Hello all. I've looked around the forums and online to try to find the issue that my car is having. I'm not quite sure if what I found is correct so I'm posting to try to explain my issue. The issue started about 3 weeks ago while I was driving. It only seemed to happen a couple of times and it didn't happen too badly.
TO start off, I have a 1997 grand prix. 3.8 V6 no super charger.
when I start my car and let it run, it idles just fine, no issues there. then when I start to drive is when it starts acting up. I can drive from 1 - 35ish and the problem still doesn't occur, its when I hit about 40 - 60mph that the issues arise. I can be driving without issue for a while, going anywhere from 40 - 60 just fine (usually with cruise control) and then when I hit a hill and the RPM's want to shoot up slightly to correct for the loss of speed the engine starts chugging, the whole car vibrates, and I have to hit the break peddle, then when I punch the gas, get the kick down cable to shift a gear down, it goes just fine. At first I only noticed the problem when I was around 45-50 but now I'm noticing it from 40 - 60. And its starting to happen when I want to accelerate also. when I accelerate without the kick down cable engaging it will start to chug again. My dad keeps saying "ignition issue" but I am bound to think its something else because it idles just fine, and someone told me they think the tranny is going out but the car only has 127,000 on it, I haven't been that bad to it, the fluid smells just fine, and it shifts beautifully into all 4 gears. I do think it may be tranny RELATED though because it seems to only want to do it while in 3rd or 4th gear. I can be sitting parked, raise the RPM's up to 2000 and above (around the area when it starts chugging while driving 40 - 60mph) and the engine runs beautifully.
Now some of the stuff I've read has said TCC valve. I'm not quite sure what that is, where it is, or how to fix it, but is this a possibility? If so, are there any good detailed write ups on how to fix it (and will I have to drop the engine/tranny to get to it)?
!!! How often do you get excited about your check engine light turning on? We were thinking it was a transmission issue, but now I know exactly what it is! cylinder #3 has miss-fired 124 times in the last like 2 weeks the guy said. Not only that but he diagnosed my ABS issue as well (tek 2 tool). He was able to tell me exactly what was causing my abs light and trac control light to come on (front left sensor = bad) and the "awesomest" thing about it! He didn't charge me a cent (most places I've heard will charge to tell you exactly whats wrong, if they do a free scan they will just give you a code and you gotta find info about it).
