alright, quick question. tonight it got me thinking.

i was trying to open her up this evening on the way home, and from a dead stop, the cav idled great. when i took off, it studdered a second and then drove fine, but it wouldnt run to the end of the rpm's it shifted around short of 5K. and then short of 5200 in second.

its a 3 speed automatic (i know, flame me for it) w/ od

why wouldnt it be running through the gears like it used to?
ive been really nice to it for the past couple weeks, but the floor usually says hi to the pedal a few times a day.

any thoughts? i just had my gaskets (valve cover, trans, oil pan, and hoses (coolant) replaced about 300 miles ago, so ive been taking it easy and checking for leaks.

im thinking some fuel injector cleaner? trying cheap first.

nobody? it also feels like my car is much slower than normal.... it takes forever to get through the rpms/

I'm not sure how it would directly affect the shift points, but if there's any problem getting the car to run to higher revs, the first thing I would change is the fuel filter. A dirty tank of gas can plug one up pretty quickly. The air filter can also have a similar effect, but it doesn't typically occur as suddenly unless you've driven through a dust storm lately...
I would try the fuel filter first before spending any money on cleanings or flushes. I haven't had to do anything special with either my car or my brother's (both 2002s, mine with 201,000km, his with about 170,000) other than filter changes. When I changed his, he couldn't believe the difference in performance (2002 Sunfire GT, Ecotec, 5-sp).
Hope this helps.
John

ill give that a shot then. thanks for the idea. i didnt think it would be something like tha gaskets. though the car is shifting much more smoothly now, and idling better. just that it doesnt want to rev.