Camaro surging/lurching, help needed
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Joined: Mar 2011
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From: Maryland
Camaro surging/lurching, help needed Hello all, an issue has started with my car recently. It is an '02 SS A4 with 30k miles, just a bolt-on and tune car.
Basically I have found the car is having intermittent surging and lurching on start ups, only when put in gear and when I give it a little bit of throttle to initially get moving. Surges or lurches for a few seconds, then goes away and it does not skip a beat for the rest of the drive. It also does not do this every single time I start the car, usually only when it's started after the car has been driven for a bit.
Car runs and shifts 100% other than this. Any guesses at all on where I could start looking for the issue? My first guess would be to change the plugs/wires, the car is old and all but it has such low miles I find it hard to believe they are bad. Looking for any other suggestions or opinions.
Thanks for any help.
Basically I have found the car is having intermittent surging and lurching on start ups, only when put in gear and when I give it a little bit of throttle to initially get moving. Surges or lurches for a few seconds, then goes away and it does not skip a beat for the rest of the drive. It also does not do this every single time I start the car, usually only when it's started after the car has been driven for a bit.
Car runs and shifts 100% other than this. Any guesses at all on where I could start looking for the issue? My first guess would be to change the plugs/wires, the car is old and all but it has such low miles I find it hard to believe they are bad. Looking for any other suggestions or opinions.
Thanks for any help.
Joined: Nov 2001
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From: Schiller Park, ILL Member: #317
I doubt anything is wrong with the plugs and wires based on the condition and description thus far. I would start by looking at LTFTs (long term fuel trims) and O2 sensor data, especially when the condition is occuring. You can also try cleaning the MAF, especially if a K&N filter has ever been used (K&N oil tends to gum up the wires over time), as this is easy and free and often solves irritating driveability issues.
My feeling is that this issue is related to fuel delivery or A/F metering rather than spark, but I'd want to look at some scanner data and check for any pending codes prior to changing any parts.
My feeling is that this issue is related to fuel delivery or A/F metering rather than spark, but I'd want to look at some scanner data and check for any pending codes prior to changing any parts.
It could also be the MAF or other emission system that comes on/offline with the car being up to temperature and plays its part when the engine is under load.
Thread Starter
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Joined: Mar 2011
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From: Maryland
Thanks for the advice guys, first thing I plan to do is clean the MAF. I drove it today and had some surging at idle after cranking and it cut out under some acceleration merging onto the highway, this makes me thinks it's something fuel related.
I'll see what my buddy and I can find with his scanner but it may be hard to trace because it's a random occuring condition. If it ends up being too involved I'll be towing it up to the guy who tuned it.
I'll see what my buddy and I can find with his scanner but it may be hard to trace because it's a random occuring condition. If it ends up being too involved I'll be towing it up to the guy who tuned it.
Thread Starter
TECH Fanatic
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 1,313
Likes: 10
From: Maryland
Update
Car's been sitting in the garage lately but I changed the plugs and wires this past weekend, took it out and it runs better but it didn't solve my problem. Hooked it up to a scanner and couldn't get the condition to occur so I got nothing from that.
However, today I saw the tach surging when it was in gear and it does seem to be idling a tad lower than usual. Also, I can hear some stumbling and felt some slight jerking pulling in the garage just letting it roll in gear with no throttle. Any more ideas? Other than these issues it ran beautifully as always. Probably should have been the first thing I did but I'm going to try and clean the MAF next.
Thanks for any more help guys
Car's been sitting in the garage lately but I changed the plugs and wires this past weekend, took it out and it runs better but it didn't solve my problem. Hooked it up to a scanner and couldn't get the condition to occur so I got nothing from that.
However, today I saw the tach surging when it was in gear and it does seem to be idling a tad lower than usual. Also, I can hear some stumbling and felt some slight jerking pulling in the garage just letting it roll in gear with no throttle. Any more ideas? Other than these issues it ran beautifully as always. Probably should have been the first thing I did but I'm going to try and clean the MAF next.
Thanks for any more help guys
