Not sure where to put this, probably in maintenance but I'm going to go ahead and post it here because this is the most watched forum on the site, and I know the ones who watch this site know what they are talking about with our cars.
Here is my problem, I'll try to explain it the best I can. First I guess I will tell you the needed info on my car. 1997 Cavalier Z24, 130,000 miles, Automatic, has HO intake manifold, HO 56mm Tb, pacesetter header, 2.25" catback exhaust, catco cat, high flow muffler, upper lower mounts, intake, ect ect.
My problem is all of a sudden when I put my car in reverse and give it gas to lets say back out of my driveway, right when I let off the gas it dies instantly. It does not sthall, sputter, spit, or shutter. Just dies as if I turn the key off. I will also die when I put it in drive, hold down the break, and give it gas. Same way just instantly as if I turn the key off. Now when I do get it on the road it is fine until I start to cruise at lets say 30mph. When I'm going down the road and let off the gas the car will idle funny, it will drop down to 500RPM then back up to about 1k RPM, back and forth like that for a little while. I did get a CEL today but it was for High Idle. I cleared it and it has not come back on.
Now with this issue, it does not do this all the time. Some days the car will drive perfectly normal, other days it will do this all day long. That is about it, any ideas guys and gals? Thanks for the input and info. Merry Christmas!
In the planning stage for an all American TRD Cavalier.
does your car have a idle control valve
To be honest with you if it does I do not know where to look, and my Haynes manual says nothing about one.
In the planning stage for an all American TRD Cavalier.
Sounds like it could be an IAC valve. I'm assuming that the problem goes away after the engine is up to full temp?
I'm just going off of the fact that my car will stall like that if I let go of the gas when it's cold, because the IAC isnt even hooked up.
Sometimes it will stop when it is at full temp, sometimes it wont. It almost depends on the temps outside. Could you explain the IAC valve a bit better for me so I can get an understanding of how or why it would do this to my car? I was thinking I might have a vac leak somewheres but I can't find any leaks. Any more ideas guys?
In the planning stage for an all American TRD Cavalier.
Check your vaccuum lines around the throttle body. If they are cracked and leaking that will cause problems like you are describing.
All the vaccume lines on my TB are brand new. I have checked them all.
In the planning stage for an all American TRD Cavalier.
Any other ideas?
In the planning stage for an all American TRD Cavalier.
It sounds like your TPS is bad. Do you have a CEL on? Use a multimeter and see if your getting a voltage reading of 5v.
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No there is no CEL, and the car has not had any problems the last few days until today. It started to do it then all of a sudden quit a few hours later.
In the planning stage for an all American TRD Cavalier.
I have a 97 gt with the 2.4 and a 5 speed. When I start mine, it fires right up and idles for about a minute. Then it drops to 500rpm, then revs up and comes back down to 500... Does this a few times.
I've replaced the IAC along with most of the other electronics under the hood. No difference, except for the cash being gone from my wallet.
I've spent a bundle trying to fix this exact problem, and it's been taken to 2 different shops for diagnosis after I couldn't find the problem. They couldn't figure it out either.
It sucks, but it's done this every time I start the car since I've bought it.
Less than 90k miles...
John Wilken
2002 Cavalier
2.2 Vin code 4
Auto
Yours does it while sitting in neutral? Or while your going down the road? See this problem for some reason makes me think it has something to do with the transmission for some reason. Because my car only has this problem when in gear. If it is in Park or Neutral it will idle perfect and never die.
In the planning stage for an all American TRD Cavalier.
OK, that's been discussed here before. Do a search on "transmission lockup solenoid".
What happens is this thing goes bad and locks up your torque converter at the wrong time which bogs your motor down or stalls it out.
From what I've read, they're not that bad to replace.
John Wilken
2002 Cavalier
2.2 Vin code 4
Auto
But my deal is that my car does not bog down, it does not stall. It just simply dies, as if turning off the key. I can give the car gas it will move but once I let off the gas in REVERSE the car dies. Now in DRIVE if I hold down the break and give it gas once I let off of the gas it will instantly die without any sthalling, or bogging down.
In the planning stage for an all American TRD Cavalier.
Stalling is also a symptom of the lockup solenoid.
Do the search, read up on it, you won't regret it.
John Wilken
2002 Cavalier
2.2 Vin code 4
Auto
The little I did find on it tells me nothing I did not know.
In the planning stage for an all American TRD Cavalier.
i dunno if this is relavent, but i had an 03 cavi and i was having similar probs. when i was driving and come to a stop and sometimes on startup it would idle down and back up and back down and often just idle down and die.
it never seemed to just drop off, but the rmps would drop to nothing and it quit.
i took it to the dealer and had the ECU reflashed at that solved my prob.
like i said dunno if that could even be a prob, but just thought id throw it out there for you and anyone else whos experiencing this.
mine was also a 5 speed if that matters.
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