Mid 90's Ford Escort Wagon?

When was your oxygen sensor replaced? How old is your fuel filter? Check your MAP sensor, sometimes the lines work their way loose, it is located behind the intake on the firewall. Carefully inspect ALL vaccuum lines, there is one vacuum line that runs from the bottom of your throttle body into the loom above the transmission, this line is almost always rotted replace it if so, Also check the vacuum line to your fuel pressure regulator, make sure it is getting vacuum, and if you have a vaccuum pump check the operation of the valve, check the fuel pressure with a fuel pressure gauge if the above does not clear the problem.

your car has the 1.9 SEFI CVH engine pre 96, escorts did not have knock sensors until 1998 which was on the 2.0 SPI engine the SPI was introduced in 1997. OBD II which was introduced in 1996 helps greatly in finding problems, it will generally not indicate worn plugs, bad vaccuum lines but it will indicate a bad oxygen sensor and misfires from a bad coil module or wire (as used in all 91 up escorts excluding GT's and Mazda engine 1.8's which used a distributor) If your car is 96 or newer I highly reccomend getting an OBD II scanner.

It sounds like your engine is getting ready to crap out. Does it have any oil in it?