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Thread: Hey everyone! This is my first post can anyone help me out?

  1. #1
    High Mile Buick Guest

    Smile

    First off let me introduce my self. My name is Kevin and i'm 17 years old and my first car is a 1998 Buick Lesabre custom. I get some crap from some of my friends saying you drive an old mans car but once I take them for a ride [img]graemlins/finishflag.gif[/img] they give the car respect its prety quick car for what it is . But now to my problem the car is not as quick as it lose to be infact its kinda a dog. It started about 2 mounths ago the car would hesitate when I would hit the gas for a second or two then it would take off very nicely. But not It heitates for a few and takes off slowly its like the engine has trouble spinning up. For example if I gun it from a stop (before it lose to get torque steer and a slight spin)but now the rpm goes to the stall speed of the TC around 2,500rpm then stays there for what seems like forever then the rpm slowly climbs up to 6 grand then shifts it does this everytime I gun it from a stop plus to give you a idea of how bad it is ( I am not a reckless driver I did this just for a test) I floor it when its pouring out and the tires won't even spin because the rpm climbs so slowly. Just driving around town now the car doesn't feel has quick has it did any clue? The car has 134,000 on it and this problem started about 4,000 miles ago. I ran fuel injector cleaner through it, air/fuel filter change,new plug wires the plugs have 30,000 on them and they should be good till another 70,000 so I didn't touch those and the problem is still there didn't help at all, any ideas? I did foreget to mention something though the car has a cheack engine light on but the light has been on for over a year we replaced the O2 senors and the light went away but came back on 3 days latter and has been on ever since. But the code is PO420 and it says low catilist the car still passed emisions and ran fine at the time so we left it alone. But even with that light on for a year it still performed good up till about 2 mounths ago.Some one has told me it was my catilytic converter do you think is got clogged up and could cause this or could it be something else? So do you think the cheack engine problem got worse over that time and is now causeing the sluggish accelariton? I also have a bad oil pan gasket could that cause these symptoms to? Thanks for any suggestions.

  2. #2

    Post

    If you have a code in your computer saying you have low catalyst and your car seems to be bogging down then i would go that route first. Replace your converter, and your O2 sensors again.
    For a 1998 car, this seems kind of strange that your cat's are clogged up already, but anything is possible I suppose.
    Also, check your transmission fluid, if it's not blood red or smells like garbage/burnt, you should change it. It will improve the way your car shifts and the clutches will grab eachother better.
    Secondly, don't even bother using that injector cleaner that you pour into your gas tank. It's a placebo, and rarely has any real effect. If you want to get your injectors cleaned, go to a shop and get them to hook your car up to a MotorVac machine or something. Then after that, make sure you get name brand gas like mobil, shell, sunoco. Not all gas is created equal, and the cheap/no name gas stations don't have quality fuel.

    On any car it is hard to diagnose this kind of problem from a distance, since there are so many possible causes. I hope I gave you an idea of where to start from.

    Good luck!
    Ben

  3. #3
    High Mile Buick Guest

    Post

    Thanks for the suggestion. But I noticed something today when I was looking under the hood when I first statr the car up espically when its been sitting overnight. I hear kinda like a whoosh sound like a vacume kinda. Where the front exhaust manifold conects to the y-pipe thats where the sound is coming from. There a silver heat shield over it I think? Well it seems to be cracked? But i'm not sure. So can I email you a picture of it tommorw? Because I have no idea on how to post it on the forum. So if possable you could tell me if that is normaly and if its not could that problem cause my engines RPMS to rise slowly? Also my trans fluid is new and I always fill up with mobile or shell gas plus I even tried 89 octane to try and solve the problem but it didn't work. Again thanks for any help.

  4. #4

    Post

    don't worry about the heat sheild, it's nothing to worry about at all. if the crossover tube from the front manifold was cracked youd know it for sure, cuz your car would be loud!
    Seriously man, i think you should check into getting some new cats.
    Don't buy them from GM, because the whole system will probably cost you about $1000
    if you go to a good exhast shop and get some aftermarket cats and pipe, it'll be much less.

  5. #5
    High Mile Buick Guest

    Post

    Up date on problem. Its been a While since I posted (been on vacation/work). But I got my Cat convertor replaced about 3 weeks ago and the cheack engine light is gone. But the slow rpm is still present. I talked to the meachanic and he said the cat they took off looked pretty darn good so it was not clogged. the only thing it did for me was get rid of the light. But sine the problem only happens under hard accleration he suggested the Throttal position sensor could this be my problem? Or does anyone else have any other suggestions? Thanks in advance

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