I've got a 99 Blazer (57k miles) that has no power when taking off from a stop. The engine revs up but it just doesnt go anywhere. After about 5 seconds of reving up and slowing increasing in speed, there is a surge of power and everything is fine. It seems that if I slowly press on the gas it speeds up a little faster.

Above 35mph or so there are no power issues, WOT and it downshifts and takes off w/o any hesitation.

I just got back from the shop. They spent yesterday looking in to it but couldn't figure it out. They put a new fuel filter in, checked the cat, and plugged in the scan tool but there were no error codes. They said w/o an error code, it would just be guesswork.

Has anyone had this happen and what I might be able to try to get the power back?

 

{Soapbox}
This is why I do my own diagnosis. I dont give a crap how many ASE cert's are hanging on the shop wall, if the mech doent have some engineer in him all the computers in the world aint gonna help. And by engineer I mean UNDERSTAND how everything works and why.

Here's the problem: you are the owner driver. As long as you follow the book on maintenance and upkeep, you should be able to go to a good shop and the guys in there drive the car, see / hear / FEEL the performance and diagnose WHERE TO START LOOKING without a Fooking CHART!

There's too many mechs got their cred by taking tests. Just like 4 year degreed IT engineers. I supervised them, I was self taught. They drove me crazy!
{/rant}
Now... one of the problems with the modern owner.. newby to high maintenance vehicles ..is they dont correlate engine speed/ sound to tach to movement / power very well.

Not your fault, you had other things to deal with and you shouldnt HAVE to know all that.
But your description really doesnt give much to go on from my POV.
One thing to ask is does it hesitate going into 1st and reverse?

Otherwise, find another shop where they really know transmissions. Because if they really know transmissions, they will know if it's a problem with the engine.

 

The Blazer doesnt have any acceleration issues other than taking off from a stop. We havent tried accelerating in reverse to see how that goes.

I did disconnect the plug for the MAF sensor and that brought the power back. Blazer can squeak the tires a bit and then it just takes off. No hesitation or bogging what so ever.

Probably going to go pick up a MAF sensor tomorrow and get that installed this weekend.

Really hard being without a vehicle a day, then having to fix the problem myself, especially trying to take care of our infant twins. Just dont have the free time to dink around fixing myself when I took it in to the shop.

 

Get a can of MAF cleaner and follow directions on the can this sould work, for about six bucks! Minimal time and experience needed.

 

Jackpot!! Took the MAF out and cleaned it up.

For only having 57k miles, the bars in the MAF there were quite black. The power at take off is back to normal, no hesitation or bogging down.

Wouldn't the scan tool the shop that worked on this shown that the MAF wasn't functioning properly? Just seems odd that they spent a day on this with no luck and I spent 15 minutes and $7 for a can of MAF cleaner and it's back to normal.

 

Actually if whoever knew HOW to interpret what they read on the scan tool it would have told them. But the MAF wasnt functioning improperly and if you look at MAF codes and range of values, it has to be damn dirty to set a code.

However.. read my rant again look at my sig.. and realize most these guys are just working for a living.
You MIGHT want to go back and suggest that anyone coming in with acceleration/low rpm performance issues they clean the MAF automatically. It's not just a blazer or GM thing for that matter.