intersection does it seem to have any power. It's an auto trans so I
don't have the luxury of revving the engine and feathering the clutch to
get across the intersection.  A bit of an inconvenience to myself and
those behind me.

Once it warms up it's fine.

Why does it do this? I don't know. The number of things that would need
to be disassembled and tested (or just blindly-replaced) to try to fix
the problem is daunting. I'll take the slight inconvenience.

--
Jack "Rocket j Squirrel" Elliott
1984 Westfalia, auto trans,
Bend, Ore.

On 06/15/2015 07:25 AM, Rick Cooper wrote:
> I've noticed that when accelerating from an intersection, after sitting at
> a red light, my 2.1 WBX will sometimes hesitate for 5 to 15 seconds.  I'll
> start moving, but the engine has no power and giving it more gas does
> nothing.  After those few seconds, the engine will start to pick up power
> and soon everything will be running fine.
>
> This has just start happening and is still sporadic, but it is becoming
> more frequent.  Seems to only happen after a full stop, like at a red
> light.  Would this be a clogged fuel filter or what?
>
> Thanks for any ideas.  FWIW,  the fuel tank and the ECU were replaced a few
> years ago.
>
> Rick
>