Hello everybody. I have problem with my newly purchased 02 cavalier ls. I searched the forum, but didn't get anything that sounded like what i have going on here, so here it goes.

Ok, first of all, its an 02 auto 2.2 ecotec. woo hoo right. yea... I bought the car from a salvage yard about a month ago. It had been rear ended. Well anyways, The car drove fine when i got it, the damage was mostly cosmetic. I drove it to the body shop, got it fixed and drove it home. All of that was almost 200 miles i put on it without any problems.

Fast forward a couple weeks later. After getting the car registered i drove it for about 2 days, and yesterday on the way to work it died. I was just cruising along at about 60 mph and it lost all power. Not the electronics though, everything was still on, the lights, radio, wipers everything still worked. So i pulled over and shut the car off and took the key out for about 10 seconds, tried it. and it started right up no problem. I got about 2 miles down the road and it did it again. But this time it took a few tries to get it started again. It would start right up, but then die after a few seconds. Well anyways, on the way home from work it did the same thing two more times, but everytime it kept getting worse and worse. about 2 miles from my house it died the last time. and it didnt want to start again, so i left it there for a few hours. I came back, it started right up and i drove it home.

Im stumped, the check engine light is on, also the trac off light is on. Before i go start replacing parts on it, or take it to a dealership i wanted to get some feedback from you guys. My first thought was the fuel pump or a clogged fuel filter. but who knows.

Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks....

-Jeremiah

I don't think it would be a fuel filter, or the pump.

It sounds like it could be an ECU issue. Maybe you should replace it. I am no expert, but that's something I would look into.

turn the key listen for the pump?

first impression i thought was fuel pump.
until it kept starting and starting which is really weird lol

anyway have the CEL CHECKED!
obviously that should be the first thing and go from there

Alright, Thanks guys. I was going to have the cel light checked before i did anything. The only thing is, i dont know if the car will make it to any place to get it done. lol...oh well.

But as for the fuel pump, i did turn on the key and the fuel pump was running it sounded like. once i start the car i dont know, because i cant hear it, but i just assumed it was still running.

Ok, well today i decided to try to drive it to get the CEL light checked out. I thought maybe if i reset the computer it might help, so i did. I left the battary of the car far a few hours, came back and hooked it up and the CEL light was off. So far so good, or so i thought.

Well, I let it idle in the driveway for about a half hour to see if that would do anything, and it didnt just like i thought. So i took it for a drive around the block, and after about 5 minutes of driving, it finnaly decided to die on me. Well, after about 30 tries the car wouldnt stay running, it would just start up and die after a few seconds just like before. So i tried leaving it alone for about 10 minutes and trying again, and when i did it stayed running for longer, but it still would die after a minute or two. So i left the car there and came back about an hour and a half later, the car started right up and i was able to drive it home.

So im confused, it seems to me like something is overheating and shuting off, and when i let whatever it is cool down it works fine. Does anybody know what this could be?? Im back to thinking a fuel pump, but thats just my wild guess...

wild guess it happened to me

the CAT was partly clogged, it would idle and run ok for a while, but then a short trip to the interstate would cause it to choke and die. if your ait sensor wasn't set right of is messed up now, it could cause the car to dump fuel and melt the CAT. that was what was told to me at the stealership.

best bet get the code, I know at autozone you can even rent the the code reader and take it home. it does require you to buy the the reader and to return it later, but you get all your money back.

Ok, well to update everyone. I went and got one of the code checkers from autozone. Ran the code and it came up as a p0171.

DTC P0171 Fuel Trim System Lean Bank 1

So im still thinking it has something to do with the fuel system. I bought a fuel filter and am going to replace that and try it again. I started with the fuel filter because it was only 6 dollars and the pump assembly was 250. so, hopefully this will do it. wish me luck...