Help me out fellows.. My 99 LT V6 just turned 120,000 miles; is all original under the hood. Nothing has ever been touched or changed, except air filter & pcv valve last week. I bought new plugs, but will have to have them installed, as my age (76) and physical will not let me do it.

Here is my problem.

Engine starts easily & idles fine; gets 17.1 mpg overall, according to the computer. When I back out of driveway all is fine. When I change to Drive and attempt to accelerate, it get speed up to 10 to 15 mph and then starts bogging down like it's not getting enough or getting too much fuel. It doesn't quit, just can't accelerate for 75 to 100 yards; then whatever is happening clears itself up, and it runs like new again. It only does this on start up, never happens is stop & go traffic. Once it clears itself up, it's fine until the next restart. Stopped for fuel this morning, and dammmed near got run over when I tried to pull into traffic lane.

I'm thinking maybe fuel filter, but its getting plenty fuel all the way to red line, so that doesn't make sense.

Help the OLD MAN save a dollar, as I only have a few.

 

does the problem seem to go away after the truck has run for awhile? its sounds like a bad fuel pressure regulator to me... but if you havent replaced the fuel filter ever it really wouldnt hurt haha.

 

Only acts up on start up and restarts; other than that, can be driven for hours in stop & go traffic, and highway speed without problem. The check engine light has never come on, except on/off at start up as it should. Doesn't sound like fuel filter, since it acts up on low volume fuel demand and not at high demand on the roadway. It will redline without missing a beat.

 

The fastest way to determine what is going on is with a scan tool capable of monitoring live data. See what is going on by monitoring the sensor data. I would venture a guess that one of the sensors is flaking out for some reason.

 

Who has such a scan? I can't afford a dealer hookup.

 

mudcat,
With 120k and never been touched, I would suspect several things need attention. Plugs & wires, cap & rotor, air filter, and probably the O2 sensors. If none of this has been done before now, I'd say you got your money's worth.
I hear what you are saying, about paying for a scan...$60 or more for a few minutes? Some of the parts "chain stores" (Advance, Auto Zone, O'rileys) would "scan for codes" but that doesn't give you "real-time" data, and many stores are no longer providing this service. That's why I recently bought one on E-bay...over $300, but it will pay for itself, by not having to buy parts that I don't need. My only regret, is not buying one sooner.

Regards, Greg

 

I would also like to add...In this economy, there are many home mechanics that are "hanging a shingle"...some are good, many are not. Ask your friends & neighbors who they recommend. Any "at home mechanic" worth his salt, will have a scan tool.
My 2 cents

 

outsydthbox your 300 dollar scanner reads live data . I'm looking at the interceptor thats in the matco tool catalog , Theres no price but I'm guessing between 2500 and 4000 . This is what we use at work and it is very user friendly , combined with alldata its perfect . It shows you how to fix or find out what needs to be fixed with out just throughing parts at it .

 

Yes, it reads live data. I got the "Actron cp 9190". (OBD I & OBD II) You can also save data & print it out (link to your PC), a companion disc & on-line support. This unit was about $450 thru Advance, & just over $300 E-bay. Only used it a few time, but has already saved me over $150. Still learning it's capabilities.

 

I had a some what problem like that, the Blazer would start fine, but sounded like it was missing, put it in drive and sure enough it was missing. So I got pizz off at it and floor it (The check engine light came on also), The miss stop and it ran fine, but the check engine light stay on. So I was thinking the cat needed to be replace as it had 104K on the orginal cat. I took it up to the shop up the street and ask them to replace the cat and of course they ask me why and I told them. They said lets pull the codes and see what they say before we do that. All they could fine was a 5 and 7 cyl miss fire and it was in the history as it was running fine now. So they suggested to have they clean the injectors by them. I said okay, lets see what fly's. The Blazer has run fine every since then and they reset the check engine light so it doesn't stay on.
Just some food for thought.