So, my car is being bitchy lately. It just gets tired and wants to go slow. One time it happened on stop and go interstate travel. Finally an opening came… and I stepped on the gas. It accelerated from 0 to 20 in 20 seconds sputtering all the way, the engine felt like it was trying to rev. I couldn’t get it over 35 at all. My first thought was Oh shit, tranny going bad. I got to a side street with many pissed off folks behind me. I stopped the car took a look at what I could, and finally realized it moved and there was nothing I could do here, so I started the long trek home, and wouldn’t ya know it it ran fine. So I went to work thinking it must have been temporary fuel line clump or vapor lock.
A couple weeks later it happened again. I was going about 35 on a city street, I stepped on the gas to pass, and nothing.I had to stop at a light and agin the 20 second to 20 problem. It sputtered at 35 and wouldn’t accelerate at all. I couldn’t get off the road quickly. So I slowly limped to where I could. After about 3 miles or 5 minutes, the engine caught and everything was fine again.
Today it happened again. I quickly got off the road I noticed it got a little surge of power as I released the gas pedal. I got out and listened too it and smelled it I smelled a bit of gas but not too strong. Interestingly even in park it won’t accelerate right. Yay, not tranny. Then I got back in drove a mile, and it went away.
So it seems to be a too much gas/not enough air problem. I am going to change my air filter tomorrow, but that is usually a general crappyness, not an acute here and gone issue.
My main suspect is the O2 sensor(s). Unfortunately my car is a 97 contour and changing anything on it is only slightly easier than capping a 5000’ deep well.
So before I get into the mess, do oxygen sensors sometimes give periodic trouble like that? Or does anybody have a better idea I should try first.
Is your ‘check engine’ or service engine light lit? If it has been sputtering the light should be lit, and if it is a code will be stored that can be read to help diagnose your problem. You don’t want to just start throwing parts at the car because it could be a number of things.
Might be a too little gas, not a too much gas problem.
Does that car have a distributor? I had a distributor problem once that showed up a lot like that.
Fuel filter and air filter are obvious places to look for a problem. Make sure some critter hasn’t made a nest in your air intake. It could be blocking the air flow intermittently depending on how the nest moves around.
Do you hear a sound like air being forced through a small aperture? It could be that the catalytic converter has come apart inside and is blocking the exhaust, which will also choke the engine. The engine has to be able to exhale as well as inhale.
The symptoms described are not at all typical of a faulty oxygen sensor, nor of too much fuel (unless there’s lots of black exhaust smoke when it acts up).
There are a number of possible causes in the fuel, ignition, and electronic control (computer) systems. The most efficient way to deal with it is to have appropriate testing done by a competent and properly equipped mechanic. Without test results, I’m afraid it’s pretty much a matter of guessing.
Well I stopped by and got a code today for what it’s worth
P1130 Lack of HO2S-11 Switching, Fuel Trim at Rich/Lean Limit
The dude looked and said, “I dunno”. Said I would have to bring it in for a full engine diagnostic and leave the car there for hours when it is happening.
For that to happen I would have to be driving by a place while I had hours to waste, happen to have it happen, and get it diagnosed before the car goes right again.
So I’m basically screwed.
I Guess I’ll go buy a Kevlar jacket for my 35 on the interstate episodes.
Hey thanks man. I must have skipped over this one in my look up. It’s easy enough to get the the MAF, and I got plenty of electronic cleaner around. Hopefully with my shiny new virgin vacuum hoses and fuel and air filter I’ll have knocked it out.
I I guess if the CEL comes back on or it happens again I’ll know to dig deeper
I would dump a couple of containers of gumout into the next fill up and run the car. If you did get a bad tank of gas, this should clean up any dirt/deposit issues.
After that, I’d try the MAF.
Finally, if it’s running ok, get another computer readout and see what if anything changed.
Am I right that it would glow if it was plugged or would that be an overly rich mixture or both? Trying to think up some internet diagnostics to eliminate what isn’t.
A glowing catalyst indicates an overrich mixture, with raw gasoline being combusted in the catalyst itself. A plugged catalyst (or any significant exhaust restriction) would result in a severe lack of power, but not rough running.
One quick check is to see if additional fuel makes a difference. When the symptom is present, one can spray starting fluid (ether) or even carb cleaner into the intake while trying to rev the engine from under the hood. If it responds and revs up, that indicates a fuel starvation problem. If it doesn’t respond, or bogs down, then it’s likely an ignition or electronic control component that’s failing.
well that did no good, In fact it’s worse now.
It still has no-power incidents, and now it stalls from idle, or even 10 mph. Can a car train itself to run wrong? Like if it adjusted itself to maintain idle on a vacuum leak, then once the leak is plugged with a shiny new hose, start choking?
a vacuum leak is easy to find. while the engine is idling (highest vacuum level) spray starting fluid around the intake manifold and the various vacuum hoses. If there is a leak it will pull in the fluid and change the rpm. This is a different test then what Gary T is talking about. You are not spraying into the intake but around it. You want to spray everywhere BUT into the intake.