Thread: Stuttering?

My wifes car has started stuttering at about 47-53 mph while in overdrive. Why? If you get on it the stutter goes away and it runs fine. Any help???

Year model and engine may help a bit,
I see you posted in the 3800 s/c section but you never know in these forums.

could be a number of things. check your fuel pressure first then check for vacuum leaks also.

I even had a bad coil pack on a 3100 cause this also.


and the bad news would be that It could be a bad torque converter or possibly the tcs( Torque converter lock-up solenoid)

any SES light?

yeah ....sorry about that.
2000 Grand Prix GTP 3.8 s/c
94k miles

no SES lights or anything just the surging, it does it during slow accelleration as well as while climbing hills. The car still has great power.

As far as I know it's completely stock.
Thanks for the help.

I would say yes it feels like it's starving for fuel. While it's surging if you slowly press the gas pedal down the surging continues but the rpm drops some.

Still no SES lights though.

I think I have the same problem on my 05 GTP. When I get into the throttle it stutters really bad and major smoke comes out of the tail end of the car. I need to do a good tune up on it just because it is an 89k mile car already and I am sure it needs it with the gas quality these days.

The car never smokes. It just seems to have problems with the trans. I will let you know what I find.

i am having the same problem. my car stutters a little going up hills and it also will do it if i'm not on the gas all the way. if i give it boost it is fine. i changed spark plugs and it was fine for a couple days, but now it's doing the same thing again. if anyone knows what the issue is or could be please help. and southern yankee if you find out something about your before i do, please post it here. thanks

A good and easy way to check this is when you let you're car sit over night and it is cold. Get in and start driving it right away. The TCC does not lockup untill the tranny fuid get's to a certain tempeture (above around 80*).

If you are still feeling it when you get into say 2nd or 3rd as soon as you start driving it and when it is cold then it is not the problem.


Also if you ARE feeling it when it is in 1st when it is hot OR cold then it is not the TCC.


It can feel like a sputter depending on how bad it has gotten. My car would almost shake me to death at it's worst point. And the reason it will not do it when you get on the gas is because the TCC unlocks when you do that.

Originally Posted by Bio248

when mine does it you can visually see the RPMs bouncing.

Yep about 500 RPM's is about the normal when it's going out. I guess it could get worse though.

Mine was so bad that It would hit the rev limiter before it actually shifted. I was setting the shift points in the pcm at 4900 and it would shift at 6400. Crazy. The day it failed I started it up and backed out of the drive way and it was slipping like a mofo when i was driving down the street. Got to the red light and lost all the gears.


After I got it towed home and let it sit for a while I started it up and put it in gear and it would move...but barley...seemed like as soon as it got to a good 5mph it just lost everything again. Had to rev it up to like 5000 for it to move lol

Ok, here's an update. The car has sat for about 7 hours and it's 45degrees outside. I got in it and left the yard with out time for it to warmup. I shifted fine through the gears(no torque convertor lockup though). I ran it until it warmed up trying to make it act up. No luck. After it warmed up I continued to run it and pulled hills and slow starts trying to get it to screw up. Still no luck. What it will do though is stay in OD even while climbing hills while accelerating. I should downshift on this hill. My Police Interceptor Crown Vic does and so does every other car or truck I've ever driven up it.
Should I go and have the trans fully serviced? I mean flushed and everything? I don't know if it's ever been serviced at all. The car has 94k miles on it.
What is the BEST trans fluid you can put in these transmissions?

Thanks again for your help,
James

i say have your trans serviced like you said. and i notice that my car will do the same thing sometimes, but eveytime i touch something it's fine. i changed spark plug wires it stopped for a few days, then changed spark plugs the stuttering went away. it started a few days and then one day my car just died on me. wiggled the battery cable and then tightened it up and now my car is fine. have everything changed.

Thanks, silvermistchick

I'm going to do a full tuneup when I get my taxes back.

I had the trans flushed and it seems to have fixed it......for now.
Thanks everyone.