 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
Car Forum / Chevrolet / Chevrolet Malibu / September 2004New surging (Not torque port clogging)
New problem with surging. I took a trip to Memphis (about 1 hr for me) and during the trip the acceleration hesitated some. Then my wife started to stall the car by running it down to 1/8-1/4 of a tank and the car would be dry. Now when we take off from a stand still, the car goes then stalls, goes then stalls, goes then stalls, and shifts at high RPM and bucks a little. It will only top out at 70 MPH, no higher. I then decided to unplug the EGR, since it threw a code on the ECU. When I unplugged it, the car didn?t hesitate and buck. It just wont accelerate like normal and only tops out at 70MPH. I just replaced the EGR last night and replaced the fuel filter last night as well. Nothing changed. I added Lucas EFI cleaner to the tank hoping that today my wife will burn the gas in the tank today. This can?t be a tranny problem!!! I believe my fuel/air ratio is off bad. She gets poor MPG and can?t go over 70MPH. THis is getting ridiculous, the car only has 63K on it. Help me. > New problem with surging. I took a trip to Memphis (about 1 > hr for me) and during the trip the acceleration hesitated [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > is off bad. She gets poor MPG and can?t go over 70MPH. THis > is getting ridiculous, the car only has 63K on it. Help me. Ah turns out that the EGR has to have a screened gasket. The normal gasket has an open hole. WHen I replaced the new EGR, the old trash that ruined the OEM EGR got into the EGR valve. If you push the spindle up and dump the trash out of it, and then put on the screened gasket, all should be good. We?ll try that out and get back to you guys. When was the last time you changed the spark plugs? Just throwing that out there. please post back with the results of changing the EGR. Thanks > please post back with the results of changing the EGR. Thanks This is what happened in sequence: # - Got new tires put on # - Made a 120 miles # - Got almost back to Jackson and the car started to hesitate on acceleration. Thought it was the tires # - Wife stalled it on I-40 at 1/4 tank. Checked shrader valve, no gas. Filled it up and it went fine. # - Within two weeks the surges began. From 800RPM - 2500RPM surges and stalls until about 2600RPM then it smooths out. Goes 0-60 in probably 1-2 minutes...it?s THAT slow. # - EGR valve threw code. Took it Autozone, they refused to clear it. I took it home and disconnected battery and pulled ECU fuse to clear PCM. # - Code came back. Got frustrated with no one having replacement EGR, I unplugged the EGR and drove it on that. Acceleration was awful. 0-60 in 2 minutes still. Suspected bad EGR combo with Bad fuel filter. # - Ordered new EGR from Oriely?s. $63. Replaced the OEM EGR last night. # - Test drove it, did the same things. THis time no code. # - Unplugged EGR, still sluggish. # Bought and replaced fuel filter (which was the easiet thing I have ever done). Still sluggish. # Got pissed off drank some beer and fell asleep. # Got up this morning rememberint that the battery was left unplugged, so I reconnected it. The car started with no codes. It idled high, but no codes, so I got a little excited. # - Took out to test drive, still sluggish and surging. Parked it and dumped Lucas EFI cleaner in the tank. Told my wife not to punch it, just burn the tank up and we?ll see what happens. Unplugged EGR. # - Called AutoZone and talked to my contact there. He gave me a number to a guy who owns a shop that has seen literally hundreds of these. # He said that the crap that destroyed the last EGR was still in the exhaust jackets and that when the new EGR engaged, the vacuum sucked that stuff up into the new one. I will be taking both EGR valves to him to push the spindle up and dump the trash out of them. # AutoZone sells a screened gasket for $14.99 that fits the EGR fitting. I will report back later when that happens. But this guy that owns the shop said he has seen this before with other cars....he is 100% sure that this will work. > This is what happened in sequence: > [quoted text clipped - 42 lines] > owns the shop said he has seen this before with other > cars....he is 100% sure that this will work. My question is why the hell this all started right after getting new tires??? Did the tire place slam my car on the ground from the hydro lifts? What the hell did they do? Did they open my hood and yank our harnesses? And why is my fuel sending unit reading 1/8-1/4 tank off? Why am I getting 250M/tank on this damn family car? It has the 3.1 eco engine. These engine have gone WELL over 300,000 before, I have seen them do that. Just another ingenius invention from Chevy. As for spark plugs, I have not changed them...yet. That is this weekend. BTW, anyone done that yet on their Malibu? How difficult is it to reach the back plugs? Anyone else had this problem? >>And why is my fuel sending unit reading 1/8-1/4 tank off? Common problem on early Malibus, Cavaliers, etc. I've got a 2003, and the guage reads differently depending on whether the car is moving or sitting still. >>Why am I getting 250M/tank on this damn family car? It has the 3.1 eco engine. Is it noisy on a cold start? > On 15 Sep 2004 20:13:44 -0400, jjoyner > <UseLinkToEmail@AutoForumz.com> [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > It has the 3.1 eco engine. > Is it noisy on a cold start? It does it all the time...No noises at cold start. I still haven?t tried the screened gasket yet, maybe that will help. Spark plugs LOL Have fun I just changed mine this past weekend. The boots are a pain in the butt to get off. Once you get the boots off ;-) it is not that bad. I suggest taking the alternator off to give you more room to work. Yes my 2000 Malibu LS is doing the chugging and the sluggishness intermittently though (sometime it runs great and other time runs like crap) and sounds like it is no where as bad as yours. I have tried the Lucas EFI cleaner and I thought that had gotten rid of it until I filled up with a new tank of gas. So I tried replacing the spark plugs and I thought that worked until about 5 minutes (true story) ago my wife called and said that it is acting up again but not as bad as before. So now I am looking at other items like the EGR valve. But it might be be a good idea to change the plugs anyway if it has been a while. I noticed that it did run a little smoother and got a little better MPG. I was asking about the code because I currently have no codes at all nor did I ever have any. This weekend I am going to run a scanner IM test on the EGR to see what I get. If everyone who is having this problem (there are multiple people on this forum alone) works together we all should be able to find a solution cuz it is starting to drive me a little crazy. It you have any questions about anything on this car let me know. I have complete access to all TSB and GM service manuals. via alldata.com and I also have the hanyes manual. Unfortunately they haven't been of any help so far to me with this problem. > Spark plugs LOL Have fun > I just changed mine this past weekend. The boots are a pain in [quoted text clipped - 42 lines] > of any help > so far to me with this problem. Huh...I am almost betting that the egr gasket is the culpirt. If you take off the EGR, you will see that there is NO filter to keep the crap from your exhaust out of your valve. So that is why the Oriely site says to clean out all the carbon BEFORE installing the valve. I think the new clean screen will help that out. But I am hoping to change my plugs soon too. > Huh...I am almost betting that the egr gasket is the culpirt. > If you take off the EGR, you will see that there is NO filter > to keep the crap from your exhaust out of your valve. So that > is why the Oriely site says to clean out all the carbon BEFORE > installing the valve. I think the new clean screen will help > that out. But I am hoping to change my plugs soon too. Did you have any luck with the EGR valve? > Did you have any luck with the EGR valve? Well..I decided to tow it to a local mech to have him scan the PCM and resulting sensors... The surging never got worse, but when I sprayed the throttle with carb cleaner, it wouldn?t go over 10mph and wont rev above 1.5 k rpm. So apparently I hit whatever was already going bad...I replaced the MAS (mass airflow sensor) to see if that was it, which it wasn?t. So I have since taken it to a shop. So far I have done the following: 1 - Replace vacuum fitting 2 - Replaced EGR valve and gasket 3 - Replaced fuel filter 4 - Added injector cleaner 5 - Replaced spark plugs 6 - Used carb cleaner which messed everything up 7 - Unplugged MAP with no change to the idle running condition 8 - Changed the mass aiflow sensor with nochange 9 - Towed it to a mechanic 10 - Went to work feeling dumb 11 - Plan on going home, drinking shots of straight of tequila and chasing it with jager bombs to forget about ever buying a Malibu.... 12 - After getting completely toasted, I plan to slam the garage door on my weiner and then have someone beat me with a used serp belt until I understand that I never will ever be able to fix a PCM governed car built after ?95.... 13 - Going to buy my wife a Huffy and call it a day.... > Well..I decided to tow it to a local mech to have him scan the > PCM and resulting sensors... [quoted text clipped - 25 lines] > able to fix a PCM governed car built after '95.... > 13 - Going to buy my wife a Huffy and call it a day.... Please post back with what the mechanic finds out. I would greatly appreciate it. > Please post back with what the mechanic finds out. I would > greatly appreciate it. This doesn?t make much sense, but oh well... The converter was clogged so bad that it wouldn?t go over 10MPH? I don?t know about that..... ANyway...I will have that replaced and post again...I will believe this when I see it.... > This doesn't make much sense, but oh well... > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > ANyway...I will have that replaced and post again...I will > believe this when I see it.... Well...apparently that was it. Cause after he disconnected the exhaust to the converter, it idles fine and revs good. SO apparently this is what happens My converter was so clogged that the back-pressure was great enough that the EGR was getting thrown off BIG time. The EGR must have read bad due to a flow error (meaning that my OEM EGR was probably good...makes sense considering it?s a 2002 with 65,000miles) Since the EGR was off that much, my gas wasn?t mixed right with the intake air...meaning piss-poor performance. They replaced the converter and the thing runs like new.... I dunno but I hate this car now. > Well...apparently that was it. Cause after he disconnected > the exhaust to the converter, it idles fine and revs good. SO [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > They replaced the converter and the thing runs like new.... > I dunno but I hate this car now. :) Glad to hear your car is back to normal. Thanks for your post backs I greatly appreciate it. Thanks Justin Just thought of a question. When you said the the EGR throw a code, did your check engine light come on or did it throw the code under EGR IM test on your scanner. |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.