coils,plug wires,bad plug,or possible trans lockup sol. air idle control valve will only cause you problem at idle.

And I tried the test where you power brake, but no sputtering.... It was just fine.

I still think you should look at the coil packs & ignition module... Looks like ballplr has the same idea. With the mileage you have on that vehicle the packs could be "wearing out: and only show intermittant problems under load or heat, along with the module. Have they ever been changed?

To my knowledge, they have not been replaced. Will have to find them and check them out. Maybe tomorrow.

EDIT: Ok, after looking it up in the book, I know what those are. Didn't know what they were called. I did pull the plug wires from them, and they looked good and clean... Or is the part that goes bad inside that I can't see?

I would suggest doing a fuel pressure test to see is there is the proper pressure at the fuel rail since your fuel filter is sort of new. Also clean the throttle body.

CCK-I used to check them with the engine running and hot (safety please) with an old fashoned strobe timing light. Clipped it to each wire one at a time to see if there was any hiccup in the spark pulse to the light. Even though there are 3 packs any one could go bad and even just one cylinder output of the 2 pins on each pack could also go bad. That was the weasy way to check-and you can clip the timing light anywhere on each wire as long as it is not near where 2 wires might cross over each other. Too bad you don't live closer.... Water sometime could splash on the coil packs-even though they have a small rubber gasket where they mount to the module-condensation can happen.

My dad said my grandpa has a timing light... Might have to borrow it. I still don't know why the water made it act up more, since it was doing it slightly the day before and it was dry...

But I'll have to check them then. I have a list here of things to try...just haven't had time yet.

As an after thought..not knowing the miles involved..could your cat be heatimg up??

damn fine question! clogged cat will make it sputter...crappy milage too.

You mean mileage on the car, or mileage before it sputters?

Either way the car has just shy of 146k on it now. My drive to school is about 25 miles each way, plus a little city driving once I'm there.