1. The car starts fine, but the more pull I put on the electrical system (lights, rear defogger, wipers, that kind of thing) the lights will dim slightly and the engine feels as though it is idling a little less solidly.
2. From starting it is alright most of the time as long as I don't give it more than just a little bit of throttle. If I push hard on the gas, it seems to hesitate for a moment, then suddenly jerk into what feels like a normal amount of acceleration for a moment, then hesitate again. It will do this mostly in the lower RPMs, but if I pretty the throttle hard at any time, it will hesitate and jerk.
As for the CEL, I haven't been able to check it recently, but it's been doing the hesitation thing it with no CEL on unless I've driven it on the highway at speeds of 70mph +, in which it tells me I have a misfire on cylinder 1, but up until now it has driven just fine. (nope... still haven't solved that problem.)
So... please, this is our daily driver and we don't have a spare car. If it dies on us right now, it will seriously impact our lives. If you have any ideas on what I could do to fix or diagnose the problem, please let me know.
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/smile.gif)
I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have to diagnose it too.