Questions and Answers

Chevy Lumina Loses Power Q. Hi Mr. Ciulla, I hope you can give me an answer of my Chevy Lumina problem. It's a 1998, Chevy Lumina LS, 3.1 liter, automatic transmission, 58,000 miles, fuel injection, ABS brakes, P/S, A/C, cruise control.

Problem: After driving around 6-7 miles (Drive position: OVER DRIVE) and after stopping at signal lights or stop sign the car suddenly fails to accelerate. The speed doesn't go over 1,800 rpm. In every incident the speed seemed dropping as accelerator pedal pressed. But during idling it was fine.

Problem Occurrences: The problem occurred once in February 2002, then in July 2002 after a stop at light. Recently (in September) it happened 4-5 times between ~56,000-58,000 miles after (frequent) stopping at lights and once in free way driving. In free way while in OVER DRIVE position and around 60 mph speed the car suddenly stopped responding to acceleration. Also last time the car (O/D position) was slowly moving forward after start and then stalled.

Work around: In first two incidents I stopped the A/C and car continued to operate after few accelerator pedal press. But recently after the problem arose (with out any A/C), I usually had to stop and put the gear position to DRIVE position.

History: I had to replace two fuel injectors as "SERVICE ENGINE SOON" light came on around 30,000 miles. I had changed fuel filter at 36,000. All the servicings were done by dealer shop. I took it to dealer last week they couldn't find any problem.

Your help is appreciated. Thank you very much.

Sincerely,
Yusuf

A. Sounds very intermittent, the worst thing to have! Could be a bad or loose wire connection at the throttle position sensor, Mass Air Flow sensor, or even a bad O2 sensor.