My aveo bucks...

[brendan_m09]

Oh by the way we've had a huge amount of snow in the last few days, and the temperature has been pretty cold. I left the gas cap open by mistake, like didn't fully turn it I guess the other day. Another thing that might help you diagnose is I don't let my car warm up, well I try too for about 10 minutes but the temperature gauge never really goes up until I start my journey to school. Once it gets warmed up though for a bit it doesn't do it, but it did do it after I raced that civic - By the way, I blew the doors off. Don't ask me how, we were at one stop light on the bypass in Charlottetown, he got a little bit of a head start, stuck his hand out the window, flew by him and he could only catch up to my back bumper I just kept it into 4th, put it into 5th hit the 200 mark no problem and it wasn't a very long distance at all.

[DailyDriverMark]

When the roads get better, if you find its still got a mysterious lag or hickup between 2k and 3k rpm try this..

Remove the the intake hose before the throtottle body and move it aside. Use a clean rag or just your finger..touch the inner surface of the TB near the butterfly... If you get a dark residue of anykind...your TB needs a cleanining with some gumout, clean rags and an old toothbrush. Press the throttle body you might notice it's slow and even has a sticky spot in it's movement to WOT. Dont let your finger get caught in there.

I had my car running. Revved it up a bit and sprayed the gumout on the goo. The car never stalled and I didnt get a CEL. I scrubbed the parts clean with the tooth brush and until the rags no longer came out dirty. After that, the butterfly springed back to close nice and crisp and the hesitation hasn't been back in 20k miles.

[daug1502]

Redlining your car gives it a chance to burn out the gunk that can build up in the engine. Run some fuel system cleaner through it and do that throttle body check. Maybe an oil additive with the next change to help clean that up, then do the next change after that one early. Checking your plugs and wires wouldn't hurt either.

[brendan_m09]

Alright, thanks for your advice! Here I was thinking it was something really serious, had me scared for a second. I haven't had an oil change in over 10,000KM at least. Is that what's causing it maybe? And could someone pull up a diagram or something for the hose and throttle body, so I can print it out and go to the automotive shop at school?

I'm gonna red line it Friday night on my little road trip a few times make sure I'm okay to go the distance. Question though, would red lining wear down my timing belt any? I'm at about 104,000K need to change the belt, no problems as of yet but don't wanna risk it anymore then I should. There is a chance it was changed at 60,000K.

[daug1502]

Not sure on the timing belt, I recommend atleast an oil change before you do the redline, and make sure the car and oil are warmed up before attempting it. And I hope your smarter than this, but just in case, don't hold the redline, just run it out and shift. You can just about reach 55 in second gear so highway would be best for this. Hope it helps.

[petrified.rabbit]

i dont know about redlining fixing anything in this instance, but i drive my car near redline all the time, so i know you wont hurt anything. but if your timing belt needs done, or is past due, it would break at redline just as easily as idle, and still damage valves.

describe what your car is doing again. your conversation seems to not match the original problem, but a stutter on the highway between 2-3000 rpm seems like an egr or pcv problem. the pcv problem being the gunk in the throttle body. or the egr stuck open when it should have closed.

[daug1502]

Redline just heats it up to burn out carbon build ups. It's not perfect but it does help.

[brendan_m09]

Alright, I red lined it a bit (without the oil change) during a race tonight, it doesn't sputter at all and hasn't all day today even before the race. I think it's all clear now!

AS for the timing belt, would it give any warning signs?? I don't want it to just be working fine then snap and have it die.

[daug1502]

Nope no warnings. just goes.

[brendan_m09]

****, I'm almost at 106,000KM. Is there a way that I could check it myself? Is it possible to do this just by taking off the top cover of the engine??

Secondly, the bucking was caused by a failing o2 sensor. Last night it didn't stutter, I was bagging the **** out of it on the highway hit 200KM/H and the engine light started flashing. So my theory is the 2nd o2 sensor detected raw fuel going into the exhaust, which means the bucking was caused by a failed main o2 sensor. Correct me if I'm wrong.