I have owned pontiacs forever. i just sold my 98 GA GT with a 4 cyl standard tranny and bought my 2002 Bonneville SLE. I went from a 2.4 to a 3.8 L. I just dont get the Pontiac Excitement feeling like i used too. Sounds cheesy but when i hit the gas on my GA i moved and i felt it. The Bonneville, not too bad but i am a little dissapointed. Its all factory. Is there something wrong?

Keep in mine your moving a 3800+ pound car. Stock they can move good. Is this the NA 3.8 or the SC 3.8? There are several things you can do to help increase power. Have you done a tune up on it? Things you can do is seafoam the engine, after that change oil, plugs, check wires, clean MAF sensor, check your air filter, replace if needed. Mods can be changing the thermostat to a 180, upgrade the PCM, install a new FWI or CAI to replace your stock air box.

i have the stock non Supercharged engine. HOw would you seafoam the engine? What would the thermostat do?

There'* several was to use Seafoam. You can add it to yoru gas to clean injectors and the fuel system. You can add to oil to clean the lube system and lower engine. You can suck it in to a vac line to do a top clean. This gets cylinders, intake, exhuast, ect. This one will make a LOT of smoke, so do it outdoors, or have the back end of the car sticking out of the garage door.

The thermostat just helps keep the engine a little cooler. The stock thermostat is 195* If your looking for performance it'* best to keep things a bit cooler.

great ideas. I'm not new to the mechanics of things. I'm a service tech but i am more into industrial things. I am going to try the sea foam and let you know.

Hey my 96 SE (No */C) has a mesh screen in front of the MAF sensor. My 5.0 mustangs all had them too. The silencer and the screen were the first things we ripped out after getting home from the dealer. I'm doing the silencer mods this weekend. Do you know if the mesh is ok to remove from the Bonneville? I see that its just a C ring holding it in.
Dean

It'* only held in with a C ring. Does it help any to remove it? That'* something we are talking about on another thread. It'* hard to say. Some say yes, some say no. Will it hurt anything? You should be ok unless your air filter falls off or has a big hole. The purpose of it is to strighten the air out so if flows evenly past the MAF sensor.

Well my two cents.. its going away. Never had an issue with the 5.0s and none of the aftermarket sensors available for those cars have one. Where is that thread? I'll be in there this weekend doing that airbox mad and looking for where the vacuum cleaner sound is coming from when the car is cold.

Are you running a supercharged engine? If so, that sound you hear when cold is normal. It'* kind of like a choke. Once the engine warms up it goes away.

nope no */C and it only does it a few times a week. I was thinking the EGR was stuck or something like that. sounds like its sucking air through a restriction.. like when you put your hand over the vacuum hose. Im going to check for intake and gasket leaks