Intermittently Loses All Power While Driving ['09 Pontiac Wave]

[Helios]

Hey all, I've got a 2009 Pontiac Wave, ~213k kms, manual transmission.

Here's the issue: While driving it will suddenly lose pretty much all acceleration power and start to slow down (it has enough to get it moving from a stop without stalling but just barely). When this happens it will idle EXTREMELY rough at about 1200rpm in neutral.

Now the strange part: To fix it I will pull over, turn the engine off, and wait two or three minutes. Once I turn the car back on it seems to run and drive perfectly fine (until the issue happens again).

The issue started out happening every ~50km of driving, but has now gotten to the point where I will no longer take it on the highway and just drive on small streets around town.

The codes currently on the car are the dreaded P2135 as well as P0599 (not worried about thermostat just didn't feel like replacing). The throttle body was just replaced back in August of 2018 (~8mo ago).

Any advice or troubleshooting tips would be appreciated. I'm getting a new car but would like to try and keep this guy operational for long enough to spend some time searching.

Thanks!

[Deano]

Hey all, I've got a 2009 Pontiac Wave, ~213k kms, manual transmission.

Here's the issue: While driving it will suddenly lose pretty much all acceleration power and start to slow down (it has enough to get it moving from a stop without stalling but just barely). When this happens it will idle EXTREMELY rough at about 1200rpm in neutral.

Now the strange part: To fix it I will pull over, turn the engine off, and wait two or three minutes. Once I turn the car back on it seems to run and drive perfectly fine (until the issue happens again).

The issue started out happening every ~50km of driving, but has now gotten to the point where I will no longer take it on the highway and just drive on small streets around town.

The codes currently on the car are the dreaded P2135 as well as P0599 (not worried about thermostat just didn't feel like replacing). The throttle body was just replaced back in August of 2018 (~8mo ago).

Any advice or troubleshooting tips would be appreciated. I'm getting a new car but would like to try and keep this guy operational for long enough to spend some time searching.

Thanks!

Hi all,

Sounds very similar to what happened to me when the coil pack failed. Is the coil pack original? Or has it been replaced at some point? I have had one coil pack on one 2009 Aveo fail at 5,000km. I had another coil pack on a different 2009 Aveo fail at about 120,000km. When it starts failing, the engine can barely develop enough power to move the car. So that's my guess. But i'd like to hear some other opinions.

Deano

[koushiro]

I also had the coil pack go out around 100k mi/160k km and it definitely killed the acceleration and made it idle extremely rough like you're saying. But two things stand out as being different here than for me. For one, that also gave me a misfire code. I replaced the spark plugs first and still had the issue, including misfire code. All went away when I replaced the coil pack. Secondly, it started abruptly and no amount of turning the car off and waiting fixed it for any amount of time. All problems stayed until I replaced the coil pack a day or two later. Not sure if those two things mean it's not the coil pack for you, but they stand out as being different to me.

[Helios]

Hey guys thanks for the suggestions about the coil pack. Not sure if it's ever been replaced on this vehicle as I'm not the original owner.

Not much of a gearhead myself so I'll do some research to see if a faulty coil pack can match the symptoms I'm experiencing. The strange part for me is how it's an intermittent issue. I'm not sure how to properly diagnose an issue that is solved by restarting the car and has no relevant codes.

[kimmar84]

Im having the exact same problem. can you tell me did you replace the coil pack and did it fix the issue??

[Helios]

Hey Kimmar, I've still got the vehicle but I haven't tried the coil pack replacement yet. I plan on trying it in the next week or two, I'll update once I do it.

If anyone knows the best way to acquire a decent coil pack let me know!

[Thomascat81]

Hey Kimmar, I've still got the vehicle but I haven't tried the coil pack replacement yet. I plan on trying it in the next week or two, I'll update once I do it.

If anyone knows the best way to acquire a decent coil pack let me know!

I had Advance Auto Parts order mine. It was about 100 bucks for the AC Delco one. There’s a generic one for around 60 but I don’t trust it.


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[PoisonIvy]

Go with Rockauto.com. There should be a discount code on this site. Very easy to change yourself.


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[PalouseAveo]

The coil pack is very easy to replace. It may be difficult if some of the boots are stuck on the plugs though.

I have a 2009 Aveo that I purchased new. Shortly after purchasing the car new (1-3 months), it had a similar problem to yours. The car would lose all power and shut down while driving. I would have to coast to the shoulder, wait a few minutes, then it would work fine. It happened a handful of times, then didn't happen again for years.

Last winter, I was driving slowly on a gravel road and lost almost all power, when I pulled the vehicle to the side of the road it was idling extremely hard and the car was shaking. The check engine light also came on. After shutting the engine off, waiting a few minutes, and restarting - the car worked fine. I had the code scanned and it indicated a Throttle Position Sensor problem. However, after a day or so the error cleared itself and I haven't had the problem since.

Not sure if any of this helps you, but at least you aren't the only one this has happened to.

[Helios]

Thanks for the reply Palouse, that's pretty much how it happened except it got worse and worse instead of going away. Probably doesn't help I bought mine 10 years after production with 200km on it!

I figured I'd update the thread in case anyone else out there has the same issue. I got a coil pack and new spark plugs today. Once I get those in and do some test driving I'll update the thread.