change page: < back next > home

Question I have a 1988 1.6 liter Twin Cam, 5-speed Chevy Nova (otherwise known as a Toyota Corolla). The vehicle ran beautifully until I took it into a local New Mexico Chevy Dealer for a 60,000 mile tune-up, and to have the timing belt replaced. Since they completed the work, the vehicle will idle smoothly when parked and run smoothly most of the time. However, when ascending and descending steep hills, the vehicle now will occasionally hesitate and surge; this has also happened a few times when running on cruise control. The sensation is actually like driving through stiff gusty winds. The problem has also occurred (less frequently) during general hard acceleration, and/or if I take my foot off of the accelerator. One different (possibly unrelated) problem I have had has involved cold morning starts. When trying to start the car on below freezing mornings the vehicle will immediately turn over, but the idle will be rough and raspy for about 5 seconds. After five seconds there is an audible click and then the idle comes right up. During the first minute after starting in the morning there will also be a whirring sound that I think is coming from the timing belt side of the engine. At this point (several weeks after the original work) I have not gotten any answers out of the dealer's technicians; all they have done to "correct" the problem was set my idle up higher. This has done nothing at all. If you have any suggestions for what may be causing the problem(s) I would appreciate any input. I am assuming the problems are related to the work done three weeks ago (since all problems started the day I picked up my car), but I'm also open to any suggestions at this point. Thank-you. SWY

Reply Thanks for writing. You should have the dealer inspect for a torn or loose air-flow boot between air-flow meter and throttle-body. An abrupt hesitation or surge may be caused by a loose sparkplug wire or a cracked sparkplug. Have the ignition timing and valve timing inspected as well as a flow test done on the new fuel filter. These are all areas that were dealt with during a 60,000 mile tune-up and are common causes of problems in this vehicle. One question: When did the cold start problem start? We would recommend initially repairing the problem that first occurred after the tune-up. Good luck with it. Angelo Silverado Auto Service