YACT: What could it be if my car chugs hard going uphill?

[stonecold3169]

Alright, to start off lets say I'm not anywhere near what I would consider to be car literate.

So it started out that one day going up a steep hill my car started to vibrate and make a chugging sound, sorta like it was loosing power, and maybe ready to stall (I have a '95 olds cutlass supreme 3.4L). After I got up the hill, all was fine... this used to be a sporatic event, now it occurs much more often. The problem seems to almost 99% of the time only occur going uphill, but has once occured on fairly level ground.

When it does this, the tach stays constant, at a tad over 2k, and it's geared such that it usually doesn't shift going uphill anyways. What could this be? I live in upstate NY, and we just recently had our spring thaw, would water in my gas lead to this? I'm not sure what shape my tank is, but maybe the angle it's at is great enough that going uphill causes it to pull more in? Or would my fuel filter be bad?

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

 

[CraigRT]

What if you put the pedal down and see if it kicks into a lower gear... does it not chug then?

 

[stonecold3169]

Originally posted by: Yield
What if you put the pedal down and see if it kicks into a lower gear... does it not chug then?

Well, when I apply more gas the chugging picks up, a whole lot, so I didn't want to just floor it... but, if I take my foot off the gas completely it stops after just a few seconds, before it downshifts even... any ideas?

 

[notfred]

describe "chugging".

 

[stonecold3169]

Originally posted by: notfred
describe "chugging".

it's like a surging of power... as in, it goes from the nice purr I'm used to to a nasty, cutting in and out, and sounding like it's revving differently... but the tach stays 100% constant

 

Ignition miss.

 

[stonecold3169]

Originally posted by: Roger
Ignition miss.

Alright, as I've said, I'm not car guy... but I would believe that would mean either I have a downed cylinder, or a low compression, right?

Now, if that were the case, wouldn't I be noticing a general lose of power in standard driving conditions, not just uphill? Would my plugs be more likely to be an issue here? See, I'd just check the plugs myself, but this car is a major b!itch for pulling them out of

 

Alright, as I've said, I'm not car guy... but I would believe that would mean either I have a downed cylinder, or a low compression, right?

No, it means there is a fault in your ignition system.

Now, if that were the case, wouldn't I be noticing a general lose of power in standard driving conditions, not just uphill? Would my plugs be more likely to be an issue here? See, I'd just check the plugs myself, but this car is a major b!itch for pulling them out of

When heavy loads are placed on the engine, cylinder pressures rise dramatically, this causes increased resistance between the spark plug gap(s), this will cause a miss-fire if the plugs are old and worn, the wires are tired and leaking or you have a faulty coil pack, do a tune up first.

 

Ignition miss sounds about right.

Get a tune up first thing, that may clear up much of your headache.