I know this issue has been beaten to death but can we go over it one more time? I have a 99 auto sportage. The car seems to start fine after sitting over nite but when I give it a little gas the first time it stumbles. After that its fine. Thats been going on for some time now. Now, not only does it do that its also stumbling and hesitating a little bit during normal driving. Its getting worse. No codes yet. Plugs were changed about 15k ago. Everything else is the same. The valve cover gasget will be changed in a couple of days. Where should I start? It has 66k miles on it. The list seems pretty long, from gas filters to screens on the cat. Although on the way home tonite it ran perfectly. thanx for the help.

Cold hesitation problems on automatic Sportages are a common problem. It's caused by wiring issues to the MAS (Mass Airflow Sensor). It usually will NOT set a CEL.

The fix can be easy or complex, depending on the extent of the wiring problem. (Caused by corrosion and bad splices from the factory). Try the easy repair first and see if it fixes it.

The easy fix: Eliminate the electrical connector between the MAS and the engine wiring harness. This is done by cutting off the electrical connector on the harness side and soldering the wires directly to the tabs on the MAS itself. You may have to notch the plastic around the tabs to more easily get to them with a soldering iron. Make sure you note which colored wire goes to what tab on the MAS. If you mix them up you'll have real problems.

If that fixes the problem you are good to go. If it doesn't post back and I'll describe the more extensive modification that will have to be done.

BTW - The MAS is the large round unit directly after of the air filter. Has electrical connector on the back side.

Thanx axe. I'm doing the fuel filter on saturday before work. I'll try to get to the connector and the valve cover gasket on tuesday. It's leaking pretty bad.