YACT: Car is acting funny.

[JohnCU]

1997 Chevrolet Lumina, 60K miles

First, I was having brake problems. The brakes would get extremely tight and would be very hard to push, but would still work (this thread).

Well, I thought that solved the problem, but the brakes still feel weird/doing the same thing as before, but not as bad. Also, other things:

1. the engine sometimes sounds like it's struggling or straining, like it is lacking power.

2. the gas pedal, when pressed all the way to the floor (passing someone or entering interstate) it'll stick a little and I'll have to hit it with my foot to get it to come back. It'll make a loud click noise when I do that. Like, I'll press it all the way down, it'll come back a little but still feel like it's stuck, then I'll pop it in quick and it'll pop out with that noise.

3. when the car is in park and idling, I can rev up the motor and as it is revving back down, I'll hear a click from behind the gauages/dashboard error. Like, a faint click. It's the same one I hear when I start up the car (like, you turn the car on and it cranks, but after a second you hear *click, click*).

I don't know if any of these are related, it just feels like the car is off, but no warning lights so far.

 

[prvteye2003]

I would think take it to a mechanic, but, that's just me.

 

[Tom]

do you eat unshelled peanuts while you are driving ?

 

[blahblah99]

#1 Tune it up. Cars aren't god's gift to mankind. They do need attention, like women.

#2 Sounds like the throttle cable is getting caught on something, or the throttle body is extremely dirty.

#3 Don't know.

 

[Jeff7181]

Dirt and air in the brake lines means either someone was fiddling with it and contaminated the brake fluid with the resevoir open... or a seal is going bad somewhere... or you have a leak... or they wanted your $55 in exchange for 20 minutes of work and $5 worth of brake fluid.

Get a real tuneup... don't go to Jiffy Lube and their their $60 482 point inspection. Take it to a dealership and have them take a look at it and find out what the problem is. With driveability problems on a 1997 car, the first thing they should do is drive it and try to reproduce the problem, or have YOU take them for a drive and tell them when you hear/experience the problem. If they can verify something isn't right, the 2nd thing they should do is hook it up to a scanner and see if there are any codes set. The 3rd thing they should do with a driveability problem if those don't lead to any solutions, is put the car on a scope and watch what's happening as the engine is running. If they don't do those in that order, I'd take it somewhere else.

*EDIT*... or you'll end up paying for spark plugs, plug wires, an oil change, and air filter, a fuel filter, a tranmission flush, a coolant flush, new oxygen sensors, etc etc... before they decide none of that was the problem. Shoot from the hip mechanics are the worst... not only do they take forever to fix the car, they cost you 3-4 times the money to fix it while they guess at what's wrong.

 

Go to Autozone and have them check for trouble codes.