I have a 97 cavalier 2.2L and as the title repeals its running like crap. I was driving down the road the other day and it starts cutting in and out. its not like a miss in the ignition or maybe not the fuel. But you can be driving and out of no where it will start doing this and the RPM will drop some times alot sometime just enought to notice. While its doing this you can push the gas down harder and the RPM will still drop then at about 1500 it will kick in and go. It's not throwing any codes so any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys
PLease anybody its getting worse it will barely stay running?
Maybe it is running rich thanks to sticky injectors, flooding will make you cut out.
Maybe it is the coils dying which is not burning each load of fuel per cylinder as should and again makes you cut out.
A clogged cat will do the same.
Bad O2 sensor, bad TPS sensor, etc...
My wife's 2003 Ecotec 2.2 liter Sunfire:
* 2 1/4 inch in and dual 2 inch out muffler Trans Am muffler
* 2 1/4 piping to a very long 2 1/4 inch resonator
* 2 1/4 inch catalytic converter
* an AEM true cold air intake NOPI edition
* 8 gauge ground wire kit
* Toyz front strut brace
* Russell stainless steel brake lines all around.
Don't take this as gospel, but if it isn't setting any codes, I would lean more toward fuel system problems. If there was a coil malfunctioning, you should get a misfire code of some sort. TPS would definitely be a possibility also. If you have access to a scan tool, you can check the TPS pretty easily. Otherwise I would suspect fuel pump, filter, or maybe you got some bad gas or water in the fuel tank?
Electrical problems? My '96 ran terrible, no power, some days better than others, knocked, sputtered. Then the light switch welded itself on. The car ran better. replaced the switch. Smoothed the idle, good power like it is supposed to be. Replaced the belt also helped. Strange symptoms. I was getting ready to check everything there was to check, but this happened and now I think I will let it run another year and see what happens. If the turn signal has all the white print rubbed off, disconnect the battery, then remove and disconnect the light switch. If the car runs fine without the switch, replace that and drive on. If that is not the problem, reinstall the switch. Check the grounds. This could be the problem. On old cars the electrical is usually the problem as the other stuff is quite reliable.
Go to an autozone or other parts place near you that will read your codes for free. Don't buy anything, come back here and post the codes. then with that info we can put our collective minds to work for you.
mine did this when my timing tensioner snapped. listen under the hood on the passenger side for a weird knocking sort of noise. mine stalled, lost around 50% horsepower, and ran like @!#$.
