Buick Park Avenue hesitating/missing under hard acceleration
Asked by drsocal Apr 08, 2017 at 07:24 PM about the 2002 Buick Park Avenue FWD
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
I have a 2002 Buick Park Avenue with 140,000 miles on it. The car has always
run beautifully until a few days ago when it started hesitating and missing
under hard acceleration on a warm engine. Under light and normal
acceleration there's no problem at all. At first, this only happened for a split
second at take off from a standstill, but now it hesitates and cuts out all the
way up until the car reaches cruising speed before the problem disappears.
Some things to consider:
--This only happens when the engine is warm. It doesn't happen at all when
the engine is cold.
--Happens in all gears including park (if I'm sitting still and stab the pedal
hard).
--The Check Engine light is NOT on.
--The car was recently smog checked and passed (California emissions test),
so the catalytic converter is fine.
--Was just in Mexico with the car on a long trip, had to buy their gasoline,
figured that was the problem, but I've refueled with high-octane U.S. gasoline,
used additives, and the problem continues to get worse.
--Fuel economy is great at 30 MPG, passing on the highway is fine, idles
smoothly.
I'm thinking the problem could be plugs and wires, but I'm not entirely certain.
Any ideas would be appreciated.
9 Answers
Could be the thermostat also
Have Cat checked for partial blockage ,,, I've seen 3 GM's with no codes showing that had your problem, One guy even had his transmission rebuilt. At lower engine speeds a partial restriction probably will go unnoticed but when your pushing lots of exhaust out a partial blockage will choke an engine. Having your back pressure checked is the less costly of all repairs and could save you the most money
Thank you. This is certainly a possibility and I'll have it examined. The problem has gotten worse in the last 24 hours. It's now hesitating at all speeds when the accelerator is depressed, the fuel economy is getting worse, there's a rattling noise under the car when cold and the exhaust has a slight odor I've never smelled before. All signs look like they're pointing the the cat, as you've suggested.
I know this was supposed to 2 years ago but I'm having the exact same problem as you are I don't know if you fixed it but mine got so bad that I had to get it towed it wouldn't go over 30 miles an hour. After looking at some different things they came down that it was the Mac sensor the mass air flow sensor well he said you don't try to get a new one he said but he'll try cleaning it then it went he said no problem went up to 65 70 no check engine no hesitation and I had to get a toad so it was clearly the problem but I'm still having it and it's starting to get worse again. So I don't know if I should just get it I'm going to get a new Mac sensor since he cleaned it and it worked so well and it fix the problem so quickly and now it's starting to come back I'm just thinking it's a bad sensor and cleaning it just bought me a little time I'll let you know but if you could let me know anything you found out about your problem if you're still on the site thank you
It ended up definitely being the catalytic converter. I’m not sure how it happened so fast after going through an emission test, but it cost $850 to repair. It was a nightmare. Car is still running fine at this point.
jenni40288 answered 4 years ago
I have a 2002 Buick park avenue 3.8 with 117,000miles on it. and on Monday after getting fuel it decided to act up and hesitates upon acceleration especially when its warm doesn't want to get up over 30mph. I have checked the mass air flow sensor N as far as I could tell by using my multimeter it's in running condition.. I'm assuming it's the catalytic converter. does anyone know exactly how to remove it? will i have to cut it. it would help me alot.
I just got an email notification saying that you just you know sent this question out so but it says two years ago on the right-hand corner anyway in case it's recent yeah I did find a guy that said that he would cut it out and then just weld a pipe in there I don't know how to do it but if you go to some independent shops I'm sure somebody will do it just cut it out and weld a pipe on both you know pipe to connect both ends. I hope that helps
Oh now it says 5 minutes ago sorry about that I don't know I live in Fridley Minnesota I don't know if you're anywhere near that state or not but I have a name of a guy my email is (in case you want to discuss in detai): iamjeffcopeland@gmail.com good luck let's try to help each other
