Loss of power? 2009 2.4L

[abramsgunner]

Approaching 45,000 miles on my '09 2.4L automatic and have some strange symptoms in the last 3 months. Been totally problem free up until recently (if you don't count the busted radio knob).1st time, first cold morning of the year I went to start her up and she just turned over, kinda slow, like a low battery. Finally cranked and was fine after that. I wrote it off as a fluke, noting that I had washed her the day before and maybe some water had settled somewhere important or the dome light had drained the battery.2nd, a few weeks later, I was coming home from work, level ground, straight road, steady throttle at about 50mph (so was barely on the gas), when it seemed to lose power for just a second or two, like I took my foot off the gas. No CEL, no jerking or stuttering, and then she continued on. I thought maybe I imagined it.3rd, a few weeks later, I thought I felt it do it again, but for only a second, so I may have imagined it.4th, last night, coming home again, climbing a short hill on a slight curve, steady throttle, she seemed to lose power again, this time for 5 to 10 seconds... like the gas pedal was disconnected. No CEL, headlights did not dim, 2000 rpm or so, no stuttering or jerking, I thought I was going to just roll to a stop. Then as suddenly as it started, power returned, and I accelerated up the hill... no problems the remaining 10 miles home.No problems during the 25 miles to work this morning.Last night it caught me by surprise so I didn't collect as much info as I would like. Again it was about 50mph, steady throttle. Slight uphill, easy curve, power just went away like I had taken my foot of the pedal. I pumped the pedal a little and got nothing. Felt like I was coasting to a stop. The Tach seemed steady around 2000rpm, but I was paying more attention to where I might stop than what the engine was doing (or not doing). The car is too quiet to hear the engine with the radio on so my ear was no help. I started to pull over onto the shoulder when it came back to life and downshifted (I had the pedal about 1/3 depressed). Nothing like a misfire or anything. Again... only way to describe it was like I took my foot off the gas.Anyone seen anything like this?

[j42.snyder]

Haven't experienced any of this - but I suspect issues 2 through 4 aren't related to 1.Based on your description, I would be first tempted to check the connection going to your gas pedal under the dash. If it was modified for the recall, they would have disconnected it at the time, and maybe it's possible that it's not fully seated back together. Just a thought, trying to stay simple...Otherwise, I would maybe suspect moisture in your fuel - although typically this produces a misfire code on at least one cylinder. I'd also expect it to run rather roughly at the time - not what you're describing.Do you have a code reader, or are you just going by the fact that the CEL hasn't come on that there are no issues? Certain failures may have to happen twice consecutively to trip the light on, but may be stored as a "pending" code. These will often clear themselves if not repeated within a certain number of key cycles.Keep us posted...John

[abramsgunner]

Pedal connection... haven't done the recall, so it should still be as it was from the factory.Water in fuel, I thought about that, almost stopped for some Heat this morning but was running late.No code reader but will take it somewhere to get read if/when it does it again. I did disconnect and clean the battery terminals this morning, as there was some blue fuzz growing on the pos terminal.Ran great today (50 mile round trip + a few miles at lunch time). I'll report back when I know more.Thank you for your input!

[cq358]

Did you check your engine oil level?

[j42.snyder]

If the oil level was that critically low - there would be much more serious issues than temporarily losing power - I think it would be a rather permanent condition - along with the oil light coming on...I was re-reading the original post, and realized I've experienced a little of something similar to the initial experience - but only when decelerating. Any of you who have this engine/transmission combination are probably familiar with how much it slows down as soon as you let off the gas - they don't coast like many others I've driven. When going down a gradual hill, if I'm just "slightly" on the gas to keep it moving at a certain speed, occasionally it seems like it can't decide whether I'm on the gas or not - like there's a spot right at the beginning of the throttle travel (in the pedal assembly) that doesn't always respond. I've never noticed it at any other time. It's probably just a very small "dead spot" at the beginning of the travel - which may add to why it's always felt so jumpy off the line. It took me a while to finally be able to take off smoothly when I first got it - as well as maintain a steady speed. Now I drive something else, and they feel so unresponsive in comparison...Still let us know if anything happens again.John

[vibenvy]

Quote, originally posted by j42.snyder »I was re-reading the original post, and realized I've experienced a little of something similar to the initial experience - but only when decelerating. Any of you who have this engine/transmission combination are probably familiar with how much it slows down as soon as you let off the gas - they don't coast like many others I've driven. When going down a gradual hill, if I'm just "slightly" on the gas to keep it moving at a certain speed, occasionally it seems like it can't decide whether I'm on the gas or not - like there's a spot right at the beginning of the throttle travel (in the pedal assembly) that doesn't always respond. I've never noticed it at any other time. It's probably just a very small "dead spot" at the beginning of the travel - which may add to why it's always felt so jumpy off the line. It took me a while to finally be able to take off smoothly when I first got it - as well as maintain a steady speed. Now I drive something else, and they feel so unresponsive in comparison...I know exactly what you're referring to and I have experienced it in both our GTs. The accelerator pedal definitely takes some getting used to compared to other vehicles.

[ParknVibe]

The fuel injectors need cleaning. Or perhaps a clogged fuel filter, Or perhaps a weak fuel pump.

[Houston]

Quote, originally posted by j42.snyder »I was re-reading the original post, and realized I've experienced a little of something similar to the initial experience - but only when decelerating. Any of you who have this engine/transmission combination are probably familiar with how much it slows down as soon as you let off the gas - they don't coast like many others I've driven. When going down a gradual hill, if I'm just "slightly" on the gas to keep it moving at a certain speed, occasionally it seems like it can't decide whether I'm on the gas or not - like there's a spot right at the beginning of the throttle travel (in the pedal assembly) that doesn't always respond. I've never noticed it at any other time. It's probably just a very small "dead spot" at the beginning of the travel - which may add to why it's always felt so jumpy off the line. It took me a while to finally be able to take off smoothly when I first got it - as well as maintain a steady speed. Now I drive something else, and they feel so unresponsive in comparison...I know exactly what you're referring to and I have experienced it in both our GTs. The accelerator pedal definitely takes some getting used to compared to other vehicles.Quote, originally posted by J_TO_ENVY »I know exactly what you're referring to and I have experienced it in both our GTs. The accelerator pedal definitely takes some getting used to compared to other vehicles.I've noticed this from day one. Just seems to be the way it is with this car.

[vibenvy]

Quote, originally posted by Houston »I've noticed this from day one. Just seems to be the way it is with this car.Yeah. On the rare occasion that my dad drives one of our Vibes, he always complains about the accelerator pedals being too "touchy", but my mom and I are used to them and don't really have any issues accelerating smoothly anymore.

[Houston]

I was mainly referring to j42.snyder's mention of how quickly the Vibe slows down after taking the foot off the gas pedal, that it doesn't continue coasting like most cars do. Yeah, like you, I've gotten used to the touchiness of the pedal.

[vibenvy]

Quote, originally posted by Houston »I was mainly referring to j42.snyder's mention of how quickly the Vibe slows down after taking the foot off the gas pedal, that it doesn't continue coasting like most cars do.Yeah. I have noticed this on both our Vibes as well. Just one more quirk they have .