Why does my car have trouble accelerating when it hasn't been driven in a few hours?

SCTRAVER

MEMBER
2003 SATURN L200
265,000 MILES

Lately my Saturn is very slow to accelerate when first starting it up. The
engine light will come on and flash at around 40 mph. I have to let up on
the accelerator and drive slowly for a couple of minutes, then the car feels
like it has warmed up, the light goes off and it drives fine. The car has been sluggish for a few months and gets poor fuel consumption. I had a mechanic do a back pressure test on it and he said the catalytic converter was fine. There is an exhaust smell but I don't know if that is just because the car uses a little oil. The Saturn handbook says that if the engine light flashes it is a misfire and emissions issue. My mechanic thinks I should have the transmission checked out. What are your thoughts?

3 Replies

SATURNTECH9

MECHANIC
30,869 POSTS

A transmission issue isnt going to cause a missifire in the engine. Do you ever have to let up on the gas for it to shift?Iam guessing its a automatic since you didnt say in the car info if it was. Also did you do the back pressure test when it was acting up and lacking power?Because a clogged cat can cause a missifire and lack of power.I replaced a lot of those cats for being clogged. Also you need to take it to a auto parts store like auto zone and have them scan your car for codes. Let me know the exact code numbers not code descriptions you have. Also I have seen problems with the coil cassettes and modules on those cars. You could even have some spark plug issues. Thats a lot of mileage on that car so I wouldnt rule anything out.

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Thursday, September 8th, 2011 AT 8:00 PM

SCTRAVER

MEMBER
2 POSTS

I didn't think it was a transmission problem either. The back pressure test was done when it was running fine. It usually only acts up during the first five minutes of driving and yes I have to let up on the gas to get it to shift. I will get the codes from
AutoZone and get back to you. Yes, the car has a lot of miles but
it is my baby and I love it. It rarely has anything wrong with it!

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Thursday, September 8th, 2011 AT 8:40 PM

SATURNTECH9

MECHANIC
30,869 POSTS

You have to check the back pressure when its acting up whenever you have to let up to make it shift I have found a clogged exhaust/cat on those cars that is the most common reason for that problem on that car. Keep me posted on what you find.

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Thursday, September 8th, 2011 AT 9:14 PM