Vehicle issue, please help!

[DuWayne Steurer]

My next door neighbor has a very puzzling problem going on with his vehicle, I'm hoping I can get a little insight here, probably not, but I guess it doesn't hurt to ask.

 

3 year old Chevy Colorado (JUST passed the warranty period, gotta love the GM warranty) and here's what' happening....

 

If he drives it for just a few miles at a time, everything runs fine. If he just goes to work and then comes home after work, no problems. If he's doing any kind of extended driving, the engine will kill or lug at random times. When he's going around a corner, letting off the gas, or any other reason that he doesn't have the gas pedal down, the engine just dies. Now, if he's coasting, he can throw it in neutral, and it starts right back up, and then he'll be fine for the next 2-3 minutes again.

 

This only seems to happen when the engine is warmed up. He's replaced the battery, the battery cables, the fuel filter, and had a diagnostic run on the electrical system (twice) which revealed no problems.

 

He's taken it to the dealership, and they can't find anything wrong. To me (and I am NOT a mechanic), it sounds like for whatever reason, the fuel just isn't getting through. He's used a fuel injector cleaner, and treats his gas on fill up. The truck only has 24K miles on it.

 

Any ideas?

[stoutdude04]

O2 sensor? Sounds similar to a problem I had. It was all fixed when I got my O2 sensor changed. When I would be driving it would start to lug and I would just hit the gas and it would do fine.

[mothershipconnection]

GM (or Delphi or whoever supplies them) produces some garbage fuel pumps, though that doesn't necessarily sound like a fuel pump failure.

[sgtcluels]

Call Car Talk! http://www.cartalk.com/

[logan82]

If I were him I would take it back to the dealer and complain that whatever they did to it didn't fix it. There is a good chance they will refund him or not charge him for the previous repairs. I think I had a similar issue with a grand am a few years back. I could drive it as much as I wanted, but it had to sit several hours between using it or it would kill after a few blocks. I don't remember what was done to fix it, but I took it into a dealer and the did some repairs. It killed on me on the way home and I had them tow it back. They didn't charge me for the original repairs and fixed it the 2nd time.

[brucrustu]

sounds like the fuel could be trying to boil. I would make sure all the fuel lines are away from heat sources especially the exhaust manifolds. Also make sure the heat sheilding is in all the right places.

 

This is an old problem like circa 1970's and I don't know if it would apply at all in todays cars but it would be my first idea.

[Houlie24x]

I had a 2001 Blazer that had the same issue. It also seemed like it lost a lot of power if I stepped on it. I had to replace the fuel pump.

 

There also seems to be an issue with the gas cap and filler tube on those Colorados. Isn't he getting a check engine light?

[saget]

Ah, the flux capacitor finally took a dump.

[UndraftedFA]

Check to make sure all the hoses are in good shape. If the hose from the air filter to the intake is broken, it might be hard to see by just glancing at it. I had that problem once, and I fixed it with electrical tape.

[bullox]

Could also be the ECU. One of the ECU's jobs is to calculate fuel delivery rates for the injectors based on throttle position and other factors. These computers get a little funky sometimes.

[SquirrelMaster]

I wish I could talk to my buddy Mike, he used to be a technician at Saturn of Greenfield. Crap he is at work! But if it only happens when its warmed up, check the CTS. Or, possibly the MAF.

[RyDogg66]

Sounds like he needs a new Johnson Rod. Oh well. My guess would have been fuel injector/fuel pump.

[stoutdude04]

Oh yea, the Johnson Rod!

[colbyjack]

GM vehicles from the late 90s to just a few years recently have had some serious manifold gasket issues. That's my guess. Try to find people (online is a good route) to see if what you are experiencing is a common problem.

[DougJones43]

O2 sensor? Sounds similar to a problem I had. It was all fixed when I got my O2 sensor changed. When I would be driving it would start to lug and I would just hit the gas and it would do fine.

O2 sensor was what I was thinking too when I read the description. I also had this problem, and many diagnostic tests missed the problem before I finally brought it to a specialist who figured it out. Here is a little more info on oxygen sensors if your neighbor is interested. Symptoms are:

 

· decreased fuel economy

· hesitation on acceleration

· stalling

· surging

· rough idle and

· increased tailpipe emissions

[falloutboy]

GM vehicles from the late 90s to just a few years recently have had some serious manifold gasket issues. That's my guess. Try to find people (online is a good route) to see if what you are experiencing is a common problem.

I actually had this fixed last week at a cost of $1100.00. From what I understand this was fixed in roughly 03 and was more of an issue with dex-cool. Dex-cool basically ate away the gasket. In my situation, I had oil leaking into my coolant turning it in to a big, quagulated mess. My car never once died though.

 

There was a huge class action that just closed a couple of months back.. I missed out on it of course.

[colbyjack]

From what I understand this was fixed in roughly 03 and was more of an issue with dex-cool.

 

Yeah, if the truck in question is newer than an '03 model, this probably isn't the case. I was able to find a guy that did this kind of work on the side and paid him $500 in cash, since the dealer quoted me between $800 and $1,200. I have a friend at work who had to have this fixed on both of his cars.