Got a 03 cav ls coupe, 5spd. Almost regularly, when driving normally, the rpms will go all the way to 4 or 500rpm when clutching. It's getting pretty annoying, and now today it has done the following for the second time: When clutching, the rpm will raise and stick all the way to 2000 or so RPM, and even if I'm in gear it will "accelerate" on its own. WHAT'S WRONG? The car's got 50,000miles on it. Warranty on the powertrain is almost over. Could it be a sticking IAC valve?

I now have a pretty power hungry sound system ( ie 680WRMS, lights dim at idle, etc ). Could it mess up my electrical system? My battery is due now, as it doesn't hold charge for very long when playing my system with the car off.

THANKS ALL!

Anyone??

Should I bring it in? I know the powertrain warranty is valid to 100,000km, but could it be a part that isn't covered by it that could cause the problem?

Thanks all!

Why not bring it in if its under warranty?....what have you got to lose?


http://www.cardomain.com/ride/605620

Yes if youre car is under warranty I would for sure take it in. Sounds to me youre car could use a tune up , New fuel filter , Throttle body cleaned out. Do you have any engine light on? If so you may need to get the codes scanned.


Good Luck

This is a common problem for the Eco mine does it too. It is very annoying. It has been discussed a lot however no one has found a solution. There is no mechanical problem or even an electrical problem. I think the consensus on the problem is that it is a programming issue. The pcm controls the idle through the iac, it uses various sensors to determine how much to open the valve. There probably is just a line or two of code that some idiot programmer at gm screwed up. I took my car to the dealer when it was under warranty to try and get it fixed, but since it is an intermittent problem they told me they couldn't reproduce it so they couldn't fix it. If your car is still under warranty harass them until they do something about it. Hopefully they will put out a recall for the problem. My guess is that they will flash you computer and the problem will go away. However, there are thousands upon thousands of lines of code in the computer and I'm sorry that our little old cavy's aren't a big of enough priority to gm to invest the money into finding the problem and fixing it, if they haven't already. The good news is that is seems to only be a problem with the 03 Eco's, so if they re-flash it with 04 or 05 programming it might fix the problem. If you do take it in let us know what they do. II'mnot going to spend the money to have them re-flash it and for the problem not to go away so let us all know what happens.


03 Ecotec

My car does that too, but it only started after I put my CAI in. Connection? And I've noticed it only does it when the A/c or heater is on. Another Connection? Anyone else's like this?

mine does it too i just have ignored it. it doesnt do it all the time but it does it enough and not for long.



MY 2003 SUNFIRE 15.6@86mph

"A N/A ecotec is not gonna give Honda's and Mitsu's that much of a run for their
money unless their blown or bottle fed.GM is still smokin crack!"
~1QWKZ24
www.streetracing.org, 08/2001

..

Are computere reflashes covered by the powertrain warranty? Like I said, I'm affraid to bring it in only because I don't have the FULL warranty anymore.

Also, I'm pretty confident that I can reproduce the problem at any times. It used to happen like once in a while before, but now it's extremely frequent.

Thanks for your help

By the way, is 50,000miles a good time to change the spark plugs? I also have a brand new oil filter sitting in my garage but I just haven't had the time to put it in. I guess I'll try to do that tomorrow, put a new air filter in, and see if it helps.

Like I've posted before, mine's doing the same thing. That I noticed, it started after taking it on a 3.5 - 4ish hour drive. Well, actually it was about that long one way, than I had it stopped and turned off for a couple hours or so, and than made that drive again. By the time I was almost finished it was doing the high reving, and lately it's been doing that near stalling, it's so far only stalled once. But there's been quite a few close calls. Extremely annoying, but like you I'm a little nervous to take it in to the dealer just in case they decide it's chargable. I'm only at 34k km on it though, so warranty should still be in effect. If anyone gets it figured out, please do let us all know. By the way, 2003 sunfire 2.2 eco.

Ty W: They cannot charge you anything for any repairs if you're stil under full warranty ( which you are for the next 2000miles ). I've already been at the dealers a couple of times just to get told that they couldn't reproduce it, and that I should come back later as my warranty was still valid for a "LONG TIME" they said. Well, that was back when I had 30,000km on the car, and they never could find anything wrong on it. EIther they're stupid, or they're ignoring problems to make less warranty claims at GM.

Do all of you guys have stock intakes in yours? I'm gonna call a Dealership now, swear a little bit, then see if they'll tell me anything.

Dude I spoke to had no idea, he said he'd have to look at it. Riiiight.

actually, that sounds like the issue im having right now, did it right after changing my o2 sensor.

I'll try to get an appointment next week. Anybody knows if the PCM is covered under the powertain warranty?

well im new to J's but my 03 fire auto does almost the same thing, it idles at about 500 all the time. what should it normaly be at. my other cars are at about 1200 at idle and i thought somethin was wrong?

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2250810

Mine when it's running normally idles at around 1k. It's sounds like it's such an annoying problem partly because it is so random that it's hard to reproduce. I can go a couple weeks with no problems, and than it'll just about stall out a few times in one short drive.

Mine does it, but only if it's ben in low rpm's, ie. if I am slowing down and keep it in gear, when I put the clutch in the rpms jump up, sometimes for a second, sometimes it just shoots up to 2000rpm for a minute.

and if I am friving at a higher rpm, ie 2000rpm or so, when I put the clutch in it drops down to about 400-500prm for a few seconds. It is worse when the A/C is on, and especially when the ABS kicks in on ice.

Either way, their's no pattern to it, and it's not a big issue.
I got a 2004 Cavalier 5spd

I've done testing on my own and have come to the conclusion that it has to be the PCM. The IAC works correctly, it is not dirty or clogged in anyway, and there are no electrical issues. I have kept track of when it happens: When it first started (When I was still under warranty) it was completely random. Now however it always happens when I first start the car. The idle will drop to about 500 then slowly increase to about 900 then fluctuate slightly and then settle to a normal level. Then I start to drive, at any point during that initial movement I come out of gear and drift in neutral the rpm will drop to 500 and fluctuate slightly. it will continue until I have come to a complete stop and then it will return to normal. For it to idle normal, I must start, drive, get up to speed, and come to a complete stop for a period of at least 5 to 10 seconds. This process must be completed approx. 2 times for the car to run right. The other idle issue (Extremely high idle) happens after traveling in 5 th gear at approx. 45 mph or more for an extended period of time. When I come out of gear after this the car idles and sometimes fluctuates between 1500 and 3000 rpm. After coming to a complete stop the idle will return to normal. Immediately after this the car idles like it does when it is first started and the process mentioned early has to be repeated in order for a normal idle to be achieved. This leads me to believe that since the only way the PCM knows when the car is at a complete stop is the VSS (vehicle speed sensor) the program used to determine IAC position for idle uses the VSS signal in some way. I do not know the program used so I cannot connect all these things. Like others I have just learned to live with the problem. If anyone does find a solution please share. Also if anyone does decide to visit a dealer and decide to go through the hassle of making them fix it, please let them know that this is not a freak random problem, tell them that many many Eco's have this problem.


03 Ecotec

also having the proplem when cluching,1997 sunfire 2.4 T.C,i have read on different posts that it could be many problems as stated many times,a few of them said it could be a vacuum line,and a few said it might be the pcm.but other than that i have no idea as well.

i do have the same problem they say theres a recall or something check your dealer

WELLLLL..... guys hate to break it to ya but it's not an eco problem i have a 00 cavalier z24 an it is most definately not an eco is juss an ordinary 2.4 and i've been having the same problem...... i've also noticed that sometimes when i'll stop at a stop light or stop sign an the car is idleing it will start to under-rev under 1000 rpm and the car will start to "shudder" for lack of a better term....it will start shaking and i have to give it gas while it's in neutral for this to stop i've wondered if the two problems may be connected and if so how the heck to fix it..... well ya any info would be greatly appreciated..

thanks;
Jon

Helchez wrote:I've done testing on my own and have come to the conclusion that it has to be the PCM. The IAC works correctly, it is not dirty or clogged in anyway, and there are no electrical issues. I have kept track of when it happens: When it first started (When I was still under warranty) it was completely random. Now however it always happens when I first start the car. The idle will drop to about 500 then slowly increase to about 900 then fluctuate slightly and then settle to a normal level. Then I start to drive, at any point during that initial movement I come out of gear and drift in neutral the rpm will drop to 500 and fluctuate slightly. it will continue until I have come to a complete stop and then it will return to normal. For it to idle normal, I must start, drive, get up to speed, and come to a complete stop for a period of at least 5 to 10 seconds. This process must be completed approx. 2 times for the car to run right. The other idle issue (Extremely high idle) happens after traveling in 5 th gear at approx. 45 mph or more for an extended period of time. When I come out of gear after this the car idles and sometimes fluctuates between 1500 and 3000 rpm. After coming to a complete stop the idle will return to normal. Immediately after this the car idles like it does when it is first started and the process mentioned early has to be repeated in order for a normal idle to be achieved. This leads me to believe that since the only way the PCM knows when the car is at a complete stop is the VSS (vehicle speed sensor) the program used to determine IAC position for idle uses the VSS signal in some way. I do not know the program used so I cannot connect all these things. Like others I have just learned to live with the problem. If anyone does find a solution please share. Also if anyone does decide to visit a dealer and decide to go through the hassle of making them fix it, please let them know that this is not a freak random problem, tell them that many many Eco's have this problem.

You just described my 03 sunfire to the S.
Sure it's pretty easy to ignore the problem, but I sure wish they'd get a fix for it.

Same here. I've even got to the point where I'm looking into getting some software (vehicle spy) which if I can learn how to use it, will let me go into the computer find the bad programming and change it. However it is very expensive software and equaly as complicated. So I'm still counting of GM to step up and fix the problem

Quote:

WELLLLL..... guys hate to break it to ya but it's not an eco problem i have a 00 cavalier z24 an it is most definately not an eco is juss an ordinary 2.4 and i've been having the same problem...... i've also noticed that sometimes when i'll stop at a stop light or stop sign an the car is idleing it will start to under-rev under 1000 rpm and the car will start to "shudder" for lack of a better term....it will start shaking and i have to give it gas while it's in neutral for this to stop i've wondered if the two problems may be connected and if so how the heck to fix it..... well ya any info would be greatly appreciated..

Yes I know this. GM has had this problem for years in multiple cars.


03 Ecotec

I've had the same problem you've described, but mine is much more consistent. My is a 97 sunfire with 81,000 miles and the 2.4 with a 5 speed. When it's first started, it fires right up but then bogs down to about 500rpms, then revs to about 2000, then finally settles down to about 1000 rough idling rpms. I've replaced about $1500 in parts that I've read on other posts would cause a rough idle, including 2 different types of spark plugs and misc gas treatments.

The last effort I made was to take it to a reputable repair shop, they hooked it up to the machine and found no weird voltages, no service codes, it passed compression/leakdown test, fuel pressure was normal, etc etc etc... It's stumped them as bad as it stumped all of us.

Maybe I'll drive my car to church and get an exorcism... run a little holy water through the windshield washers, I dunno. I've tried everything else.




John Wilken
2002 Cavalier
2.2 Vin code 4
Auto