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I’ve got a 2000 Chevy Malibu with a 3100 that has a drive ability problem. Vehicle starts and idles fine. I step on the gas 3/4 of the way, no problem. I floor it (wide open throttle) and the engine just bogs down, a complete loss of power pretty much. The tach only reads at about 4000-4200 rpm’s at wide open throttle. When driving and flooring it to pass on the highway I get the same effect as mentioned above. Another issue is when driving occasionally the engine surges and the rpm’s fluctuate a bit, not a lot, but it’s noticeable. Any ideas on where to even start on resolving this or what could be causing these problems?
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I have yet to replace plugs and wires as I’m thinking all the problems revolve around the injector issue I put before your reply. I’ll wait to see what others say then go from there.
I have yet to replace plugs and wires as I’m thinking all the problems revolve around the injector issue I put before your reply. I’ll wait to see what others say then go from there.
That would cause a vacuum leak and may be the cause of your problem, the injector may be fine. I’m thinking you can get those parts separate, they may come with the rest of the injector seals however which would not be a bad idea to replace as well. As for keeping stuff out of the engine you can always put a rag or something over the open holes to prevent stuff from falling down into the engine.
That would cause a vacuum leak and may be the cause of your problem, the injector may be fine. I’m thinking you can get those parts separate, they may come with the rest of the injector seals however which would not be a bad idea to replace as well. As for keeping stuff out of the engine you can always put a rag or something over the open holes to prevent stuff from falling down into the engine.
You may have a plugged catalytic converter. Or some other restriction not allowing the engine to breathe. I’m pretty sure those Malibu’s don’t have a downstream o2 sensor to monitor catalyst efficiency. If it turns out to be a cat converter, remember that this is a symptom of another problem. Cats don’t die, they’re murdered. 🙂 It could be getting too much fuel, or the car is burning excessive amounts of coolant or oil. A vacuum leak will cause your engine to starve for fuel and run hot, which can also cause your cat to melt down from heat.
Double and triple check your work with the fuel injectors. If they aren’t installed correctly you will have all sorts of issues. Make sure you connected every vacuum line properly and in the correct locations.
The engine may have been burning coolant with the bad LIM gaskets. That will kill a cat. Whenever I have a GM car with bad LIM gaskets I always go further and sell head gaskets. Never had a comeback as a result.
You may have a plugged catalytic converter. Or some other restriction not allowing the engine to breathe. I’m pretty sure those Malibu’s don’t have a downstream o2 sensor to monitor catalyst efficiency. If it turns out to be a cat converter, remember that this is a symptom of another problem. Cats don’t die, they’re murdered. 🙂 It could be getting too much fuel, or the car is burning excessive amounts of coolant or oil. A vacuum leak will cause your engine to starve for fuel and run hot, which can also cause your cat to melt down from heat.
Double and triple check your work with the fuel injectors. If they aren’t installed correctly you will have all sorts of issues. Make sure you connected every vacuum line properly and in the correct locations.
The engine may have been burning coolant with the bad LIM gaskets. That will kill a cat. Whenever I have a GM car with bad LIM gaskets I always go further and sell head gaskets. Never had a comeback as a result.
So I finally got some work done on the problems, pulled the fuel rail and injectors, all the o-rings were shot should have replaced them the first time around, one injector was missing a pintle cap. Replaced all of the o-rings, and the missing pintle cap on the injector on cylinder 2. Car runs and idles a lot better not. Check engine light stayed off for about 50 miles, came back on as I was getting ready to perform a NYS inspection (just my luck). I have yet to scan to see what the code is for. Furthermore in the process of putting the car back together I managed to break a very small vacuum line. I don’t even know where it runs to. It’s a very small gray colored vac line and it’s bundled in with a bunch of wires in the wire loom. Any ideas what this could be? I couldn’t find any references to it on Rockauto.com. If pics are needed to help identify this line I can post some later.
So I finally got some work done on the problems, pulled the fuel rail and injectors, all the o-rings were shot should have replaced them the first time around, one injector was missing a pintle cap. Replaced all of the o-rings, and the missing pintle cap on the injector on cylinder 2. Car runs and idles a lot better not. Check engine light stayed off for about 50 miles, came back on as I was getting ready to perform a NYS inspection (just my luck). I have yet to scan to see what the code is for. Furthermore in the process of putting the car back together I managed to break a very small vacuum line. I don’t even know where it runs to. It’s a very small gray colored vac line and it’s bundled in with a bunch of wires in the wire loom. Any ideas what this could be? I couldn’t find any references to it on Rockauto.com. If pics are needed to help identify this line I can post some later.
Glad you fond and fixed those problems. As for those little plastic vacuum lines just take a piece of rubber line and join the 2 broken pieces together, those things break all the time. Keep us posted and let us know what those codes end up being.
Glad you fond and fixed those problems. As for those little plastic vacuum lines just take a piece of rubber line and join the 2 broken pieces together, those things break all the time. Keep us posted and let us know what those codes end up being.
Here’s the codes that came up:
P0122
P0440
p0141I’ve also noticed that the car still does not have a lot of power when accelerating hard. The check engine light did start flashing momentarily as I was flooring it on the highway
Here’s the codes that came up:
P0122
P0440
p0141I’ve also noticed that the car still does not have a lot of power when accelerating hard. The check engine light did start flashing momentarily as I was flooring it on the highway
p0122-throttle position sensor switch A circuit low
http://engine-codes.com/p0122.html
p0440 http://engine-codes.com/p0440.html
p0141-http://engine-codes.com/p0141_chevrolet.html
start with the p0141 o2 sensor heater circuit
here is a video on checking the o2 sensor
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