What a day - 98 Sunfire GT

[Davecachia]

So I drove home from my girlfriends today (about 120km) I noticed the car acting funny shifting into 4th gear (a 2 second delay or so) but it got into gear and drove fine.

When I got off the highway I noticed a delay in going from stop to 1st gear.. about a 200rpm drop (which I think is almost normal).. but you can feel the delay. Went to my buddies house, turned car off. Car has a very low idle. Left his house, and car stalled at a stop sign. I popped the hood when I got home and I think the alternator belt is making noise. I just had the alternator replaced with new belts. In park, I revved it to 2500 and I hear vibrations.

Ran the diagnostic - got P0108 - which is a Manifold Absolute Pressure Circuit High Input error.
I think this sensor controls how much air is getting brought in for the gas/air mixture. This would explain why my car stalled.

Anyways - My gas cap had been tripping my O2 sensor for awhile, so I decided to buy a new one.

It somewhat fixed that problem.. car is not stalling anymore - and the noise is no longer there from 2500-3000 rpm (dont want to test higher than 3k in park).

Anyways - another problem I found was that my daylights are not turning on when I flip the switch. Sometimes they do - sometimes they dont. When it does get running, and I use my lane change indicator - it turns it off.

Anyone know what is going on with my car? Someone suggested that a lot of water got under the hood (from the highway, trucks etc.) and might be messing with my electrics.

Someone suggested looking to see if my Transmission has oil, I didnt see a transmission oil cap though..
* edit: GM engineers are morons and decided to implement a 'sealed transmission' - therefore I dont have a dipstick, a way of checking, or a way to add/remove (unless I take bolts out..how clever).

[z24driver1986]

ok... I've got a '01 Cavalier, its awesome but if you have any questions about these cars join www.j-body.org

In terms of the MAP sensor, I had a similar problem make sure to check the hose going from the sensor to the Intake Manifold. It's right on the front of the engine by the throttle. Its the only sensor with a vacuum hose going to it. My hose was cracked so I went to GM and bought a new one. Buy the one from GM don't skimp on it because some of the cheaper ones collapse and cause problems down the road. The hose is weird shaped like an L and is like 5''

By daylights what do you mean? If its just the regular lights then your turn stalk with the light controls will probably need to be replaced. It's a common problem on these cars.

The life time tranny fluid is intended to be lifetime unless you drive in dusty, hilly area, etc. I talked to my mechanic he said he's never had a problem with a GM transmission so don't worry about the fluid. GM makes good transmissions and its already lasted you 11 years. If you didn't notice anything on your driveway than the fluid level will be good.

[ES_Revenge]

Ran the diagnostic - got P0108 - which is a Manifold Absolute Pressure Circuit High Input error.
I think this sensor controls how much air is getting brought in for the gas/air mixture. This would explain why my car stalled.

No it doesn't control how much air is being brought in, that's what you do with the throttle It measures, as the name implies, the absolute pressure (i.e. gauge + atmospheric pressure) in the intake manifold, which along with the MAF sensor (if equipped) determines how much fuel to inject. If the MAP sensor is faulted in such away that it is causing the engine to stall, unplug the MAP sensor's electrical (but not pressure) connection. The engine should run okay after that but you'll get the MIL illuminated and the engine may not run as well (particularly at high RPM/large throttle openings) and will net poorer fuel economy. This is okay "fix" in the [very] short term if the car won't run at all. If the car still runs but only stalls occasionally don't unplug this though. Get the DTC(s) troubleshooted as soon as possible and def. check the hose as said by z24driver, as vacuum leaks can certainly be a cause for stalling.

Anyways - My gas cap had been tripping my O2 sensor for awhile, so I decided to buy a new one.

Gas caps don't "trip O2 sensors". The gas cap may set off a DTC that illuminates the MIL, but this is a tank pressure DTC, has absolutely nothing to do with the O2 sensor.

It somewhat fixed that problem.. car is not stalling anymore - and the noise is no longer there from 2500-3000 rpm (dont want to test higher than 3k in park).

Gas cap won't fix an engine running problem, so it's probably some kind of intermittent fault that just went away for the time being.

Anyways - another problem I found was that my daylights are not turning on when I flip the switch. Sometimes they do - sometimes they dont. When it does get running, and I use my lane change indicator - it turns it off.

Flip the switch for what now? If this is a CDM car, the daytime running lights have no switch and are not normally defeatable. A 1998 Sunfire should also have automatic [night time] headlights which are controlled by a light sensor in the dash meaning you should really never have to use your light switch at all.

Anyone know what is going on with my car? Someone suggested that a lot of water got under the hood (from the highway, trucks etc.) and might be messing with my electrics.

Nah that's not a good explanation. All wiring and connectors under the hood are protected against water that occurs in normal driving. Unless you drove the car into a lake, you shouldn't have any electrical problems in terms of water.

Someone suggested looking to see if my Transmission has oil, I didnt see a transmission oil cap though..
* edit: GM engineers are morons and decided to implement a 'sealed transmission' - therefore I dont have a dipstick, a way of checking, or a way to add/remove (unless I take bolts out..how clever).

On a 1998 you shouldn't have dipstick-less transmission, I thought they only started that in 1999? But perhaps it's possible... You can still check the fluid level but it's not as easy as using a dipstick--you have to remove a service plug in the trans case and see if the fluid is up to that level. However that doesn't stop you from checking for leaks. Trans fluid that's low would indicate it leaked out somewhere and the main two places for that to happen are external leaks (on the driveway where parked), or into the coolant (check to see if the coolant is contaminated).

It is actually clever because really you shouldn't ever need to add fluid to the transmission--removing the dipstick prevents people from overfilling their transmission or adding stupid additives that aren't beneficial (and can often have negative effects).

If your car has an average number of kms on it though, you probably should have had the trans fluid and filter changed once or twice already.

As for the alternator belt making noise, it may be that the tensioner needs to be replaced.