'02 Cavalier Z24 shudder on hard acceleration

Maintenance/Repairs
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1

Hi All,

I have an '02 Chevy Cavalier Z24, with about 107k miles on it. For the last 3 or 4 months, I’ve had an issue with accelerating hard, when the engine is warm/hot. Usually it occurs in the 4th or 5th gear. If I’m doing about 50mph in 5th, and push hard, the car seems to shudder a bit, and seem to lose power, then suddenly pick up. It’s not limited to 50mph, I can be doing 40, 50, 60, etc.



If the engine is still relatively cold (ie <10 mins after starting driving) I have no issues. If I accelerate gently (ie a slow depression of the accelerator), I appear to have no issues either. I’ve not had my CEL come.



Any ideas what might be going on?



Thanks,

~ Jon

2

Slipping, worn out clutch.

transman

3

That was one of the things I was thinking, except I’d not seen any other signs of clutch issues, such as trouble/issues gear shifting, or stiff clutch peddle.

4

Dirty fuel filter.
Failing fuel pump.
Old plugs & wires.

5

Issues gear shifting or stiff clutch pedals are symptoms of other types of clutch assembly problems. A simple worn out clutchplate manifests itself as exactly what you describe.

NOTE: a clutch job means that the entire kit needs doing, the clutchplate, the pressure plate assembly, and the release bearing (also called a throwout bearing). A shop would check the flywheel surface for problems also, and resurface it of necessary, but your symtoms aren’t serious enough to suggest that that will likely be necessary.

6

Add to cigroller’s list:

Dirty MAF sensor
Dirty fuelinjectors
Bad ignition coil(s)

Try pouring a bottle of Techron in the gas tank.

7

Techron is certainly a cheaper option than a clutch replacement… I’ll give this a shot, whilst finding out the costs for the clutch.

Thanks all for the feedback, and ideas. I’ll drop a note when it’s all fixed.

8

Put it in 4th gear and try and start like you normally would in 1st. It it stalls quickly it’s not the clutch, but if it doesn’t stall or takes a few seconds to stall it is. I went through this with my s10, it wasn’t that expensive to replace the whole clutch kit. I think I paid $760 including a tranny oil change with the GM synchromesh expensive stuff. Good luck.

9

Do the RPMs rise when it acts up?

10

No, just the same rate of increase inline with the speed, albeit jumpy when I have this issue, but nothing massive.