94 olds cutlas supream loss of power ,hesitation
 

hello once again. My olds cutlass sup. 1994 ,3.1 motor with 145,000 miles had a new problem the other day. I went fishing and on the way back it would have trouble getting up to speed. If I pressed harder on the gas at any speed it would stumble bad. Felt like it was going to stall. I had to give it gas slowly to speed up. I was dropping off one of the people and when I pulled to the curb and looked back and there was a big cloud of smoke. I went home and by the time I drove 5 blocks there was no sign of any smoke. There is no leakage on the ground under the car. I started it today and I found a vacuum leak at the PVC. I repaired that and made sure the pcv is working .I'm at a loss as to what could cause this problem. This car has had a rough life before I got it and now I'm trying to keep it going best I can. I can't afford a different car at this time so if anyone has any ideas please let me know. Thanks
in advance for any help. gary r

What do you all think about using a fuel system cleaner ?

The stuff you pour in the tank will not solve many of the fuel injector problems. Clean the throttle body and iac. Tap on the maf and see if the engine stumbles or stalls. If so, it's bad.
How about the plugs and wires?
Start there.

Thank you carfixer for the quick reply. I need new plugs and wires , the old ones are not in the best shape. Just can't afford them at this point in time. I will do the body and do the maf test tomorrow. I will let you know how it goes. Thanks again, gary r

Hello. I did the throttle body cleaning and it helped. I also found a vac leak and fixed that. I still must have a vac leak that I haven't found yet. rev up and down when warming up. After it warms it stays steady. Also it idled better but still wants to quit running when I take my foot off the gas at a stop sign.. The stumbling is much better now. I will keep looking for the vac leak. Thanks for your time. gary r

Glad it's getting better!

Did you remove the throttle body? You want it to look like new.

yes I did, it was looking good when replaced. I'm confused as to where my maf sensor is located. I know where the iac is but was given 2 different locations for it so I'm not sure. I don't want to take things apart without knowing I'm in the right spot. Thanks for getting back to me on all these questions. gary r

meant to say 2 different locations for the maf sensor

When you took off the throttle body the snorkel going into it has the MAF in it. Can't miss it. All the air the engine needs goes through it.