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Car people diagnose my problem

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ponyfitness

New member
I drive an OLD '95 Buick Regal. Lately it has been revving very low and lurching when power is needed (ie highway acceleration and climbing hills). Feels extremely sluggish unless I keep it at higher revs but it is automatic so this is tough.

Possible culprits: Tranny (checked, fluid is fine but who knows), Fuel pump or filter, clogged system of some sort. Might be a misfiring cylinder?

I can't afford a major repair so give me some simple things to check on my own before I bite the bullet and take it in.
 
ponyfitness said:
I drive an OLD '95 Buick Regal. Lately it has been revving very low and lurching when power is needed (ie highway acceleration and climbing hills). Feels extremely sluggish unless I keep it at higher revs but it is automatic so this is tough.

Possible culprits: Tranny (checked, fluid is fine but who knows), Fuel pump or filter, clogged system of some sort. Might be a misfiring cylinder?

I can't afford a major repair so give me some simple things to check on my own before I bite the bullet and take it in.
Click to expand...

Could be as simple as cleaning out the throttle body.
Or is it running hotter than normal? Could be a bad catalytic converter.
 
chris302001 said:
i had a clogged up cat once that did stuff like this
Click to expand...

Yes that can cause it..... My exact thoughts but need more info
very easy for me to tell, I jus have somebody stab the throttle a few times in a row in park while Im back by the tail pipe, makes a distinctive air sucking sound when the throttle is released
 
gstacker said:
Check engine light on?
Is it intermidiate or does it all the time?
May have a plugged exhaust... Tell more
Click to expand...

No check engine light. It only does it when accelerating - what will happen is that the car shifts into a higher gear, the RPMs drop to what feels like a very low level and then it starts to lurch like it is trying to shift but can't. If I keep the revs high like from a dead stop and punch the motor it is fine until it hits about 90kph and then the drop, lurch happens again.

It will speed up but very slowly because as soon as I put pressure on the accelerator it starts this problem.

My Mom's old Chevy Caprice had a similar thing but this is a little more violent - it feels like a very hard shudder.

Plugs and wires were done about nine months ago - although I'm not sure about the wires but plugs for sure.
 
ponyfitness said:
No check engine light. It only does it when accelerating - what will happen is that the car shifts into a higher gear, the RPMs drop to what feels like a very low level and then it starts to lurch like it is trying to shift but can't. If I keep the revs high like from a dead stop and punch the motor it is fine until it hits about 90kph and then the drop, lurch happens again.

It will speed up but very slowly because as soon as I put pressure on the accelerator it starts this problem.

My Mom's old Chevy Caprice had a similar thing but this is a little more violent - it feels like a very hard shudder.

Plugs and wires were done about nine months ago - although I'm not sure about the wires but plugs for sure.
Click to expand...

ya sounds like a possible plugged exhaust, if you know anyone with a good ear for that kinda stuff have em do what i said.....
a vaccuum gauge can be used to diagnose the problem but lets not get that deep into it in this thread...jus go pay for a diagnostic before you start buying tools you dont knopw how to use..
 
could be mass air flow sensor. . .little wire inside goes bad. . .doesn't get hot. . .bad info to computer. . .improper fuel/air mix.
 
gstacker said:
Wow very familur lol....
Click to expand...

i've always got at least one semi-clunker around. . .and i used to spend a lot of time wrenching. . .sometimes for fun. . .sometimes for necessity. . .i've seen lots of dumb stuff. . .there are a couple of problems over the years that i was never able to figure out. . .i swear to God, just this morning, i was ironing my clothes for work and i was thinking about this 80's toyota pickup that my younger brother had. . .it was a very cool little 4x4, lifted, 35's, locker in the rear. . .fun truck. . .developed this problem where it would just quit. . .dead. . .it would turn over but it wouldn't start. . .we'd drag the damn thing home and after it sat in the driveway for a couple of hours, you'd go out, hit the key, and it would fire back up and run like a champ. . .assumed that maybe there was some metal in the fuel system from a cheesy tig-weld on the pickup in the gas tank, but we were never able to correct the problem and finally threw in the towel. . .shit like that still kinda haunts me and i find myself thinking about it from time-to-time :)

oh and, mass air flow sensor is one of those problems i've actually seen quite a few times. . .it's just a little thin strand of wire and it goes bad after a while. . .and you get half-assed, herky-jerky acceleration. . .if it's a plugged converter, it should be bad all the time, not just at low rpm's. . .but, not necessarily. . .cars a funny.
 
Just googled a bad catalytic converter and that definitely has the same symptoms. No check engine light though.

Only about 80,000 miles but it's a 95 so lots of age.

I just looked up prices for converters. Some brands are $75, some are $250 - any difference?
 
digimon7068 said:
i've always got at least one semi-clunker around. . .and i used to spend a lot of time wrenching. . .sometimes for fun. . .sometimes for necessity. . .i've seen lots of dumb stuff. . .there are a couple of problems over the years that i was never able to figure out. . .i swear to God, just this morning, i was ironing my clothes for work and i was thinking about this 80's toyota pickup that my younger brother had. . .it was a very cool little 4x4, lifted, 35's, locker in the rear. . .fun truck. . .developed this problem where it would just quit. . .dead. . .it would turn over but it wouldn't start. . .we'd drag the damn thing home and after it sat in the driveway for a couple of hours, you'd go out, hit the key, and it would fire back up and run like a champ. . .assumed that maybe there was some metal in the fuel system from a cheesy tig-weld on the pickup in the gas tank, but we were never able to correct the problem and finally threw in the towel. . .shit like that still kinda haunts me and i find myself thinking about it from time-to-time :)

oh and, mass air flow sensor is one of those problems i've actually seen quite a few times. . .it's just a little thin strand of wire and it goes bad after a while. . .and you get half-assed, herky-jerky acceleration. . .if it's a plugged converter, it should be bad all the time, not just at low rpm's. . .but, not necessarily. . .cars a funny.
Click to expand...

The toy prolly had a bad ignighter lol....
I don't work on cars anymore, the most retarded thing to do for money, u spend thousands of dollars on tools, continued education for life, put up with fucked up conditions and it pays 8.50 cents a hour lmfao
 
Ofcourse there's a diff, the more expensive ones have more metal in em like platinum an rodioum, if there's no smog program in ur area who cares jus get a cheap 99.00 installed one...
Also u got lucky anything 96and newer will be alot more expensive becouse they have to be obd2 certified.

Ps don't jus go get one put in... Do what I said n have someone that knows what's up listen to it, nothing sucks more than spending money on somthing that doesn't fix the prob
 
gstacker said:
The toy prolly had a bad ignighter lol....
I don't work on cars anymore, the most retarded thing to do for money, u spend thousands of dollars on tools, continued education for life, put up with fucked up conditions and it pays 8.50 cents a hour lmfao
Click to expand...

I've never know an auto mechanic (except for the shade tree variety) that didn't end up doing very well
 
you may want to figure out what is causing the catalytic converter to get hot, melt, and plug up before you replace it 5x within a couple months.
 
I agree with Digi, either a mass air flow sensor or vacume hose leak. Either causes bad air, fuel mixture result= what you have. Seat belt ?'s should be Pm'd to Smurf. She runs the seat belt division @ GM. Or ask Miplank he works at a garage.
 
Mr. dB said:
I think it's the fan clutch or the muffler bearings.
Click to expand...
Actually most car fans do have a clutch, you one eyed fuck stick.
 
ponyfitness said:
Just googled a bad catalytic converter and that definitely has the same symptoms. No check engine light though.

Only about 80,000 miles but it's a 95 so lots of age.

I just looked up prices for converters. Some brands are $75, some are $250 - any difference?
Click to expand...


People this is amateur hour. Car needs to be scanned first to r/o possibilities.

Dude you need an OBD I scanner. Blind parts swapping is not the way to go. Borrow or buy one. Any emission's related fault will throw a code. A pending code will not necessarily trigger a dash light.
 
RottenWillow said:
People this is amateur hour. Car needs to be scanned first to r/o possibilities.

Dude you need an OBD I scanner. Blind parts swapping is not the way to go. Borrow or buy one. Any emission's related fault will throw a code. A pending code will not necessarily trigger a dash light.
Click to expand...

No eng light on = no hard codes. May have some soft codes but dubt it will tell u much... A papper clip in the Aldl connector will give u ur codes... Anyways I could diagnose a plugged exhaust faster than it takesuto hook up a scanner pfffft
 
RottenWillow said:
People this is amateur hour. Car needs to be scanned first to r/o possibilities.

Dude you need an OBD I scanner. Blind parts swapping is not the way to go. Borrow or buy one. Any emission's related fault will throw a code. A pending code will not necessarily trigger a dash light.
Click to expand...

lol no shit sherlock
 
U guys r funny... When I wa wrenching I'd diagnose 70% of the shit that came in before starting the car, jus listen to the complaint pop the hood n do a good visual. These young techs nowdays fresh outa school skip right over the basics n start hooking up every peice of equipment known to man.... Suck push bank blow that's all it takes for it to go
 
RottenWillow said:
People this is amateur hour. Car needs to be scanned first to r/o possibilities.

Dude you need an OBD I scanner. Blind parts swapping is not the way to go. Borrow or buy one. Any emission's related fault will throw a code. A pending code will not necessarily trigger a dash light.
Click to expand...

absolutely. . .and i know exactly where i'd start. . .
 
gstacker said:
No eng light on = no hard codes. May have some soft codes but dubt it will tell u much... A papper clip in the Aldl connector will give u ur codes... Anyways I could diagnose a plugged exhaust faster than it takesuto hook up a scanner pfffft
Click to expand...

and you've never been wrong?


An intermittent fault can trigger a pending code, that clears before ever setting an actual DTC, especially with an OBD I vehicle. It just needs to be scanned. A joint like Autozone or Advance will likely do it for free.
 
+1 for autozone or someone who does obd scans for free. start there. if you have a clogged cat then a code should come up. also if you have a bad MAF sensor it could cause a rich condition which in turn will clog your cat(. or could be a bad o2 sensor or something.
 
ceo said:
If he said he could diagnose 70% of the stuff right away, sounds like he was wrong about 30% of the time.
Click to expand...

No 30% of the time I actually got to get my hands dirty

An ya willow hard codes light stays on all the time, soft codes may not... Usuall a maf will throw a hard code if I had to guess I'd say 9 times out of ten...

Stop picking on me u guys :worried:
 
DannoMight said:
+1 for autozone or someone who does obd scans for free. start there. if you have a clogged cat then a code should come up. also if you have a bad MAF sensor it could cause a rich condition which in turn will clog your cat(. or could be a bad o2 sensor or something.
Click to expand...

What kinda code would u expect from a pigged ehaust on a 95 Buick? Prolly wouldn't throw a code at all.. Like he said no eng light... If there was a code you might see a rich o2 or somthing an ya that doesn't mean the 02 o's bad...

I'm not talking out my ass FYI I have my ase certs a6 a8 and L1 and I have years experience... But anyways I hope it is the maf that way u guys can feel good :)
 
So got the code done. Faulty ignition wire, which is why the thing was misfiring under load. Good thing because it is a super cheap repair. Got it replaced and on the way home the car ran great.

Can this be a symptom of something bigger?

Karma all around!
 
ponyfitness said:
So got the code done. Faulty ignition wire, which is why the thing was misfiring under load. Good thing because it is a super cheap repair. Got it replaced and on the way home the car ran great.

Can this be a symptom of something bigger?

Karma all around!
Click to expand...

wow. . .that's interesting. . .personally, i've never had an electrical problem in a car that produced that kind of symptom. . .if i have an electrical problem, it's more the "this thing doesn't work" variety (e.g., headlight doesn't work. . .bad ground). . .unless by "ignition wire" you mean like the wire going from the cap to the coil. . .i've had those go bad (cracked insulation or what have you) and that produced some undesireable performance issues (not nearly as bad as those that you described) and i was able to diagnose the problem with a can of wd-40.
 
Did you forget to let the choke off? (just messing with you)... Seriously, the first thing I'd do is read the codes. If you know a mechanic or someone with an OBD scanner, that's step 1. Otherwise it's all guesswork. If you don't know anyone, just pay the base fee for somebody to do it. Just tell them you need to know how much $$$ to save aside by finding out what's probably wrong with it now, and you'll fix it then. All of the other guys above posted real possibilities, and a plugged catalytic converter is a good guess. My second guess would be poor fuel pressure (bad in-tank fuel pump, common on GM cars). But again, making either of those guesses and being wrong would cost you a whole lot more than just paying to get the codes read.

Charles
 
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