'99 Cavalier won't start. Have to pump the gas pedal

Asked by Texas636 Oct 21, 2014 at 06:45 PM about the 1999 Chevrolet Cavalier Coupe FWD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

Hey guys, I inherited a problem with my girlfriend's car. She's had this car for a LONG time. Almost new when she got it. Has 147k miles on it. Runs fine, except when you go to start it. She took it to a "kinda" cousin of mine who's dad has his own auto shop. He is baffled. Had this problem for over a year now. After the motor is warm/hot, it seems to start right up. I'm thinking it's some sort of sensor like the crank sensor or something.

The odd thing about it is... that my cousin said he was baffled by it, because the car acts like it's carbureted when you give it gas to start it up. Usually takes about 5-8 seconds to get it started. After it warms up, it seems to start up fine.

His thought was that one O2 Sensor wasn't talking to the other O2 Sensor. He said they'd have to pull the motor out to access the sensors, so it was never replaced. My thought on that, is that O2 sensors aren't needed/calculated during the start up process.

Any similar issues? Any help?

3 Answers
144,795

T_S_T answered 10 years ago

Sound,s like,it could be crank sensor,and have you tried new plug,s and wire,s?

Mark helpful
144,795

T_S_T answered 10 years ago

And one more thing,you can replace o2,s without removing engine,in this car.

1 people found this helpful.
Mark helpful

Texas636 answered 10 years ago

I haven't taken a look at it yet, but I will. Him being a mechanic and all, said the motor would have to be pulled to get to one of the O2 Sensors. must be located up in the exhaust manifold I guess. I'll take a look and see if I can find the first one. I'm sure the second one is located near the catalytic convertor.

Mark helpful

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