I resolved my car hesitation issues.
 

Check your EGR's if your svx likes to sputter and die a lot. I had 3 out of 4 bolts missing from the EGR valve, been that way for god knows how long. Black stuff from exhaust everywhere. So.. replaced blown gasket, bolts, and the valve assembly.

How much did that cost and how much effort was it?

I'm in Atlanta right now for my new job (riding trains woowoo) so I had a shop take her in (along with the amount of rust I saw.. I didn't want to touch that mess). That plus a timing belt and cam seal replacement is just under a grand. The amount of man hours required to work on these cars is redonkulous. Anyways, to me, it's well worth it to get a 3+ year old mystery problem fixed.. along with finding my oil leak.

When you say hesitation, could you explain what it is? Is it just a hesitation, or is it a jerk or sharp hesitation? Are you excelerating, or just driving at a consistant speed?

There was a huge vacuum leak there, so yes all of the above.

I get that every now and again, and I think my EGR is at fault. I was just wondering how much it would cost for a shop to do that work.

They told me egr's are common troublemakers on the older 3.3's

Mine hesitates once, every time I start it cold. The first time I go to take off it falls flat, then goes normally. I feel like it's just a quirk, so I'll let it go, unless it gets worse.

I had the same issue as "falling flat once when cold" . If you have access to old tsb,s from subaru, you will find reference to an engine ecu fix. It involves, believe it or not, removing the cover off the ecu and crushing (not cutting) a capaciter in a certain area. Sorry but I down have the picture any more. I did it to my own 92 and it solved the problem.

Mine jerks or hickups as I am going at a constant speed on freeway. It only happens ever 5 minutes or so, but it is very noticeable. There is a whole thread about it. :(

Pardon my scuby nuby, but can do you have picture of the egr and where is it located so I can make sure my bolts are tight?

it is on the rear passenger side cylinder head.

Tom

That's for accelerating from a stop mine was hesitating at any speed.