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'94 Grand Prix question

When driving at highway speeds my '94 Grand Prix (3.1L) will "buck" and "shimmy" every so often. By manipulating the gas pedal in either direction- I can get it to stop.

If I put the cruise on it seems to happen much less. It seems to do it when the car approaches an incline. A quick tap on the gas correct the problem (temporarily).

The Service Eng Light has come on a few times. (Unfortunately this is a transition car (OBD1-OBD2) and I can't pull the codes)

Does this sound like a failing Throttle Position Sensor?

Reply to
Never On Sunday
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Reply to
Tim Long

Yeah, I know. I brought into the shop today because it was *much* worse on the ride home last night. Sputtering constantly, even at idle (which it wasn't doing yesterday morning-only on acceleration).

Figured I'd suck it up and pay to have the codes pulled. I will report back with what is was so others who follow will know...

I can tell you that the plugs, plug wires and pcv valve are less than

2 yrs old.

Reply to
Never On Sunday

Well, they just called and said it *looks* like it needs plugs and wires. Dammit- I never even looked at them! (based on the fact I had done them 2 summers ago I just ASSumed they wouldn't be bad again already.

The car does have other problem brewing, namely it is buring oil badly- which I knew. In retrospect- that fact alone should have made me *look* at the plugs. What a dumb ass.

Of course, until I drive home tonight, I can't say that they are completely right with their diagnosis.

Reply to
Anonymous

I had a problem once like that. The number one plug had a cracked porcelin. Would chug uphill and break up at 3,000 rpms. Never new it till I was venting some antifreeze and it splashed into the spark plug bay and lit up. I had in in a garage and they changed out both coil packs and gave me back the car sratching their heads. Hope this helps.

BTW- they were new plugs also.

Reply to
Craig Watts

Yup- they were right. Had a nice smooth ride home last night (w/ $159 less in my wallet.)

Reply to
Anonymous

Don't feel bad. I'm not a mechanic, but I'm usually not a total dumbass. So when the "GEN" light came on in my '97 Grand Am 3.1 the other night, I dropped it off for early-bird service with a note saying it needed the alternator belt replaced...after all, when the GEN light came on years ago in my '86 6000LE, it was a broken alt belt.

Only the Grand Am doesn't have an alternator belt. Worse, I had looked under the hood and thought I'd seen where the belt should have been. I'm used to seeing a lot more belts than this car has. Duh.

But it now has a new alternator, and I had the serpentine belt replaced, because I was right at least about that looking poorly.

Reply to
REP

I am going through the same problem with my 95 grand prix. I was wondering if you had a OBD1? My VECI label tells me that the OBD 1 will work on my car. I was wondering if anyone with my vehicle type has tried to use the OBD1 on their car? If you have please reply.

Reply to
deanas2076

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