How can i get my car to stop bogging down when i press the gas pedal?

Question

Ok so here's the deal. I have an automatic 95 dodge avenger v6. Every once in a while, usually when it was hot, i would go to take off from a stop and my rpms would go way down, and the car would almost die like it was stalling out. after pumping the gas a little bit, it would finally go.... well now it is doing it all the time. i start it up and my idle is bouncing around 500 - 1000 rpms and the car is just chugging. i can floor the gas, the car revs up and goes about 20 mph. i drive it for 10 mins and it is smoking from the back of the engine and my tail pipe is very hot. i've checked all fluids, i do have a transmission leak, but the fluid is full. any help would be great.

Answer 1

There could be several problems here. If the car has a computer it may have a bad throttle position sensor. If no electronics a bad throttle pump in the carburetor will do that.

As to getting hot, sounds like a stopped up cat converter. (Plugged exhaust system.) Check the tail pipe and see if it has gotten bent shut.

All of your accounting seems to point to a mechanic to solve.

Answer 2

Is the car fuel injected or carbureted?  Is smoke coming out of the back of the engine or out of the tail pipe?  If it's coming out of the tail pipe, what color is it?  If it's black, your car is running rich and wasting a lot of gas.  If the smoke is white, you may have a blown head gasket which allows water to get into the cylinders.  If it's blue, you're leaking oil into the cylinders probably through a valve guide.  If the smoke is coming from the back of the engine, most likely it's a bad valve cover gasket.  Oil drips onto the exaust manifold and turns into smoke.

There are several possibilities for the chugging.  If you haven't already done so, check your fuel filter.  If it's dirty, change it.  It could be starving for fuel.  A bad vaccuum hose can cause the rpm's to go up and down.  It could also effect the performance of your engine.

Do you have a catalytic converter?  This could collapse inside and build up too much back pressure.  If your car is fuel injected, you'll have an onboard computer.  Before the cat converter, and sometimes after as well, there are oxygen sensors.  They tell the computer if the exaust is too rich or to lean.  The computer will make adjustments accordingly.  So if they're bad, they'll send the wrong information.  This could make your car run bad.

So do the easiest and cheapest things first.  Look for a broken or disconnected vaccuum hose and change the fuel filter.  A majority of the time, this will solve your problems.  While your at it, check the air filter too.  

I hope this helps you out some.  Good luck.

Answer 3

I would start with a tune up from a respectable shop;-)

Answer 4

it is ethier a fuel filter or a vacccum hose. hope this helps