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Well to start off my 1997 chevrolet cavalier base 2 door with a 2.2L inline four cylinder engine is having some trouble. Right now i am on my lunch break and when i go to drive it it will probably want to stall. My problem is when it gets to operating temp and i shut it down for a few minutes and restart it it can tend to run like complete crap and almost stall and sometimes i am able to make it run properly. It is very weird and i am very confused. it acts like its flooded or getting too much fuel but i cant seem to figure it out. on monday i start my automotive class and i may be able to put a snap on motus on it and see what codes its shooting me. Another thing is when it stalls it will not start for a good 10 minutes or so and that can be frustrating beyond reason.
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GM cars (especially FWD) seem to have a lot of problems with the fuel pressure regulators leaking internally and flooding out the engine, causing poor fuel ecomony, and rough running with hard/no hot restart problems. You can test it easily by using a Mity-Vac pump and clear tubing on the FPR vacuum port to see if raw gas is coming out and if the FPR is holding proper vacuum for a period of time. You can see if there is gas in the FPR from a broken diaphragm if you use a long enough piece of clear tubing.
Quoted From killman:
GM cars (especially FWD) seem to have a lot of problems with the fuel pressure regulators leaking internally and flooding out the engine, causing poor fuel ecomony, and rough running with hard/no hot restart problems. You can test it easily by using a Mity-Vac pump and clear tubing on the FPR vacuum port to see if raw gas is coming out and if the FPR is holding proper vacuum for a period of time. You can see if there is gas in the FPR from a broken diaphragm if you use a long enough piece of clear tubing.
So if that is my problem how hard is it to fix this regulator?
Quoted From killman:
GM cars (especially FWD) seem to have a lot of problems with the fuel pressure regulators leaking internally and flooding out the engine, causing poor fuel ecomony, and rough running with hard/no hot restart problems. You can test it easily by using a Mity-Vac pump and clear tubing on the FPR vacuum port to see if raw gas is coming out and if the FPR is holding proper vacuum for a period of time. You can see if there is gas in the FPR from a broken diaphragm if you use a long enough piece of clear tubing.
And this problem of it restarting just fine after it sits for a while is still the regulator?
How many miles are on this car? I have an old S-10 that acted very similar to your Cavalier. It had 180k miles on it. The catalytic converter was factory original, and when it heated up and the innards expanded, it essentially pinched off the exhaust. I sawed it off and ran a straight pipe. Ran great! Just something else to consider if the mileage is up there. Actually, I misread yer post a bit, so disregard. But, if your car fires up fine when cold, and will stall and not start for awhile when hot, and has a billion miles on it, then.. yeh.. Crap..
Quoted From Beefy:
How many miles are on this car? I have an old S-10 that acted very similar to your Cavalier. It had 180k miles on it. The catalytic converter was factory original, and when it heated up and the innards expanded, it essentially pinched off the exhaust. I sawed it off and ran a straight pipe. Ran great! Just something else to consider if the mileage is up there. Actually, I misread yer post a bit, so disregard. But, if your car fires up fine when cold, and will stall and not start for awhile when hot, and has a billion miles on it, then.. yeh.. Crap..
supposedly the engine has 96,000 miles on it and the body has close to 200,000 on it. so i do not know.
Beefy if the Cat was failing wouldnt you get the rotten egg smell too? Ive got a Cavi too its an 03 Sedan. It dpes pretty good. I live up in the mountains and my trips are typically short (less than 10 minutes) Im averaging about 26mpg on my fuel economy which according to EPA is in the range for that car.
^^ No you dont always get the rotten egg smell when you have cat problems.
OP, you very well could have some sort of cat problem but that may not be the root cause. Is your CEL on? if it is use some of the service manuals that have been posted up and see if you can retrieve any codes.
Does it stall at idle, or when you go to take off, or when you are cruising?
^^no problem chris but you were right, most of the time there will be the dead give away of that rotten egg smell.
I am still learning as well. The biggest mistake I make when working on cars by myself is overlooking the small stuff and it can make for a big nasty headache. That is why I love these forums if I got a problem I post up and someone will chime in and if they are wrong someone will correct them (hopefully). By posting up when it also creates a checklist that I can then go through and systematically eliminate possible causes.
sorry didnt mean to thread jack, you can have it back now OP
my guess would be vacum. i had a very similar problem with my 92 beretta. as i was driving the vibrations from the engine would cause the vacum lines to become loose and leak due to the fact that they were rotten. and my car would run like shit. so i would have to pop the hood and mess around with the lines until it would regain vacum and run right. . this went on for about 2 weeks until replaced most of the vacum line. 1.25 a foot at auto zone. i didnt have a probelm again until my rings failed. which was typical with berettas as they are known as 70,000 mile throw away cars. once you break 70,000 nothing but problems. you fix one thing and soon after somethoing else breaks. right now i have a 97 cavalier and the only problems ive had so far are is it not wanting to start when its cold outsode around 30 F and suspension. but the vacum lines are just thought. it wouldnt be a bad idea to check them out especially the lines right behind the intake which were the ones i had a problem with. and for the flooding +1 to the regulator. i would also recommend checking your plugs as one might not be firing. does you car smoke? and if yes, what color?
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