Prizm - Chevrolet :: When Pulling Away From A Stop Hesitation For 2 - 5 Seconds Occasionally
Apr 22, 2012
I own a 2001 Chevrolet Prizm with ~150,000 miles. It has the three speed automatic transmission. It generally runs very well, but occasionally when pulling away from a stop it will hesitate for 2-5 seconds. I'll push the gas, but it will basically just creep forward slowly, as if I'd only taken my foot off the brake. If I keep my foot on the gas for a few seconds it will start to accelerate, although it seems to surge a little bit (although this could be because I probably end up pushing the gas harder than I normally would, hoping that it will go).
This problem was happening very intermittently, although its been happening more lately. Its been going on over the past year or so, but it would only happen maybe a few times a month. Over the past month, though its been happening more and more. Probably every other day for the past month. However, it doesn't happen at every stop. For example, if I leave for work (about a 15 min drive on city streets) it will usually make it through a few traffic lights before it happens. Then after 5-10 minutes driving I might pull up to a stoplight and it will hesitate pulling away. It might make it the rest of the way to work without incident, or it might do this at 1-2 more stoplights. On longer trips the car seems fine; it runs well on the highway and behaves normally otherwise.
Some maintenance history:-bought the car 5 years ago with 110k miles; it had just had a rebuilt engine installed-about 3 years ago I had the catalytic converter and O2 sensors replaced (got a check engine code)-about 2 years ago I had the in-tank fuel pump replaced-about 10 months ago I replaced the mass airflow sensor (the car was stalling on start-up and the check engine light was on - this fixed the stalling problem, but not the intermittent hesitation problem)-I have not had any transmission service done, but the car shifts smoothly. I checked the fluid and the levels seem fine and it doesn't smell burnt.
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The ABS light on my Chevy Prizm 98 comes on when I start the car and then turns off in a few seconds. The last few days the light does not go off the entire time the car is running. The light does not flash it just stays on. It's never done this before. Does this mean I have an issue with my brakes? I replaced the front brakes last year but I'm fearing/dreading rear brake replacement. I have no signs that they need to be replaced but am wondering if the ABS light is telling me I'm reaching the rear brake replacement day.
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I need to better qualify when it happens (it may be always, not certain) but when I first drive off in my car in the morning I find the initial 10s or so there is a delay before my power comes on stream.
So I am moving, but very slowly and the V8 doesn't seem to be pulling. There is a stop sign at the end of my street that is maybe 5 houses away, so there isn't a lot of time for acceleration, but its mostly momentum before I hit the stop sign, even if I had depressed the accelerator.
It doesn't jerk or anything when the power comes online but it is very strange to me that there is a delay. Is this normal or an indication of a problem or wear item somewhere?
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That's the best way I can describe part my latest problem. If I'm stopped at a light, a lot of the time it almost feels like it wants to stall when I first pull out. Then, it seems like it is shifting funny at certain speeds like the transmission can't decide what gear it wants to be in. Tends to do that about mid acceleration (don't have an rpm gauge to look at). At idle it seems to run fine. BTW, engine also runs rough with the ac on.
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I have a very weird thing going on with my car. It all started about 3 month ago. The car will not accelerate and it left me broke down on the side of the road. It will start but it will not move fwd. So i took it to a mechanic, he told me it was the ignition coils, so he replaced them with some used ones that he got from the car junk yard. It worked for a like 2 months. About a month ago its stared doing it again! So i thought that since the mechanic replaced the ignition coils last time with some used one, i out to try some new ones. so i went ahead and bought some new one and the spark plugs and replaced them, $100 later it still doing it.
Mind you that this time around, the car will take a bit to accelerate once i get enough speed the car will only go 70mph, then the car starts to feel like its going shut off but it doesn't. Also it feels like the car is being held back, and every now n again will have a little burst of energy. I also see the gas consumption its a bit faster, i guess since I'm pressing the gas pedal all the in but can not go more than 70mph.
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I'm very happy with the car. the last posting I made was about a pulley, the mechanic said is was a $26 bracket causing drag.
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i have done mechanic work most of my life and can't figure out whats happening with this car. it'll idle fine but when u give it fuel it's like it cuts out. have changed fuel pump,timing,and checked most sensors?! 2000 chevy prizm twin cam toyota motor same as corolla.
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I drive a '98 Chevrolet Prizm with 205K miles on it. It drives perfectly fine except in heavy rain/snow. In those cases, I've noticed that as soon as I drive through a big puddle (i.e., get the undercarriage wet, it seems), my car won't accelerate above 35 or 40 mph. If I attempt to push it faster, the engine (?) makes a terrible roaring sound, frankly like it's going to die on me. Interestingly, if I pull over, turn off the car, let it "dry out" for a couple of minutes, and then restart it, it drives fine once again (assuming, of course, that I don't hit anymore wet patches).
I first noticed this problem about 2 years ago during the winter when, on one occasion, it had just snowed heavily and I drove through a particularly sludgy patch on the highway. Since then, I've only had the problem recur a few times, typically during monsoon-like rains. However, more recently, I've noticed the problem wanting to occur even during medium-to-heavy rains. The car will start making growling noises in those wet conditions; however, if I keep pushing the car at highway speeds, eventually the sound goes away rather than crescendo-ing to the really scary roaring noise. I'm going to hazard a guess that by continuing to drive my car at highway speeds, even when it starts growling, it dries out whatever part is getting wet and thus getting "irritated".
In sum, it sounds like my car is becoming more sensitive to and/or more exposed to moisture.
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I have a 1999 Chevy Geo Prizm a.k.a. Toyota Corolla. I am new to car ownership and don't know much about maintenance yet.
Recently, the back right wheel has started making a soft "wumm wumm wumm" noise when the car is in motion. The faster I drive, the more the noise speeds up, so it seems like something is coming loose or out of alignment. I've driven over a fair number of potholes in the last couple of months, and while I don't remember any particularly gnarly ones, I imagine that's what has caused the problem.
Any guesses as to what might be going wrong, how dire it is, and what I should expect to hear from the mechanic when I take it in?
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the car has 180,000 and last month i noticed a slight hum during acceleration. the car also has a slight whine when the weather is cold. i checked the serpentine belt, and it's good. Could it be the power steering fluid? Is this normal or am I a knob?
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it's really a 1987 Nova, but the drop down menu didn't list that option. I have been working on trying to figure out the cause of this problem for a pretty long time. During the last several years it had been running deteriatingly worse until I did an ignition tune up and replaced the spark plugs, plug wires, and the distributor cap (and rotor). That restored operation back to just the original problem of random but often poor or inability to idle. I have spent a lot of time on the carburetor and think that isn't the cause of the trouble. I'm pretty shy about doing this post, but here goes.
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I have an APR stage 1+, HPPF, Carbonio intake. First thing EVERY morning my car will give a noticeable hesitation when pulling out of my driveway. After this 1 time event, the car rides perfectly. It happened every day. I was told this is gas pooling or some such issue.
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I have a 1999 Chevy Prizm that I'm trying to keep as long as possible since I'm now working very part-time hours. For the past week or two I put the ignition key in, and can't get it to immediately turn. I check to make sure the car's really in Park, push the key in further, pull it out just a hair...between each step I try to get the key to turn and start the car. After 4 or 5 tries it does turn and the car starts right up.
I've tried both my "regular" key and my spare, thinking maybe one was a little worn and not fitting quite right. I'm getting worried that the time will come when I won't be able to get the key to turn. Is this a problem with the lock part of my ignition, or is there some glitch that's telling the car it's not in Park even though it is?
I just had to spend a good chunk of my emergency money to get tires and brake work on this car so it could pass inspection, and when I told the man at the garage about the key problem he shrugged and made some vague comment about old cars having problems.
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I took my 2002 Chevy Prizm to a Firestone shop to have the tires rotated, battery and serpentine belt replaced, oil changed, and brakes adjusted. Yesterday, I noticed a chirping sound when I accelerate. Yesterday was also the first time since the maintenance work that I was driving without any music playing. So, it's possible that the chirping sound was happening before.
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I have a Chevy Prizm 1998 and I drive about 250 miles a week. Recently I started going through a quart of oil in 2 weeks. My engine sounds good. I am religious about changing my oil and filter every 3,000 miles and I check my oil every time I fill up my gas tank. There is no blue smoke and no oil spots on the garage. Could it possibly be a small leak that only occurs while I am driving or a am I dreaming?
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I am trying to diagnose a problem that a friend is having with their '92 Prizm (which is really a rebadged Corolla). It started when they went out to drive it one day and the battery was dead. So I checked it out, and it seemed like it had a dead cell. Bought a new battery and put it in, and everything seemed fine for a few weeks.
Then, the same thing happens. I take another look and notice that the positive battery terminal is very badly corroded. I replaced it with a new one and cleaned the negative terminal as well for good measure. I jump start the car, everything seems fine again for a few weeks.
This time, the car stalls out as they are leaving a parking lot. As in, they had driven somewhere with no problems, and then they started the engine again, and it died as they were moving at parking lot speed. So now I start thinking maybe it is the alternator or voltage regulator (I believe the regulator is inside the alternator on these, right?). I took the alternator to Autozone, and they tested it and said it was fine.
After that, I checked all the fusible links and fuses, all were fine. I checked the ground strap from the battery to chassis and engine to chassis, and they look fine as well. I have run out of obvious things to check.
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2001 Prizm/Corolla - CEL is off, no trouble codes, all other monitors are ready, but not the catalytic convertor. No repairs since a new battery mid December. The smog guy (California) says that he can let another monitor go but not the cat; it costs him too many points.
Is this a converter in the early stages of failure (150,000 miles; some oil consumption)? Or is there another possibility?
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