Questions and Answers

Chevy Cavalier Putt Putts When Started Q. Hi, I have a 1994 Chevy Cavalier. It's a 4 cylinder, automatic transmission, with about 147,000 miles on it. It is fuel injected, has ABS, and A/C (though it doesn't work). I have a problem. This car has been running great for me ever since I first bought it a year ago, and had the transmission replaced with a used rebuilt transmission.

It vibrates at full stops but that's not a big deal. What my problem is, is that just recently, say within the past week or so, it has a terrible running problem. It starts fine, starts right up, but as it sits there, it putt-putts, if you know what I mean. It almost feels as if it's about to stall. So I give it gas for about 20 or 30 seconds or so, and then I'm on my way and there's no more problems.

t doesn't do this at stop lights or anything, just when I first start it up. And it does it religiously, even if the car is only sitting for 10 minutes before I start it up again. If I don't give it gas, and put it in reverse, or into drive, it almost BOUNCES, feeling again like it's going to stall.

If I continue to drive it without giving it any gas, say in neutral or park, it'll putt-putt for 30 seconds or so, until I get on the gas pedal and get going. It will then take off like it's supposed to, but only AFTER I give it enough gas. Some people were telling me it could be fuel injectors, others water in my gas tank. So I went out and bought both of those things to put into my gas tank, and neither helped.

What do you think it could be? Please help me. I just spent some money getting the brakes fixed, and I really don't have tons of money to get it fixed. Is it a big problem? And if I can't afford to get it fixed right now, is it okay to run it the way it's running now? Or will it cause more problems in the end?

Thanks so much for your help!!
Cathy

A. If you give it some gas and it clears up, drive it. Yes, there is probably something wrong with it but if you don't have the money to spend my guessing at what's wrong and you throwing parts at it isn't going to help your situation any.

You will need to get a scanner on it when it's doing it to see if anything looks out of the ordinary in the data.