Hesitation .......

[Yimyar]

I bought my '97 firebird 2 years ago and it had 53,000 miles on it, and in nearly perfect condition. However, ever since i've had it i notice that it sporatically sputters when i give some gas. The problem wasnt so bad but over the past two years it's gotten terrible. Now i'll leave for work in the morning and i'll drive a quarter mile and it's already acting up again. Any suggestions on how to get rid of this annoying sputtering problem???

[Turbo V6 Camaro]

first take it to auto zone and see if there are any codes in the PCM

but right off hand im leaning toward you TPS (throttle postion senor. )

[wantmorepower]

Since it takes a bit for it to start acting up maybe an o2 sensor.

[badbird02]

i had a similar problem. like viper said take it to autozone and if you get a code that says "#" cylinder is misfiring then its probably your coils.

[jc Kyle]

had the same prob.. it was a coil and a fuel injector. Give yourself a tune up and go from there

[badbird02]

and when you buy coils dont buy them from autozone for 37$. spend the 47$ to get msds. its just that simple.

[NightEye]

I had a similar problem on my old '93. It happened to be a broken spark plug wire (it was cut right where the "Made in America" label was - ironic, isn't it?). Anyway, check the wires and see if they are cut in wany way or look damaged.

[Yimyar]

Thanks for all of the input fellas, also one quick thing...about a year ago i put flowmasters on my car, however i didnt replace the cat...whenever i rev up past 4500 rpms, i get a terrible popping sound, could that be from not having a high flow cat??? or is it something else?

[Turbo V6 Camaro]

headers and higflow cat will take care of most of that popping

[geocor]

Agree with most said here ,& like I had said in an other post check the simple stuff first,ie.when were plugs ,wires ,ff, changed? Is there en ses light on ?Like viper said could be a TPS.One very neglected problem that could cause some minor hesitation,is a very simple fix.Most owners here probably never have taken off the throttle body/MAF unit.It got very FILTHY on my Camaro after only 30K or so.& I treated my car like royalty,reg. use of inj. cleaners like Techron & the works.A badly carboned up TB can cause a myriad of problems.If you give us feedback on some of the questions asked we could come closer to pinpointing the problem.

BTW bad poping could be a burnt valve or v.spring,bad timing chain,lets hope not.

[ May 21, 2004, 09:16 PM: Message edited by: geocor ]

[jc Kyle]

tb... the ribbed plastic piece?

[Dan Vincent]

No, the unit beyond the plastic piece with wires and sensors plugged in to it (it's made of cast iron).

[jc Kyle]

ah.. so taking off the ribbed plastic piece and the sensors and cleaning that out you say? hm, gonna have to try that!