Poor acceleration - 1993 Grand Am 3.3

[tedzilla99]

Hello all

Just wanted to say that this forum has been a big help to me before.

The problem I'm having now is with acceleration at start up. When I first run the car, I press the accelerator, and it does nothing, or sputters, like it's not getting fuel, then after keeping the accelerator pressed, it eventually revs up. This happens until it runs for a while, then it's fine. I first thought the fuel line or injectors might be dirty; I've used some gas treatments, no luck so far. Once it runs for a while it's fine, so I'm kinda baffled.

[Ridenour]

There's a few things that I can think of that might be causing this, ted. It does sound fuel related. It sounds like your running rich / your engine is flooded. You could have a leaking fuel injector(s). If it is related to the injectors or to the fuel system, and professional injector / fuel system purge (80-ish $) should solve it. It could also be caused by a bad Intake Air Temperature sensor, or maybe even a bad Throttle Position Sensor.

[tedzilla99]

If it's the sensors, is that something that would clear up once it's been running for a while? Even when it's running properly, when I press the accelerator from a stop, it hesitates just slightly, like it doesn't get fuel immediately.

[Ridenour]

Not neccesarily. Actually, now that you say that, it could potentially be a bad fuel pressure regulator.