Hello all,
A few months back I found that after accelerating hard onto a stretch of road I decelerated slightly, then picked the throttle back up to find that the engine was puttering along, seemed to be misfiring/lagging with sudden surges of 100% perfect clean power. It got to the point where it would go away while driving for a few seconds and then simply return yet again. This got to the point where the car was struggling so hard I could not hold my speed. (giving it more and more throttle and it would just keep slowly decelerating despite small bursts of power). At idle, it would idle seemingly fine at its "Normal" range of about 550-600 RPM's but while the problem was happening the idle would surge and keep dropping like it was going to stall. I decided a fluid change would be in order and did the filter/fluid drop to accomplish seeing inside the pan to check for issues known as metal flakes and also to ensure it was properly filled. After that it seemed to be ok and after it had acted up on two seperate occasions before then...post tranny fluid change it gave me no problems for the next two months or so.
On to august 7th 2007. My dad had called me out to drop some things off for him and Upon driving through town the car nearly left me in the middle of a busy intersection. Same problem, idle started dropping/surging and as soon as i got on the throttle the engine had its little @!#$ fit and I barely puttered through the intersection before stopping in a residential driveway. Upon shutting off the car (which has worked at least temporarily every time) the problem disappears for a seemingly random amount of time. On this day I pulled out of the driveway, babied it back home and right in front of advance auto parts (right where i want to be
) it began happening again. I limped it down their driveway and upon pulling it into a spot I let it idle for a few seconds and again experienced the idle problem before i moved it into "3rd which I hear can single out the TCC. Well whether it was luck or coincidence it stalled. No help there...
Long story short I ended up paying $45 for a diagnosis at a shop down the road from me and they found a cracked plug. Well apparently that was'nt the problem, I did find a plug wire that the terminal pulled out of on the #1 cylinder and replaced all four plugs with AC delcos in their lot. Cut to today and I find the problem comes back again on my way home. Shutting it off and restarting does solve the problem but it will and does come back.
What I've researched is this.
1. TCC solenoid will cause stalling at idle could explain the weird idling as it could be the TCC locking and unlocking which would cause the engine RPMS to get jiggy wit it.
2. I did find a TCC pcm reprogram under my car that GM put out that I'm assuming is information for dealers. basically it depicts surging of the rpms at 45-60mph and blames the TCC again however is fixed with a recalibration of the PCM. Possible fix? Sounds like it...
3. Everything else. Fuel filter has not been replaced since I bought the car...probably do that next. MAybe FPR. Need to track downa fuel pressure gauge to see if thats my problem. Could be fuel pump too. First thing is to get the stock wires back on since now I dont really trust the aftermarket ones if one terminal already pulled out. Stock ones going back on to eliminate that possibility. Along with that I've seen something about coil packs and ICM problems.
4. o2 sensors? I did replace the rear one after it started throwing a code with the hi-flow but that was after a WHILE. So I dunno why that just popped up. Considering maybe doing the front one now too since that controls the A/F. I know they do weird things sometimes so who knows.
Aside from that stuff thats pretty much all I got. I know this could be a common problem since I've seen alot of threads with similar symptoms but no straightforeward answers. So hopefully this could become a resource.
Buildin' n' Boostin for 08' - Alex Richards
The problem about getting "streight answers" is that in a lot of casses, there's no way to really know for sure with out being there working on the car, so all people can do is say what might be causing it. It sounds like either your tourque converter is locking when it shouldn't be or your car isn't getting enough fuel, but your already addressing that. Good luck, hope you get it working right again, god knows how many times I've had something wierd go wrong with my car.
It sounds like a closed loop problem.
You say shutting it off works for a little bit every time, which probably gives you a few minutes of open loop operation.
Unplug your first O2 sensor (in the exhaust manifold, not the cat) and see if the car remains driveable. If it does, I would highly suspect that sensor. Your car may be leaning out excessively.
2002 Cavalier 2200 5spd
Ok guys did eliminate a few things.
I did put the old plug wires back on as well as buying a new front O2 sensor and putting that in. It acted up today again in the same way only by the time i got close to work it left me on the side of the road. After work my dad drove out to it and we started her up and revved it a bit for awhile and managed to snag random misfire and system too lean bank 1 codes in the first couple minutes. Still thinking its fuel and or spark problem since it was running pig rich when we first started it.
So heres the deal, My next course of action is to pick up some TB cleaner and tear into the throttle body and clean every sensor and fitting up real nice. I know the TPS and IAC can do funny things sometimes and I was also going to pick up a fuel filter as thats the next least expensive thing I can do for it. I've now obviously ruled out the TCC problem since it does this all the time now and is most definatly misfiring badly.
Any and all help and guidance as to what this could be would be great guys!
Buildin' n' Boostin for 08' - Alex Richards
Ok guys, I did rip into the intake today. Pulled the TB and cleaned it really well with TB cleaner, I also pulled and cleaned the IAC. After getting done regapping the plugs and such and checking injector impedance I reinstalled everything and started her up. Had a bad hissing noise and crazy idle. Shut her off and checked torque on TB. Seemed to eliminate the hissing but still a semi rough idle, I did not let it run for very long since I was tired of working all day only to come home and work on the car all day chasing a problem. Thats where I'm left. It is misfiring seemingly on multiple random cylinders. Has stalled because of it several times, has a really high (higher then ever before) idle on cold starts, and seems to misfire most under load. It runs pig rich (talking like VERY noticible rich smell from exhaust.) and has thrown a sys too lean code previously. Both 02's have been replaced recently. Injector impedance is all steady around 12.8 ohms (within the 11-14 they're rated for) so electrically they are fine.
I did also pick up a fuel filter but did not have a chance to put it in. Thats my next effort.
Buildin' n' Boostin for 08' - Alex Richards
i know it's an old post...but did you find out what you're problem was?
i'm having a similar problem. i was thinking maybe the ignition coils, just haven't had a chance to test them yet.
No I did'nt. It has gotten better but now it is acting just like a TCC solenoid problem. GM released a bulletin on what it feels like and it describes exactly what it does to me now.
Buildin' n' Boostin for 08' - Alex Richards
