We recently spent $500 to change the starter and fuel pump, they also did the spark plugs, tune up, etc. The issue is the car will not accelerate past 30 mmp/ wont’ go up hills faster than 10 mph. I have found that it sort of works to pump the gas while i’m driving along, but that can’t be good.
Does anyone have any ideas as to what it might be?
So was this problem there before this work too? I hate to be left guessing.
“spark plugs, tune up, etc.” - Unfortunately, the “etc.” is meaningless. You have to specify.
So - e.g., did a new fuel filter go on when the new fuel pump went in? Was the fuel pressure actually checked with a gauge after the new pump?
Did anyone check the compression? How many miles are on the engine?
Did anyone check for exhaust system restrictions?
Does the engine rev up a lot, but the car just won’t go? Or does the engine have trouble revving up at all? Missing/bucking/bogging? How does it run at idle? When you first start it up? Cold? Hot?
No, the problem was not there before the work done. It ran fine, but the engine missed a beat every once in a while. Then the car refused to start one day, and we were told it was the fuel pump. It sat dead for a few months, until we had the cash to fix it. I, unfortunately, am not the one who took it into the repair shop, my father in law did. He said, that they put a new fuel pump, a new starter, gave it a tune up, new spark plugs, and “everything else.” I wasn’t given a more info, and as a disinterested female (sorry, not my thing), I really didn’t ask.
The engine starts fine, it runs quiet. It’ll go fine until you hit that first stop sign/stop light, and then it takes a while to accelerate. I’ve found that pumping the gas while pretty much continuously helps keep it at an even acceleration rate, but going up hills, it’s like there’s no “get up and go”. Flooring the gas pedal up a hill gives the sound of a deep hum, but there’s not really any bucking or bumping. It doesn’t die out, but it doesn’t accelerate, either.
Any other information you can use, please let me know. I’ll get it as soon as possible. Thanks.
Someone needs to make sure that the fuel filter is new and needs to check the fuel pressure.
A check for restrictions in the exhaust is also in order. This is quickly & easily done with a vacuum gauge.
Given that it sat for a few months the entire intake tract should be checked for obstructions if it hasn’t been. One would guess that “everything else” would include a new air filter but that should be checked out.