Sputters out at high speeds and has baaaaad milage 04 vibe 1.8

[mike48]

My 04 Vibe with 92,000 miles ran great,then I noticed the gas was at 1/4 full and I went to fill up at a marathon gas stop.I filled up all the way.I got on the expressway and went about 35 miles,I was running at about 75 to 80 mph and I noticed that the car was starting to sputter out like it was out of gas,temp was normal,no warning lights came on.I pulled over let it sit for a minute or two and it started up,It started up but I had to baby it up to about 50 mph and then it ran ok,if I tried to go faster it would sputter out again.There was no check engine light on,or any warning lights.Now I have replaced the plugs,changed oil, and it is getting bad milage.I went out today and went about 45 miles and back and I used a little more than half the tank,normally it would use a fraction of that,and it started sputtering again.Also my tailpipe use to be clean metal,now it is black soot.Any advice would be appreciated.Again,no warning lights came on ,no check engine lights they work because when I start the car they all light up and go off normally.Thanks again ,,Mike

[Caretaker]

hmmm, sounds like a catalytic converter issue to me. Have you noticed oil consumption?? My '03 burns oil, and I can't wait for the cat to get clogged up with soot as a result . I would assume I will experience the same symptoms you are having. Sorry for your troubles. I hope it works out well in the end.

[northvibe]

kinda sounds like bad nasty gas. have you gone through that tank already?

[mike48]

I have gone thru 3 tanks of gas so far.It had puffed a shot of white smoke when it first started up figured it was valve seals so I changed oil hasnt puffed or used oil since.Also put in injector cleaner in gas,still no change.How would I test the cat to see if it was good or bad?Thanks

[northvibe]

I think you have to bring it to a exhaust shop (or a shop) and they can test to see if the cat is clogged.you could try cleaning your IAC and replacing the pcv valve too.. how many miles? you could look into the fuel filter as well, but its in the gas tank. I do recall a thread on here about that though.

[mike48]

I checked the PCV valve and cleaned it,I am waiting for the new one to come in on order.There is 92,000 on the odom.I removed the mass air flow sensor and cleaned it that helped a little .I will check the IAC.

[dgekiere]

+2 on catalytic converter. an easy way to check would be to put your hand behind the exhaust and have someone else rev the engine there should be a fair amount of flow. if there's not alot of flow then its pry pluged. good luck

[mike48]

I tried to find the IAC but cannot find it in the book.What does IAC stand for and where abouts is it located.Thanks again,,Mike

[dgekiere]

idle air control the iac would cause more of an idle problem not a performance problemi just had a problem with mine and it just wouldn't stay steady at idle. but mine was a wiring problem from a previous accident. my own fault for not replacing the conector.

[dgekiere]

here's another way to check the cat.. this way is a little bit noisy though. pull the o2 sensor out infront of the cat and drive it with the o2 sensor unplugged. this should allow enough flow to run better. you will have a check engine light after this. or if the cat is after the down pipe just unbolt the flange and drive it... either way it should run better if the cat is bad and pluggedis this a base model or a gt?

[mike48]

This is the base model.I had the wife hit the gas and I put my hand by the exaust pipe and it had good force coming out.The thing that puzzles me more is that as bad as it is running there is no cel light on?Cant figure that one out.Had mechanic do the plug in computer reader and eevrything came up "perfect" in the results.So we are going to take it out for a ride and hook the diagnostic comptuer up to it.Mike

[star_deceiver]

Is it getting enough gas at speed? Maybe your fuel pump is on it's way out or the filter is clogged!

[mike48]

According to the computer all is fine.I noticed one thing unusual and that is my tranny fluid is higher than it should be.It is about 1 and a 1/2 inches over the hot mark when checked after driving while it is running.

[joatmon]

I don't know if it's really all that probable, but if the problem happened suddenly after a fill up, then I'd suspect something associated with that fill up. Perhaps the fuel pick up screen is obstructed. No idea if that would throw a CEL.

[06pvibe]

http://www.discountconverter.com/And change out the O2 sensor at the same time.

[rated_w]

Happen when the engine is cold of warm??Migt be far fetched but maybe a bad ignition coil?