(I'm posting this for Elaine, our newest member):
my car drives a short distance then traction control light comes on and she can get her gas .slows down then shouts off,wait awhile cools off strats again and repeats same steps
We are having technical problems! Ken has been trying to reply but can't get in, so I am posting his reply here:Originally Posted by Eric
don't know where the traction Control part fits in, Elaine, but your problem could simply be that either the breather tube to the gas tank is blocked or, alternatively that the breather hole in the gas filler cap is blocked. Try running the car with the filler cap removed, if it runs OK your problem is one of the two points above.
Ken.
I have some input on the traction control bit, don't ask me why it worked out like this.
Here we go. Before I took over one of the Midas shops in Virginia Beach the owner was running the show for a bit. They had a Toyota Solaris or something like that come in. It had a V-6 with a transverse engine and crazy Y-Pipe with small cats (pre cats) immediately next to the exhaust ports on the engine.
Anyhow, the car came in with a clog cat condition. The owner being the cheap ass he is decided to have the talented welder he had working there just cut out the front cat and have the vehicle rely on the second bank cat and the last cat.
Anyhow the guy came back a few times before I took over the shop complaining about the traction control being all jacked up and throwing codes like crazy.
By the time I took over the shop, the guy had been through the ringer a few times with the owner of the shop. Of course he ended up coming in when I was fresh there and I was at a loss. I was like dude.. "I have no idea why your lack of a primary catalytic converter on the first bank is throwing codes and knocking out the traction control." I was like screw it, I am going to bite the bullet and put the y-pipe double cat assembly on overhead and fix this guy's car right.
Ended up costing $1200, our cost (Dealer only part).
Fixed..
Don't ask me why!
Bottom Line
Check the catalytic converter/s (it's a long shot though!)
"Tutto nello Stato, niente al di fuori dello Stato, nulla contro lo Stato " -Mussolini
All within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state.
Well, you don't say what year the Cavalier is but I'll take a stab at it. Mom didn't drive her Cavalier much. When I checked the maintenance book, she had driven 300 miles in 14 months. I put three exhaust system on that car because they rusted from the inside. One hadn't rusted off lik,e the other two. However, it would often decide to not speed up and really lacked power. The tractio control would kick in because of the sensors showing differing speeds from what they should. This meant (to the computer) one wheel was spinning and the other was dragging due to lack of power. Personally, I'd hook a vacuum gauge on the engine and see what it does. I'll bet it starts out okay but vacuum pressure will slowly drop. I figure either the converter or muffler has rusted inside and partially collapsed.
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I got interested in this problem and Googled it a little. My take, based on what I learned from the search, is that anything that causes a misfire will set the traction control light. Fix the misfire first, and the t/c should reset itself.
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