97 GA power loss

Hello to all,

Yes I am new to this forum and I need help. The problem is with my daughters 97 GA GT w/3.1. When its cold it runs fine for the first couple of minuets. After that it acts like its not getting any gas and has no power. It will run at any speed you want, it just takes forever to get up to speed. And you have to be gentle on the gas pedal to get it there. It doesn't show any error codes. I've had the fuel pump replaced, but of course that didn't help. I've had it to several shops around town and no one has a clue.

An other thing that it does is, when the the gas tank gets down to about 1/8 tank, before the warning lite comes on, it acts like its running out of gas when you pull a hill. I don't know if the two are related but.....

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Welcome to the forum. When was the last time you had the fuel filter changed? That would be my first guess.

Thanks for the reply. Sorry, I forgot to mention that changing the fuel filter was the first thing that was done.

"And you have to be gentle on the gas pedal to get it there."
What happens if your not gentle on the gas?

"And you have to be gentle on the gas pedal to get it there."
What happens if your not gentle on the gas?

If you're not gentle on the gas it doesn't do anything. Doesn't cough, miss out. and doesn't go. It just muttles along without gaining speed. If your gentle on the gas it will eventually gain enough speed to get thru the gears and get to speed. It does fine on flats, just don't try to pass or climb a hill.

Reminds me alot of the time my catalitic converter broke apart and plugged up the resinator pipe. Drive it for a while at night and look under the car to see if the cat is red, or pull the exhaust off and see if it fixes the problem. If it runs smooth just doesn't have the get up and go i'd say it sounds like a restriction of some sort (air or exhaust). Good luck, tell us what the problem was, it helps others figure out their problem.

sounds like a plugged converter to me also, or a fuel pressure regulator problem.

sounds like a plugged converter to me also, or a fuel pressure regulator problem.

good point, I missed that one, its easier to disconnect the exhaust and give that a try first, if that doesn't help the fuel pressure regulator is a relatively inexpensive fix. Incase you don't know what that is its the vacume operated pressure regulator on the left side of the fuel rail.

I've been at work for a couple of days, so it's taken me a while to get back here to check the post.

The exhaust has been checked, twice, by two local muffler shops. Both times it was said to be good. The fuel pressure regulator sounds like a possiblity. Would that make it miss like it's running out of gas when you pull a steep hill and it has only an 1/8 tank in it? That's the only time it does the missing thing.