Questions and Answers

Oldsmobile Regency DTCs 24 And 38 Q. Mr. Ciulla, I have a 1990 Oldsmobile Regency Ninety-Eight with a 3.8 engine automatic transmission and about 109,000 miles. It's fuel injected, has P/S, A/C and cruise control. Anyway, the car starts up fine, drives around town just fine. But when I take it on the highway, within a few miles either it will start feeling like it is trying to bog down, or Kind of feels like I am losing all power for a few seconds.

My service engine light will come on intermittently, but the longest it has stayed on is about 15 minutes. And the things don't do their thing at the same time, not that I've noticed anyway, it's just one or the other. But since I drive almost 20 miles to work, both usually happen, just not together.

And also my boyfriend drove it one night and said that the speedometer stayed on 45 mph, even though he was on the highway doing 65 mph. Anyway, I've been doing a lot of reading on the internet, and I know I've read over and over again about not putting total stock in the codes you pull off your computer, that sometimes they can be misleading.

Well I got one of the friendly workers at one of our friendly parts stores to go pull any codes I had off of my computer, he came back in with two and here they are;

• 24 - Vehicle speed sensor faulty.
• 38 - Brake light switch circuit.

So, my question is, are the codes misleading or could they be right? And if something needs replaced, is it a do-it-yourself job?

Thanks,
Cheryl

A. The speedometer sticking at 45 while it was going 65 goes along with the code 24. This does not mean the Vehicle Speed Sensor (VSS) is bad. It could also be a bad wire to the sensor or a bad connection. You need to scan it while problem is there to tell for sure.

Sounds like you may have more than one problem. Losing power could be anything from a bad fuel filter, fuel pump, injector, ignition system problem, lot's of things. Have it looked at by a good technician.

Try replacing the fuel filter first, that could fix the problem or at the very least eliminate it as a possibility.