Thread: Diagnose my problem please

Originally Posted by GeosGP

My first question is how many miles on the car?

I'm wondering if the Intake Air Temp (IAT) sensor is going bad. Could be getting heat-soaked, then when you throttle it the air starts rushing in, cools the sensor, and your timing gets restored. It definitely sounds like your timing is pulled and then you get it back.

The car has 119k on it.

Is this a problem I can fix on my own? I do not want to take apart the engine or anything, so I'm hoping that by intake, you mean it is located close to the air intake, correct?

Warbeaver: I had my catalytic converter replaced 3 years ago, and they replaced the fuel filter at that time. I have occassionaly put in fuel injector cleaner in my gas tank from time to time, but that doesn't seem to help at all.

Originally Posted by GeosGP

Yes, the IAT is located on the intake tube between the airbox and throttlebody. Or it may be part of the MAF assembly.

I know that BlueGTP91 mentioned it might be your converter checking out... how is your trans fluid doing? Is it red? Does it smells burnt?

I haven't checked the tranny fluid, but I don't foresee that being the culprit. I had the tranny fluid flushed about a year ago or so. I don't think this is a transmission problem at all. It's not like it just suddenly grabs, it's just like it gets a sudden boost of acceleration, almost like more air is being thrown into the engine, so I think the IAT solution makes more sense than the Torque converter.

One more thing I should mention.... Normally it happens from a stop, ie 0-35, and the boost will kick in at about 20 mph or so. But, it also does happen when I'm already going about 40, and then I floor it. The car will be slow to accelerate for a couple seconds, until it finally decides to actually accelerate to WOT.... And since, like I said, this only happens when it is relatively warm out, it does kind of make sense about the air intake thing. If it was a torque converter problem, I would assume that it would happen all the time, not just when it is hot outside.