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96 Chevy Beretta Hesitation, dying, sputtering (Chuggle)
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nemesis
New User
Oct 10, 2011, 10:07 AM
Post #1 of 1
(4183 views)
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96 Chevy Beretta Hesitation, dying, sputtering (Chuggle)
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1996
Chevy
Beretta
3.1 Liter v6 Automatic transmission.
90k miles - Engine rebuilt at 75k miles
My chevy beretta 96 is having a strange hesitation and sputtering problem. It seems the most frequent occurrence can be called a chuggle - and it's usually in the 50ish mph range for me.
Caveat - I have 2 mechanics working on my car as I am visiting my father who is sick and in a recovery home and I live in another state. The back and forth is complicating the repair as each mechanic says something different.
It started a couple months ago as an intermittent and random sputter and would occasionally die.
Usually when I tried to accelerate slowly or if I let go of the pedal to coast or brake. Feathering (alternating between a little and a lot of gas) kept is going.
The engine light came on at some point and I had the codes read.
The engine light indicated a Torque converter control circuit error. We replaced this but the problem became more intermittent. The local mechanic cleaned and/or adjusted a sensor and it seemed better.
Then it got so bad I couldn't even keep the engine started. When it started It would sputter and rev but no power was transferred to the transmission (my speed would not increase) it sounded like the engine was knocking...but then died.) I had to feather excessively to get it somewhere for repair.
A mechanic where I was stuck found the TCC plug loose and adjusted some sensor and cleaned an oxygen sensor and it seemed to have improved significantly. I did not need to feather it but if I let the pedal go completely it would occasionally die.
I made it home. He told me to have a local mechanic change the fuel filter and repair the fuel line - as mine was rusty and changing the fuel filter would likely break the line.
I had my local mechanic change fuel line and fuel filter and things improved significantly. My engine light errors disappeared. I did not need to feather the gas.
Then the random hesitation and stall like condition started coming back, hesitating mostly, rarely dying.
While on an incline I couldn't start the car. If I put the car on a flat surface and gave the pedal a little nudge while starting it worked.
The mechanic where I was stuck swears it was the fuel pump. It seems that the one that was installed had two filter bags on them instead of the normal one which he claimed caused it to have a shorter life span. We replaced the fuel pump and things improved immediately and significantly (for 2 days.)
Ride was smooth, perfect, no hesitations, and the car turned over normally. There was a slight high and low revving of the engine when you started it that would smooth itself out or rarely die. (He told me about it and we turned the engine over multiple times.)
Giving it a tiny bit of fuel when first starting seemed to even it out immediately and then you could pull your foot off the pedal with no problems. He cleaned the idle control sensor and said if the problem persisted he would change the sensor at a future point.
Once more I made it home.
Then this morning my very first problem returned. I had trouble starting it despite giving it a little bit of gas. I was able to drive a few miles normally and figured it was a fluke. Then I got on the highway and it sputtered and died out. I turned it back on was able to drive a short distance and then it sputtered badly, hesitated, and transferred no power. I tried turning it over and all it did was hesitate and sputter as if it were mis-firing.
If I pumped the gas it would sort of catch and then take off again but it died shortly after. I let it sit for about a minute, started it, and drove giving it a bit of extra gas and most of the rest of my 15 minute drive was normal. It sputtered and died once, but I was able to start it and gave it some extra gas and it caught and I made it to work.
The engine light is on again and I will update this post with the new error codes.
Thanks for any help.
(This post was edited by nemesis on Oct 10, 2011, 11:46 AM)
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