know anything about cars?

newguy5 · 06-05-2008, 04:11 PM

for about two months my car has been getting worse with surging and lack of acceleration, but it's like it's not getting much fuel. it will surge as if it's going in and out of gear, but when i give it gas, even floor it, the rpms will not rise at all and the car will accelerate extremely slowly. i sometimes hear clicking from under the hood when this happens. i thought it was transmission related and could be the torque converter at first, but now i'm thinking maybe fuel related. any ideas?

i know it's a computer forum, but hey, why not

Ishval · 06-05-2008, 04:17 PM

Does your car have a carburetor?

-Kobe

**The_Other_One** · 06-05-2008, 04:20 PM

If it had anything to do with the tranny, I'd suspect you'd rev but no power would get to the ground (slipping). Guessing it has to do with the fuel would be my first assumption too. I know my Cherokee had a clogged fuel filter. Sometimes when I'd floor it, It'd just act like there's no power there, but never stalled. Knowing nothing else about the car, that's where I'd start. Unless the car's brand new, it's probably not a bad idea to change the fuel filter anyway. And check how many you have. My jeep actually has one on the tank, one in-line just outside the tank, and I'm thinking a third closer to the motor (if not, the first two for sure

)

newguy5 · 06-05-2008, 04:26 PM

my car has no carbeurator.

yeah i think you are right other one. it is an old car - 145k miles. not sure the filter was ever replaced. i've only owned the car for 25k miles and never changed the fuel filter, heh. i think this afternoon i may try filter and some injector cleaner. i can only assume if the filter is bad the injectors are what is causing the clanky noises i keep hearing from under the hood, although those noises are pretty thick and i don't know if injectors would be that loud. maybe this filter is making that noise? don't know...

i just don't want to spend a lot of money thinking i'm going to solve the problem and not actually succeed...

**Archangel** · 06-05-2008, 07:23 PM

well, my gues would be its the injectors making the noise. change the fuel filter (and maybe check for dirt in the bottom of your gas tank) that should help a lot. (and if it doesnt help, the most likely cause of your problem woulkd be illiminated anyway.)

newguy5 · 06-05-2008, 08:51 PM

yeah, i'll give that a shot first, the fuel pump...do some injector cleaner and see where i stand. someone mentioned fuel pump on another message board but a lot of times cars won't even start if your fuel pump is funny. mine starts fine.

for the hey of it i put the car on jackstands and 'drove' it by putting it in drive. i didn't have the same problem, so it's almost like it only does it under load, which again, implies the fuel system could have an error in it somewhere.

i'll let you guys know what happens, thanks for the help! any more advice is welcome!

Shadowhunter · 06-05-2008, 08:57 PM

Could be that its not getting enough oxygen. Air filter clogged or blocked is a possibility you might check if the fuel filter doesn't solve it.

speedyink · 06-05-2008, 09:20 PM

My car is doing something similar, except it's completely intermittant. It will randomly start running on what sounds like half the cylinders, and of course have about half the power. It doesn't seem to matter whether or not I floor it, but it doesn't do it until the car is warm.

Not meaning to hijack the thread or anything, the damn thing has just got me stumped. I'm gonna try fuel filter, spark plugs, clean the air filter, and use fuel injector cleaner. Any other ideas?

Your car definately sounds like either a lack of fuel or a lack of air. I'd suggest fuel filter, air filter, and injector cleaner. If none of those work, I'd take a look at the o2 sensor.

newguy5 · 06-05-2008, 11:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by speedyink

My car is doing something similar, except it's completely intermittant. It will randomly start running on what sounds like half the cylinders, and of course have about half the power. It doesn't seem to matter whether or not I floor it, but it doesn't do it until the car is warm.

Not meaning to hijack the thread or anything, the damn thing has just got me stumped. I'm gonna try fuel filter, spark plugs, clean the air filter, and use fuel injector cleaner. Any other ideas?

Your car definately sounds like either a lack of fuel or a lack of air. I'd suggest fuel filter, air filter, and injector cleaner. If none of those work, I'd take a look at the o2 sensor.

thanks for the advice. as for you, sounds like you have bad spark plugs and/or coil packs.

imsati · 06-05-2008, 11:35 PM

Newguy and speedy - what kind of cars?

A T-converter would have other symptoms (stalling when idle, not starting when hot). Aside from fuel filters, it could be plugs/wires, a gummed up PCV, gummed up EGR,O2 sensor, leaky vacuum hose, sticky engine internals. On some cars, something as minute as a faulty coolant sensor will cause problems. Are you or have you thrown any codes or CELs?

With 154k, you might want to consider dropping $70 for an engine diagnostic and go from there - it all depends on how much you use the car and how long you want to keep it. My Grand Am has 173k on her, and I had the top half of the engine taken apart about 2k miles ago and completely cleaned: lifters, valve springs, pushrods, heads, new gaskets.

Edit: Heh - just added the plugs/wires. Not sure how I missed it the first time around

06-05-2008, 04:11 PM	#1 (permalink)
newguy5 Diamond Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Dallas, Tx Age: 25 Posts: 1,581	know anything about cars? for about two months my car has been getting worse with surging and lack of acceleration, but it's like it's not getting much fuel. it will surge as if it's going in and out of gear, but when i give it gas, even floor it, the rpms will not rise at all and the car will accelerate extremely slowly. i sometimes hear clicking from under the hood when this happens. i thought it was transmission related and could be the torque converter at first, but now i'm thinking maybe fuel related. any ideas? i know it's a computer forum, but hey, why not __________________ C2D E6750 Arctic Freezer 7 Pro 2GB G.Skill RAM PC2-6400 Gigabyte P35-DS3L Sapphire Radeon 3850 250GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 Thermaltake TR2 500W 22" Westinghouse (widescreen) Pics

06-05-2008, 04:20 PM	#3 (permalink)
The_Other_One Super Moderator Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Lexington, NC Age: 24 Posts: 12,382	If it had anything to do with the tranny, I'd suspect you'd rev but no power would get to the ground (slipping). Guessing it has to do with the fuel would be my first assumption too. I know my Cherokee had a clogged fuel filter. Sometimes when I'd floor it, It'd just act like there's no power there, but never stalled. Knowing nothing else about the car, that's where I'd start. Unless the car's brand new, it's probably not a bad idea to change the fuel filter anyway. And check how many you have. My jeep actually has one on the tank, one in-line just outside the tank, and I'm thinking a third closer to the motor (if not, the first two for sure ) __________________ Desktop * Athlon X2 4200 \| 2G RAM \| 160G HD \| 7600GT Laptop1 * C2D T5550 \| 3G RAM \| 120G HD \| Intel x3100 Laptop2 * C2D T5250 \| 2G RAM \| 160G HD \| Intel x3100

06-05-2008, 04:26 PM	#4 (permalink)
newguy5 Diamond Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Dallas, Tx Age: 25 Posts: 1,581	my car has no carbeurator. yeah i think you are right other one. it is an old car - 145k miles. not sure the filter was ever replaced. i've only owned the car for 25k miles and never changed the fuel filter, heh. i think this afternoon i may try filter and some injector cleaner. i can only assume if the filter is bad the injectors are what is causing the clanky noises i keep hearing from under the hood, although those noises are pretty thick and i don't know if injectors would be that loud. maybe this filter is making that noise? don't know... i just don't want to spend a lot of money thinking i'm going to solve the problem and not actually succeed... __________________ C2D E6750 Arctic Freezer 7 Pro 2GB G.Skill RAM PC2-6400 Gigabyte P35-DS3L Sapphire Radeon 3850 250GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 Thermaltake TR2 500W 22" Westinghouse (widescreen) Pics

06-05-2008, 07:23 PM	#5 (permalink)
Archangel Moderator Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Netherlands Age: 21 Posts: 8,280	well, my gues would be its the injectors making the noise. change the fuel filter (and maybe check for dirt in the bottom of your gas tank) that should help a lot. (and if it doesnt help, the most likely cause of your problem woulkd be illiminated anyway.) __________________ Newton is dead, Einstein is dead, I don't feel very well either Xfire - Mirrari Intel Q6600 ( @3.6GHz) Asus Triton 79 Amazing 549/3200 4x 1Gb Corsair XMS2 DDR800 Asus Maximus Formula Asus & Sapphire HD3870 512Mb ( 850/1180 ) Corsair HX620W PSU

06-05-2008, 08:51 PM	#6 (permalink)
newguy5 Diamond Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Dallas, Tx Age: 25 Posts: 1,581	yeah, i'll give that a shot first, the fuel pump...do some injector cleaner and see where i stand. someone mentioned fuel pump on another message board but a lot of times cars won't even start if your fuel pump is funny. mine starts fine. for the hey of it i put the car on jackstands and 'drove' it by putting it in drive. i didn't have the same problem, so it's almost like it only does it under load, which again, implies the fuel system could have an error in it somewhere. i'll let you guys know what happens, thanks for the help! any more advice is welcome! __________________ C2D E6750 Arctic Freezer 7 Pro 2GB G.Skill RAM PC2-6400 Gigabyte P35-DS3L Sapphire Radeon 3850 250GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 Thermaltake TR2 500W 22" Westinghouse (widescreen) Pics

06-05-2008, 04:17 PM	#2 (permalink)
Ishval Bronze Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 54	Does your car have a carburetor? -Kobe

06-05-2008, 08:57 PM	#7 (permalink)
Shadowhunter Gold Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: SoCal Age: 16 Posts: 365	Could be that its not getting enough oxygen. Air filter clogged or blocked is a possibility you might check if the fuel filter doesn't solve it. __________________ ::My PC:: Dell E510::: Windows XP MCE::: Pentium D 820::: XFX 8600GT with Zalman HSF @ 680/1360/800::: 2GB Dual-Channel Patriot DDR2-533 CL4::: Seagate 80GB 7200.9 HDD (OS/Programs)::: WD 80GB IDE HDD (Media)::: Antec EarthWatts 500W PSU:::

06-05-2008, 09:20 PM	#8 (permalink)
speedyink Diamond Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: PA Age: 21 Posts: 2,325	My car is doing something similar, except it's completely intermittant. It will randomly start running on what sounds like half the cylinders, and of course have about half the power. It doesn't seem to matter whether or not I floor it, but it doesn't do it until the car is warm. Not meaning to hijack the thread or anything, the damn thing has just got me stumped. I'm gonna try fuel filter, spark plugs, clean the air filter, and use fuel injector cleaner. Any other ideas? Your car definately sounds like either a lack of fuel or a lack of air. I'd suggest fuel filter, air filter, and injector cleaner. If none of those work, I'd take a look at the o2 sensor. __________________ Desktop/Laptop: Acer AM5100/Dell Inspiron 6400/Asus EEE 900HA AMD Phenom 9500 Quad core @ 2.2GHZ/Core 2 Duo T5300 @ 1.73ghz/Intel Atom 1.6ghz 4GB DDR2 RAM/2GB 533mhz RAM/1GB DDR2 750GB HDD/320 GB HDD/160 GB 512mb Nvidia GeForce 8800GTS @ 800/2000/1050/256mb Radeon Mobility X1400 HM/Intel GMA 950 Vista Home Premium/Vista Home Premium/Vista Ultimate Creative SB X-Fi My Deviantart

06-05-2008, 11:35 PM	#10 (permalink)
imsati Diamond Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: EHT, NJ Posts: 2,781	Newguy and speedy - what kind of cars? A T-converter would have other symptoms (stalling when idle, not starting when hot). Aside from fuel filters, it could be plugs/wires, a gummed up PCV, gummed up EGR,O2 sensor, leaky vacuum hose, sticky engine internals. On some cars, something as minute as a faulty coolant sensor will cause problems. Are you or have you thrown any codes or CELs? With 154k, you might want to consider dropping $70 for an engine diagnostic and go from there - it all depends on how much you use the car and how long you want to keep it. My Grand Am has 173k on her, and I had the top half of the engine taken apart about 2k miles ago and completely cleaned: lifters, valve springs, pushrods, heads, new gaskets. Edit: Heh - just added the plugs/wires. Not sure how I missed it the first time around __________________ --Jay Gigabyte EP31-DS3L \| E4500 \| Masscool HSF paired with AS-5 Dual 81920 MB SATA \| e-GeForce 7100 GS \| CM Elite 330 (gorgeous!) Triple Boot: Ubuntu 7.10/XP Home/Kubuntu 7.10 Uninstalling USB drivers will TRASH your Windows Install :) http://www.computerforum.com/114761-...tml#post922619 Drugs don't make us stupid; PC_eye makes us stupid http://www.computerforum.com/136083-boot-loader.html

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