Hey all. My car is a 95 sunfire SE 5 speed and ive got a few problems that i could use some help on. ive tried the search but cant find quite what im looking for. im probably using it incorrectly haha. but anyway, before i got my car it sat for about 8 months not being ran. as of now i drive it most days and it is fine but it has a hesitation(really bad under 1500 rpm). im going to get injector cleaner and see what that does but i was wondering if you guys had any ideas. also, the car idles at about 1100-1200 rpm when up to temperature. ive looked at the throttle body and the plate that is supposed to touch the idle screw doesnt quite come down all the way to hit it. could this be the problem or is it something else? i apologize for this long post. money is tight for me so simple fixes are welcome! thank you.

What Engine? Im assuming you have a 2.2 since you said Sunfire SE and thats the most common engine in them.

I have a 97 SE that came with a 2.4 though..... but either way It's probably bad gas.

Thats somewhat normal for a car to do after its been sitting for awhile..... mine did the same thing when I started driving it again this spring...... but only for about a minute... it should get better right away..

Most likely someone didnt put stabil or anything in the gas when they parked it and the gas has started to go bad..... I would try putting fresh gas in the tank before anything else.

try changing the plugs. and wires if you have them



Im a Xbox 360 fanboy...and damn proud of it!!

Yes it is the 2.2 OHV. Sorry i didnt know the 2.4 came on the SE. The plugs are brand new. I have run a little over a tank through it since i started to drive it(500ish miles). I did run a bottle of STP injector cleaner through in the beginning. That didnt seem to do much. Now i have a bottle of Chevron Techron because ive heard good things about it. any other thoughts would be great! like the high idle..its bugging me a little..

well i dont have a j body. just here doing some research thinking about buying one. I thought 1100 was normal idle for these cars. seems maybe a little high, but i wouldnt think it should be any lower than 800ish. have you tried turning the idle screw to see what it does? i guess you probably dont have a check engine light on, because you probably would have mentioned it. putting sea foam in the gas tank is good for bad gas (like having water in it) it also cleans the fuel system. doesnt sound like bad gas though if youve had a tank through it already, should be out. i had what sounds like the same problem with my blazer, but i had a check engine light on. whenever i would hit the gas if would kinda bog down. i would push all the way down on the gas and it would sound like it was trying to rev up, but just wouldnt. it ended up being the mass air sensor. it was dirty. you could try getting a can of mass air sensor cleaner and clean it. make sure you use mass air sensor cleaner, anything else might damage it or make it worse. the mass air sensor gets dirty and doesnt sense the air coming in, so what happens is you have the throttle body wide open and a bunch of air going in, but its not putting any fuel in because it doesnt sense the air. thats what i figure is happening any way. feel free to correct me if im wrong anybody.
hope this helps

Thanks, any other ideas guys? I forgot to mention that there is a popping sound in the exhaust at idle. Is this from running to rich because the injectors are clogged or what?

usually when you get a popping or back firing its from being too rich. i think you have it backwards though. rich is too much fuel. lean is not enough fuel, like from plugged injectors. if you rev it up and you see black smoke come out of the exhaust, thats a good sign that youre too rich. there could be other causes though, for the black smoke, and the popping. like i said before though, i dont have one of these cars, so dont know much about them.

No there isnt any black smoke. Or if there is it is very little.Whats the best stuff to clean the injectors with? Or would it be best to take them off the car and have them cleaned?

Have you done basic service to the filters? High on my list is the air filter. A dirty air filter will cause some of the problems you describe as the engine gasps for air. What shape is the engine in? good compression? the plugs are all burning evenly or are a few different colors than others?

Just note, these 2.2's are subject to bad head gaskets / cracked cylinder heads. Just be aware of this and keep a close eye on operating temps and coolant level. Mine had four head cracks in just one cylinder!

Dave

Well the air filter looks good and clean to me..When i changed the plugs they all looked the same..white residue on them. Could it be the O2 sensor??