Car Stuttering after sitting for 8 months

[Jay Weston]

We have a 2002 Protege5 that had some problems last April; it was leaking coolant and we have not had time to deal with it until now. We think that we fixed leak (replaced the bypass hose). Anyways the car has been sitting unused for 8 months and it is now stuttering/jerking when taking off from a complete stop. It is really two or three small jerks that happen between 3-5 mph when taking off, kind of like it is not getting enough gas or something.

The car has 220,000 miles on it and we are probably going to sell the car, but I would really like to fix this before I do. Any ideas on what it could be?

 

[hornsfan10609]

Is the check engine light on? It could be a lot of things but a tune up with new plugs and if needed wires and coils would probably fix the problem.

 

[Jay Weston]

No check engine light (unless it is burnt out). Luckily the wires and coils are under warranty so maybe I will do that with the plugs and see what happens.