canucklehead

Hey all.

I thought I would post the issue that I am having.

I filled up the 02 express and added a health squirt of the fuel system cleaner that I use from time to time. Since that fill up, and yes, this could be just coincedince, my van has developed a stutter under full throttle acceleration. I did not notice at first since I don't floor the van that often, but I got mad one day and punched it. Here is what happens.

Once you floor it, it kicks down gear and revs up. You feel the full acceleration for a couple of seconds, then all of a sudden that feeling is gone. The engine is still revving, but not as hard, and the pull is gone.....almost as if the secondaries quit. Now since this van has the vortec, it does not have secondaries. It has the fuel meter body with the 8 injectors and tubes to those poppet valves. If there was a fuel issue it should show up more often. This is only when flooring it.
Sometimes when flooring it it will be good then cut in and out several times.....
I am thinking its a sensor issue like the throttle position sensor or something.
I have ruled out ignition, and the check engine light has not come on.
I will have to check it for codes anyway though....I will change the fuel filter too, but the one on there is only a few years old...

Have any of you had a similar issue?

Thanks.

DougE

Fuel filter would have been my first guess too. Usually shows up trying to pass on the highway or climbing a hill or bridge. Filters usually clog these days due to a bad load of gas rather than a slow buildup over a long time period. Hope that solves it. Could be the fuel pump is starting to crap out.

greenfire

Does a 2002 have traction control or stability control? Perhaps it isn't dealing with the hard acceleration properly?

canucklehead

No. Its def a fuel issue.

Making things worse, I was standing on it on the way home today after topping up with clean gas to further dilute what is in the tank, I heard a pop under the van. Turns out I blew out a cat. WTF? I have 2 cats on on each pipe, and the right one broke apart inside. Cost me 400 bucks for a new one. Jeezuz I'm mad now.
Will change the fuel filter this weekend once this rain stops.....gonna baby it till then.

canucklehead

Changed the fuel filter. Problem solved.

Wow was it ever plugged. I could barely blow air through it. How the van was running I don't know.

I blew air through the outlet, and the dirty fuel that came out the inlet sied that could not get through.....wow.

One tank of **** gas plus the fuel system cleaner I added equals a blown cat for 400 bucks and a 15 dollar filter.

greenfire

Glad its fixed, actually not a bad price on the cat.

DougE

You might as well pick up a spare filter. All the crud may not be out of the tank. I had a Sidekick that went through about 10 filters before it stopped clogging up (obviously a worse case scenario). Still cheaper than dropping and cleaning the tank.

canucklehead

My thoughts exactly. I was gonna burn through this tank and the next then change it again. Thanks.