civicdude

iTrader: (2)

I have a 2001 Chevrolet Prizm which is basically a toyota Corolla. While accelerating I hear a gurgling noise from the engine. I brought it in for service and the tech hooked the car up to the computer and it said the fuel injector was clogged. So I put in some chevron techron....because that is what the tech told me to do. Well that did nothing for my problem. Since then the gurgling has gotten worse. Any idea what causes it? Also the car has a slight hesitation accelerating when it is cold. I am not sure if this is a related problem.
thanks

Tragedy

iTrader: (10)

I would take the car and $500.00 to a auto-shop to have repairs started.

civicdude

iTrader: (2)

What kind of repairs?

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

If it really is fuel injector, get some fp60 from lubecontrol.com and if that still doesn't help, they have places to send your injectors to and they'll make them like new.

YUL

uh oh...last time I was in a car and heard gurgling noises and hesitation...the head gaskett blew.

Pray this isn't it.

civicdude

iTrader: (2)

how long would it take for the head gasket to blow? Its been doing it for a few weeks now.
Scott

Satin-EX

Do u mean gurgling like air trapped in water? May be your coolant is low?

YUL

Well..how many miles do you have on the car? Your car might be having two problems.

civicdude

iTrader: (2)

51k miles....I only hear the sound when I accelerate....It sounds like a gurgling sound but I dont think it is coming from the radiator....Maybe it is a pinging or a clacking sound...Cant really tell
Scott

cg95660

iTrader: (3)

Just price a new injector or try to get a new old one(but be careful) or just run a real good and strong injector cleaner. Just be careful that it is cat and o2 safe just for the fact you could mess them up running to strong a cleaner. I also believe that some shops will actually pull your injectors and run them through a cleaning machine.

Btw if your head gasket was blown you would have water in the oil or vice versa and the temp guage would go higher the longer you sit in traffic. If none of ths applies and the mechanic you took it to did not pivk this up you should be good with the injectors.

YUL

^^ yes that's correct. Sorry about the head gaskett thing. The car I was driving had like 250K miles on it so that would explain that.

In my opinion, injector cleaners don't work well at all. The effect is minimal and temporary. I'd go ahead and have them cleaned by a mechanic or simply replace them.

Don't forget to check the electrical system...that might explain the hesitation.

Jrfish007

iTrader: (3)

humm.... I would tend to think HG before injector

To check for an HG, open your raditor cap when the car is cooled down, turn the car on, see if any bubbles come up. You can also look in the resivor for bubbles when the car is warm and the cap is on. Check your oil for any think chunky looking stuff. These are only some symptoms of a blown HG. Depending on how it cracks it can simply leak coolant to the ground or in to the cylinder or a number of other things. The only way to know for sure is to do a compression check on the cylinders and pressure test on the coolant system.

A bad injector generally throughs an O2 code (because one of the cylinders is either running to lean or rich), so if there is no light on, I'm going to guess the fuel injectors are fine, probably dirty, but still functioning.

I think last person I heard with the gurrgling sound had a bad tranny, but not sure

civicdude

iTrader: (2)

Oh ya and the check engine light is on - but it goes on and off all the time...It has been on for the past 2 months now though......Damn car

Jrfish007

iTrader: (3)

Well, then I would point to the fuel injector... Fuel injectors can be flaky before they go out, so it is probably a rich/lean code. Take it to Autozone to read the code, I bet it's an O2 sensor rich or lean code, if you're lucky it might actually toss the fuel injector code, then you can tell exactly which injector it is. Other wise have them all sent out for cleaning and buy rebuilt ones (rebuilt one are pretty cheap, generally around $100-$200 after a core deposite and all that bs).

The other thing to do is to make sure all the connection are fit. I changed them on an older civic I had once, it was kept giving a code that an injector was out, finally I figured out that one the electrical connections was bouncing in and out every time I hit a bump, a little electric grease and tighter fitting and it was good to go.

civicdude

iTrader: (2)

Is it going to harm the car if I keep driving it this way though? I really cannot afford to do anything to the car right now?
thanks

cg95660

iTrader: (3)

^^its not good for it! Fix it before driving it too much more. If you can not afford to do to much then go to a junk yard you pull it and jack....ugghmmm I mean buy a bunch if injectors and switch em till it works lol.

YUL

Yea...avoid driving so you don't make it worse. Rent a car from Rent-a-Wreck for a week if you need it.

streetglower

iTrader: (13)

first things first is anytime you have a problem and you have a check engine light on, diagnosis that first as 95% of the time the problem you are having is related to why the light is on. After you diagnosis that, see if the problem went away.

If not, check to see if you have air in the cooling system. Thats all I can think of. But I think the problem has to do with the check engine light.

civicdude

iTrader: (2)

Hey thanks for your suggestions....I cant rent a car for a week...thats mad expensive.....I just bought a house and all my money goes to the renovations....
Thanks,

civicdude

iTrader: (2)

I brought my car to speedys today to get the fuel injectors cleaned out. The guy at Speedys said I need a Throttle body and that it is a big problem with the chevy Prizm / Corolla. He said there was a recall on the 99 and 2000, but not on the 2001. They looked it up. He told me to call chevy and see if this is true. I did it and there is no recall on the throttle body. Any idea how much a throttle body will cost to have fixed? I have a mechanic to bring the car too, I wouldnt use Speedy's.

streetglower

iTrader: (13)

did you explain why he thought the TB was bad? Sounds like he isnt a good tech. He tells you there was a recall on the 1999-2000 TB but not on the 2001, yet wants you to call chevy to see if its true? WTF.

Now is your check engine light still on? If so, GET THAT FIXED. You said it was before, and maybe thats why the mechanic said your TB needs to be replaced, but at the same time I am not too sure, one said fuel injectors, one said TB. Are these good shops you are going too?

Go get the code scanned and tell me the code and I will look it up for you at school.

TheSmuggler

iTrader: (11)

seafoam it and see what happens

civicdude

iTrader: (2)

The first guy knows what he is talking about and the second guy looked like he did too. He didnt have to say anything about the recall, he was trying to do me a favor. Said if it was covered he would fix it for free. He said it is a problem with the prizm and the corolla. He said the throttle body was filled with dirt and that was what was causing the car to ping and run like it has been running.
The check engine light was turned off but it went back on as soon as I started to accelerate.
How much would it cost to replace the TB on that car? My friend said it would be a big nightmare to do ourselves and to have a professional do the work.
thanks

streetglower

iTrader: (13)

Dont just assume the TB is the problem. If there is dirt in the TB, I dont see how that would cause the car to ping. you would have problems with accelerating, dirt would more then likely cause the throttle plates to stick. Remove the TB and open the plates and see if there is any carbon buildup or dirt. But I doubt thats the problem.

But again, I will say this 10 million times and I dont know how many times I have to say it untill someone understands it. If your check engine light is on, that is probably why you are having this problem. 9 times out of 10 a check engine light issue is the cause of other vehicle problems. A car has many inputs (sensors) and many outputs (acutators, solenoids, etc) and they all work together. Say for instance, the o2 sensor, it reads the oxygen content in the exhaust. And based on that reading, it sends a signal to the PCM and the PCM based on that signal, will either add fuel or reduce fuel. If your o2 sensor is messed up and reading extreme lean, it will tell the PCM that your car is running really lean and the PCM will dump fuel in the engine to compensate for the over lean condition that you really dont even have, even though your engine was originally running fine but you had a messed up sensor sending a false signal to the PCM, and now you are stuck with a very rich condition, black smoke pouring out the exhaust, crappy fuel mileage, etc... And your check engine light is on. Now that one little sensor that is messed up is causing all of these other problems. And this is why I tell you to check what code is popping up. I bet 99% this is why you are having the problems with the car.

Dont just assume a tech is always 100% sure on a diagnosis. If both of those techs were good, then why did both have 2 different reasons as to why the engine was running like it is? It doesnt sound like they are using commen sense when diagnosing. Or neither one really knows what the problem is and are just suggesting things. Techs arent always right. they do make mistakes. You even said it yourself, "he looked like he knew what he was talking about", that doesnt mean he is correct. this is how people are scammed by auto shops. they assume the tech is always right.

Now DO you want this issue fixed or not? Sorry if I am being harsh with you, but I am trying to get you to look at this issue from a different point of view. Start with the basics. Any manual will tell you, if your car doesnt start, or it stalls, or idles like crap or whatever, to first check if there are any codes set. And you have a code set, so start by getting that looked at. Take the car to autozone and come back with the code they give you. they will check the code for you for free. And we can go from there. And again, dont just replace the TB because the tech said too. What are you going to do if you spend a few hundred bucks on a new TB, and it doesnt fix the problem? You would be pissed. Same with the injectors, did you get them cleaned?

Please find out the code.

civicdude

iTrader: (2)

Yes I got the injectors cleaned, and the car is running smoother. I wont have any time this weekend to go to autozone because I will be working on my house, but I will go there early next week. Are you sure it is free?

streetglower

iTrader: (13)

yes autozone will check the code for free and give you the 5 digit code. It will be P**** (4 digit numbers). And based on that code, there is a diagnosis for it.