Hey guys, I just bought an 03 SE with the 2.4L and on the way home from picking it up I ran into an issue. While riding on the freeway, going from a 55 to a 70mph zone, I started to accelerate, watched the rpm's come up to about 3.5k, then felt a heavy studder, and then the check engine light came on. It still drove fine, but didnt even want to think about touching higher rpm's. I pulled over to check things out, and everything seemed ok.

I called a mechanic friend on the other side of the country from me, and he said this car is notorious for the sensors going bad. the previous owner stated this: "new cam shaft and crank shaft sensors. Before I replaced the cam shaft and crank shaft sensors it had an intermittent hesitation issue, that I believe is now resolved. Also the car had it's transmission replaced with around 80,000 miles." My mechanic friend said that if its not those two sensors, it's likely the computer.

Before I went ahead and started throwing parts at this thing, and call out the previous owner, I wanted some second/third/fourth opinions. If this is an easy fix, then i'll just deal with it and avoid any drama with calling out the previous owner on selling me a bunk car.

oh, and how bad is the trunk area going to rattle with a massive stereo in the trunk?

thanks for any help, much appreciated.

 

alright, so last night i was giving my car its first bath, and just going over everything. I noticed the air intake hose wasnt screwed in tight, so i tightened it up and started it. the check engine light turned off, but im not sure if it turned off just then or maybe on the way down to my work garage.

on my way home, i took it up on the highway and ran it decently hard, just over 3.5k rpm's, and had no problems. then today, on my way home from getting it registered, i did the same but brought it up to 4.5k, and then it studdered again, and the check engine light came back on.

does anyone know if this sounds like the computer at fault?

 

alright so another update. this weekend i went down to a junkyard and got a computer to swap in. i got it swapped in, and everything seemed good. i took it up on the highway, let a rip bringing it up to 4.5k rpm's through first and second gears, and no problems. i went back to my garage to close things up and put tools away. after leaving there, i got on the highway again, i was accelerating normal, decided to try it out again, so i pushed the gas down a little further. it downshifted, started to accelerate then i got the studder and check engine light again.

i did some searching, and it seems like people had problems with the timing, or the plugs/wires/cap/rotor. anyone have any advice before i start throwing more money into it?

 

I would do the code reader to see, if I can get the best guess of it. The cam shaft position sensor on my '98 is very easy to get to and replace out.

 

I did take the car to a friend and had him pull the code. it was an intermittent cam shaft position sensor. the thing is the sensor is new. the entire wiring harness under the hood is new.

would something like a bad fuel or air filter, or plugs and wires cause something like this? i took a little road trip this last weekend, and it seemed to only act up when i would be trying to accelerate, as in when i'm telling it to start sucking more air or fuel. the previous owner i dont think was very good at maintaining a vehicle. this poor car, an 03, had never had any wax on it. i had to clay-bar the paint to get it to come back to half way decent.

 

If the code reader doesn't you give anything which it could when the engine light come on. I would do the preventive maintenance, then check the gas pressure being delivered to injectors. You can find this procedure from inexpensive repair manual at many auto part stores. My Pontiac Grandprix had a similar problem as you described a while ago and it happened only when I was on highway accelerating. I first thought, it was fuel filter or pump, then I plugged in my code reader. It told me Mass air flow sensor. Mass air flow sensor was cheaper and easier to replace than the fuel pump, I got a new sensor, put it in and it fixed the problem. It is hard to nail down a car problem from what we feel now the day that gas/air and electrical systems are controlled by smart chip.

 

Can anyone direct me to the maf sensor, I can not find it on the 2.4L DOHC engine. I think that is my issue. How can you tell a coil is bad?

 

If the code came up intermitant cam sensor try the cam magnet. That fixed mine

 

Not sure what the difference is between an 02 and 03 2.4 DOHC, but my 02 does not have a MAF.

It uses a MAP (Manifold Air Pressure) sensor. I have never messed with it but usually MAP sensors are on the back side of the intake. Might take some electronics cleaner to it to see if that helps at all.

 

had this pop up in my e-mail a few times and just now getting around to posting up. after a year and a half of messing with it me and my mechanic finally got things working well. we killed ourselves trying to make it run right, replacing everything that might have anything at all to do with the codes we were getting.

when the code first came up for me, i had replaced the cam position sensor with a part from o'reiliy's (sp?) which is a franchise parts store. i eventually got sick of seeing the same code, broke down and bought the sensor from the dealer, popped it in, and ta-da the engine runs like brand new. all that BS over a sensor that was garbage from the parts store.

so onto another story, now my cruise control doesnt work. I'll push the button to activate the cruise, the green light flashes on, and immediately turns back off. no cruise control sucks when hitting the highway to head out of town. havent had a chance to pull any codes yet, but does anyone have any suggestion to what i should be looking for?