Car looses power when going uphill

[Kiwwi]

Lately I have noticed my car loosing power when I am trying to go up a hill. The car hestitates intermittently and then the car surges as if fuel is being interrupted.

I noticed this problem before but lately it's gotten worse. For a while the engine light was on but the car is a 2000 Grand Prix, GT. I had the engine replaced once.

Any advice on what this could be would be appreciated. Otherwise, the car runs fine.

[tblake]

How long ago was the engine replaced? Did this problem start immediatly after the replacement?

How many miles are on your car?

Is the Check engine light on? You can take it to advance or autozone and have it scanned for pending trouble codes.

When was the last complete tune up done? (plugs, wires, air filter, fuel filter, PCV valve)

Otherwise your hesitation and surging problem sounds like a MAF issue. You can unplug that MAF sensor and start the car. After the idle stabilizes, drive it to see if the problem is any better. If so, the MAF is on its way out. Mine failed right around 85,000 miles.

Your uphill accelleration problem could also be caused by a plugged cat converter.

[Kiwwi]

The engine was replaced last year.
The service engine soon light came on, then went off again.

I think the car has about 137,000 miles on it.

What do you mean by MAF? What is that???

The strange thing with the car is that I noticed the tugging up the mountains last year but this year it's gotten worse and it was all of a sudden. I was driving and the car really chugged.

[tblake]

sounds like a MAF

MAF = Mass Air Flow

Its the square shaped sensor on your throttle body thats held in by two bolts. It has a plug with three wires going to it.

Go to this post....

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...light=Mass+Air

And scroll to Bob's #4 post. It shows a picture of the MAF.

Good Luck!

[Kiwwi]

Thank you.
I will have that checked out.

[tblake]

Defeantly give it a shot and let us know how it goes.

If if runs good with it unplugged, you are ok to drive it like that for a while while you order a new MAF. the SES light will come on. I drove with mine unplugged for a week while I was waiting for mine to be shipped.

If you MAF is the cause, let us know before you buy one because the dealer ship wants 350.00 for one and the cheapo knock off advance/autozone ones are JUNK right out of the box. We can help you get a good deal off the net.