HELP! Going out of my mind!

First, let me apologize if this sounds like I don't know what I'm talking about. I really don't know much about cars and how they work, but I sure wish I did. I hope to learn a great deal from you all. :)

Here's my problem:

For a few months, my 98 Cavalier (2.2L, I believe) has been acting up. Sporadically, the car will "hesitate" / "chug" along when taking off from a stop or when the speed hovers at 30, 35, 40...around those speeds. It feels like fuel isn't getting to where it's supposed to, but the mechanic at the GM dealership my car is currently at says that's not it.

I took my car in on Monday and on Tuesday, they called me and said they could not duplicate the problems I told them about. (My check engine light also came on Sunday night.) They released the car back to me, no charge on Tuesday. I got it back and the same stuff was happening, but later that evening, after driving around pretty much non-stop for 45-60 minutes, the check engine light came on. I headed home (took 15-20 minutes) and when I was at the last intersection before home, when I went to accelerate, it wouldn't. I was flooring it and it was chug chug chugging. I put the car in reverse and it finally kicked in and I was able to back up into a gas station. I turned the car off and waited for a few minutes, turned it back on, and got it home. When the car wouldn't accelerate at the light, the car did not turn off - it just wouldn't go anywhere.

On Wednesday morning, I called the dealership back, told them to send a tow truck to pick the car up because I didn't feel safe or confident driving the car 15 miles to the shop. Yesterday afternoon, I was called and they told me again that the problems couldn't be duplicated, so I went over and drove the mechanic around and pointed out the chugging feeling when it happened a couple times. He had something plugged into somewhere beneath my steering column area. No error codes were registering when the car was doing it. I've had my car the entire 7 years and I know when my car is working correctly and when it's not.

The mechanic kept the car today and he went on a "long test drive" and still was unable to recreate either problem (the chugging and the check engine light coming on). This makes no sense to me. There WAS an error code that they found when they checked my computer's history in the car - something about a throttle. But, apparently, they've either explored that avenue and it's turned up nothing or they haven't. I don't know. I feel like I'm getting the runaround. My car has been in the shop every day this week and nothing can be found.

Does this sound like something you've heard about or experienced before? Does it sound like something simple, like a tune up, is needed? I can't remember the last time it had one, to be honest. I can't go and check my paperwork because that's all in the glovebox. Hopefully they call me tomorrow, but they're going to probably tell me again that they couldn't find anything.

I'm at my wit's end...can someone help? :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

Is there something I should ask them to check that they might not have? If they find nothing, I'm going to have to shop around for a private shop to take the car to because I'm tired of the HORRIBLE customer service from this dealership. :(

Thank you for reading!

I say Fuel Filter. Easy fix, pain in the ass problem, and no codes. Good Luck.

Thanks!

Even though I don't know much about cars, I mentioned to the mechanic to check the fuel filter and pump...and I guess he didn't. He kept relying on his lil computer diagnostic tool. I plan on taking the car in for a tune up tomorrow and if that fixes the problem, that dealership is going to hear about how SIMPLE and EASY it was to fix the problem.

Thanks for letting me know what you think it is. I will be sure to let you know how it turns out. :)

Thanks!

Even though I don't know much about cars, I mentioned to the mechanic to check the fuel filter and pump...and I guess he didn't. He kept relying on his lil computer diagnostic tool. I plan on taking the car in for a tune up tomorrow and if that fixes the problem, that dealership is going to hear about how SIMPLE and EASY it was to fix the problem.

Thanks for letting me know what you think it is. I will be sure to let you know how it turns out. :)
did you find out what it was going on with your car? my truck it doing almost the samething.

sounds to me like a cat converter plugged or o2 sensor reading base reading of 432mv as directed by pcm .