Before I took my car to the body shop, everything was fine.

When I get it back... very strange behavior.

I'm driving the car up the highway, running dangerously low on gas figuring that I can make it to the gas station about 20 miles up the road.

The whole entire ride, the car was running strange... kinda running a little rough, sort of like how it runs when its not warmed up yet. But then, when I was about 1 mile away from the gas station (read as: running on fumes at this point) the car started violently surging.... I was afraid I was gonna rip the tranny right outta the car it was surging so badly. So I put the clutch in and then it wouldn't idle. It would go from about 400rpm to about 1500rpm and surge back and forth. A few times, the rpms got low enough that it could not recover and stalled. Also, please keep in mind that it normally idles just fine.

I was hoping that getting more gas would cure the problem. How wrong was I? The it was way worse, and I had to turn around and go back home with the car violently surging the whole entire way.

I did a code scan (becuase the SES light was on the entire time) and it came up with code 44 and nothing else.

Anyone have any ideas what this problem may be???

 

SEE IF ANYTHING HAPPENS WHEN YOU TAP (LIGHTLY) ON YOUR MAF SENSOR. I HAD A VERY VIOLENT SURGING WHENEVER I WAS OVER 1/3 THROTTLE, AND IT WAS MY MAF. IF YOUR IDLE CHANGES, YOU MOST LIKELY WILL NEED A NEW MAF. FUMES, DUST, ETC. FROM THE BODYSHOP COULD BE WHAT CAUSED THE PROBLEM.

 

I would try spraying the MAF with Electrical Parts Cleaner before buying a new one.... I had the same erratic, violent surging problem and it was the knock sensor. They might have accidentally knocked the wire off while doing something.

Me, I had a bypass switch on mine because I read somewhere that on certain (un-named) year models, the knock sensor slowed the car down for a couple of seconds when it shifted to 2nd gear. I didn't notice any difference at the track with my car (and 100 octane unleaded racing gas). When I put the car back together this last time, I must have bumped the rocker switch and turned it off ( while using pump gas). It was driving me nuts until I figured out what I did.......

 

Very good idea fellas... I had several possibilities in mind, however, the MAF was not one of them. We'll see what happens.

 

Running the tank that low, you mostlikley sucked up something off the bottom of your tank, and probably clogged the fuel filter, which would explain your problems. Change the fuel filter, and check your fuel pressure.

 

A couple of things may be the culprit. If the front end was painted they (the paint shop) probably disassembled your air intake setup (filter housing). Check the MAF connections to be sure that they are tight and they aren't any leaks. Also check the MAF for physical damage.

It is also possible that the O2 sensor died. The fumes in a paint shop can be nasty. A code 44 is an oxygen sensor lean error. This can be caused by unmetered air past the MAF, bad O2 sensor, and as previously mentioned a fuel delivery problem.

RBob.

 

Let me tell you from experience. I put aftermarket white face gauges in my car from ebay and the friggin sucked. I ran out of gas so many times because they were so off. And when it started picking up fumes it would jump like 1000 rpm's. So I think that is what is causing it, you were getting alot of air and not enough fuel.

Also I had body work done on my car after it got keyed and backed into and hit at 45MPH's (Long Stories ) and it ran like pure crap. Come to find out all the dust in the shop completely clogged up my air filters and the shop ragged the crap out of my car. The hting that gave it away was the huge 50 foot patches inback of their shop that match exactly to my tires. That and the fact that my friend worked there. I got so mad it was unbelieveable. Not saying they did that to your car but it's a thought.

Sean