Dang, I'm stumped here... I know I can feel the lean burn kick in on mine when I'm at part throttle on the freeway and it feels like a bit of a hesitation, but what you're talking about seems quite a bit more severe.
For me, I can use lean burn when cruising on level ground, but any up grade requires a bit more throttle (and I can usually feel it get out of lean burn mode). Typically, I'll accelerate above target speed then let it go into lean burn and try to maintain speed for as long as possible while in that mode. Eventually I slow down enough that I have to get it out of lean burn again and repeat the process...
I used an mpquino to watch my FE and it was fairly easy to tell (when the MPG readout increased noticeably) when it went into lean burn.
At first it seemed like a hesitation problem, but once I got the feel of it, I was able to take max advantage of the lean burn mode.
__________________
|