FUEL PROBLEMS WITH 2000 CHEVY IMPALA...?
I'm having problems with my wife's 2000 Chevy Impala. For a few weeks the car has been sputtering or idling weak, and the other day it finally broke down. The engine will turn over but it dies as soon as it cranks up. Acts like the car is out of gas. However, if I give the car gas while I'm trying to crank it and hold the gas down after it turns over, it will spit and sputter, but stay on for a second.
I left the car alone for a few hours and came back and it cranked right up and I drove it about a mile or two with no problems. It's been driven a couple times since then, and today it broke down again. I replaced the fuel filter on the car. It took me about an hour and a half. I cranked the car up and seemed to be running fine, but it may have just been because it sat for an hour and a half. On the way home, it stalled while I was driving down the road and would not crank back up.
So I've eliminated the filter as the problem, unfortunately. I also checked the air filter to see if I had a problem there and it was fine..
Wondering if there are any other possible solutions. I've read that when the fuel pump is going out, letting it sit for a few hours and cooling down will make it start working again for a while. That is one option. Or, I've also read the fuel pump regulator could be the culprit.
Plugs and wires were changed about 4 months ago..
No check engine light or anything. Car just acts like it's out of gas. (It's not lol) But it spits and sputters like it is unless I let it sit for an hour or two, and then it runs fine for a while, which is what lead me to believe it was a problem with fuel getting to the engine.
My father in law has the Car MD device and he plugged it up and it gave us 3 or 4 new possible problems.
The Error Code was P0303.
It said:
"Definition -- Cylinder 3 Misfire Detected"
"This fault code indicates the Misfire Monitor has detected that a misfire in Cylinder 3 was detected. The vehicle’s computer continuously checks for engine misfires and identifies the specific cylinder or cylinders in which the misfire occurred. The Misfire Monitor continuously checks for engine misfires. A misfire occurs when the air-fuel mixture in the cylinder does not ignite properly due to the absence or incorrect proportions of spark, air and fuel in the combustion chamber."
Possible Causes:
* Air leak in the intake manifold, or in the EGR or PCV system
* Base engine mechanical fault that affects only Cylinder 3
* Fuel component fault on Cylinder 3 (e.g., restricted fuel injector)
* Ignition system problem (coil, plug) that affects only Cylinder 3
However, this doesn't really feel like an electrical problem. That's why I feel like the fuel injector is the most likely answer to this problem out of these listed..
They include:
plugs and wires (which we've ruled out)
the ignition coil?
and the injectors.
The injectors are a decent possibility because I've noticed she hadn't kept her engine very clean before we were married. A lot of leaves and debris had gathered around the fuel rail and injectors. and a lot of it had been burnt up and turned almost to dirt. I took a shop vac to it and got as much as I could, not sure if any of it could have seeped into the injectors.
Maybe i should just try taking the injectors apart and spraying some carb cleaner down there first? Would that fix it?
I am by no means a mechanic. And I've found so many different possibilities to this problem, that I don't even know where to start. Any insight would be helpful.. Thanks guys..