In an ongoing saga of CEL's and "running too rich" diag codes, a broken/semi-broken gas cap, my new chapter is that the car feels like it's got no power. First gear feels like crap and is where I notice it the most. The car will still go at a good speed, so i'm not thinking its a map sensor whack...I'm so lost at this point that I almost wanna just sell the damn car.

Please dont suggest to take the car in; thats my last resort...i'm a student and the money is just not there

-Dewey

 

did you buy the car used?

 

Could be bad gas, or just this freakin hot humid weather.

You can try all these thingies.

1. Check the air filter.
2. Check your spark plugs
3. Check your belts.
4. Check your oil... always check your oil
5. Get some Chevron Fuel Injector cleaner. $12 at Pep Boys
6. Check your valves... kinda expensive but never know.
7. ... ok that's all I got.

 

Sweet, i like where this is going.

My air filter (k&n) sucks right now. Needs a recharge. Could this cause a really noticeable problem? Oil i've been checking frequently, has been guzzling oil however. I've put 3 quarts in it since summer began I've run two things of fuel injector cleaner through it in the past 3 weeks, and am scared to check my valves for fear of bad news lol.

I appreciate it, any further advice from the gurus?

 

And yeah, bought the car used, but at 8000 miles.

 

Well if your air filter is especially dirty it will cause a degredation of performance. Imagine running 5 miles while breathing through a coffee straw and you'll get the idea.

If you have valve problems you REALLY want to catch it now.... It'll be much more expensive later.

If you've run injector cleaner twice already, leave it alone. Too much is not good.

3 quarts doesn't tell me much. How much oil are you using in 1000 miles? I used to use about 1/2 a quart, right now I'm barely using any. You'll find it changes as the miles go by. You'll go through periods of burning lots of oil, and periods of using little oil.

I'd recommend getting an oil catch can if your using that much oil. It'll help keep your octane rating up. I bought mine at Home Depot for less than $20 out of the air compressor section, bought some hoses at Pep Boys for $6 bucks, and it works great.

Also might want to check/clean your PVC. Give it a shake and make sure it rattles.

If all that fails, have your valves checked and adjusted. If they are severely out of spec you'll loose power...

 

stitos2k Posted on Jul 28 2006, 03:12 PM
With K&N filters that may very well not be the case.
If the filter was oiled properly when new, it catches all the dirt on the outside of the filter and that dirt starts to act like a filter too.
(according to K&N website)

How many miles on the car now?
Service history?
And check your throttle cable slack.
(now that is an easy CHEAP fix, if it has to much slack it would make the car feel sluggish a bit)

Let us know what you find and how the car ends up.
Succes!

 

Can you follow instructions?

Get the shop manual. Get the code. Go to the page in the shop manual that references the code and start following the trouble-shooting chart. If you can't do that or don't have the tools. You'll have to find someone who does.

All the code means, the ONLY thing it means is that the computer sees something weird. It doesn't mean replace anything. Even O2 sensor codes may have nothing to do with the O2 sensors.

The procedure is, get the code, get the manual and follow the chart.

 

It's basic troubleshooting. The shotgun method of repair only works when you buy so many new parts that you think are bad the $$ for new parts goes well over the labor charge to have someone else diagnose the problem to begin with.

 

Buy a code reader, You can get a cheap one that does the job for around 100 bucks. Post the code here or do a search. DIY made easy.