Engine Acting Up

[Tom_SF]

1995 Skylark, 3.1 V6. 135,000 miles.

When I step on the gas and then let up on it, I get a chirping sound at the top of the engine. At freeway speeds, it makes a loud banging sound and loses power. I took it in and I was told it needed spark plugs and wires. A few days later, the same symptoms came up. It sounds like lifters to me. Could it be the oil pump? I also lose oil pressure to about 26 instead of around 40 according to the guage.

[Tom_SF]

Solved my own problem. Took it to Midas (charging $140/hr labor) and the problem turned out to be a fouled plug and a bad spark plug wire. So they changed all that but I was still getting the chirping noise from the valve lifters. I was advised to switch to full-synthetic oil and to use some engine treatment. After I did that (and added some transmission fluid which was a little low) and drove about 200 miles over the next month, the engine is smooth as silk with no noise at all. TYJ!

[Blue Bowtie]

Thanks for the update. It's tough to miss with full synthetic. It does a very good job of lubricating and a pretty fair job of cleaning varnish.

[Tom_SF]

One more thing I did was to replace the PCV valve. The one that was in there seemed OK but I started getting that hesitation again and replaced it. It hasn't happened since.