car SPUTTERING and start up question. Please Help

[t.a.joe]

okay so i heard 2 things:
1. start up car and wait 5 mins/normal temp before driving
2. start up and drive but keep under 2000-2500 rpms until normal temp reaches

what are your thoughts on these? i tried both of these techniques 3 weeks ago. and ever since i've been doing these i noticed that my car going uphill 5 mins after starting up at 40-60mph at around 2000 rpms started SPUTTERING (engine/car making back forth like movements) i'm starting to think that applying those 2 techniques mentioned above ^ may be the CULPRIT of the SPUTTERING, because i took my car to pontiac services and they hooked my car up to a computer etc. and my car tested perfectly!(when they tested my car twice the sputtering never occured, but it happened when i left!) and when i spoke to the MAnager he said that starting up the car like that is unneccesary. the reason why i blame the 2 starting up techniques mentioned above^ is because we couldn't find a reason for the SPUTTERING! so lately i've decided to start my car up and give it 30 sec-1 min. before driving. sorry for the long long post but please let me know what you guys know or think. thanks so much. and yes i'm an ultra NOOB

[Orcus79]

i ve never done either of those and no issues. but one thing to look at could be the fuel filter, seems the get cloged easily and are the soure of many drivablity issues.

[t.a.joe]

i ve never done either of those and no issues. but one thing to look at could be the fuel filter, seems the get cloged easily and are the soure of many drivablity issues.

right, i've considered that as one of the possibilities, but i changed my fuel filter 5 months/6000 miles ago. let me know if i'm wrong, but isn't that a little to recent to point the blame on? consider also that i recently heard form the pontiac dealership manager that gas here in San Diego is the worsed gas you can possibly get in the country. you would think with the cost of living here and gas prices that the Gas would at least be decent! tsk tsk. I use Chevron 91. anyways let me know what you guys think. thanks

[0rion]

how many miles on the plugs and wires and have you ever thrown any type of code?

[t.a.joe]

how many miles on the plugs and wires and have you ever thrown any type of code?

car is currently at 55k and i have never replaced plus or wires. "ever thrown in any type of code?" i dont understand. I'm a noob. please explain

[0rion]

when the check engine light comes on that's called "throwing a code" you take it to a parts store and have them scan it to retrieve the trouble code.
I would maybe look into replacing those plugs and wires. Sounds to me like that's your problem.

[t.a.joe]

i brought the car to a pontiac dealership service and they scanned my car even when the check engine light wasnt on. they found nothing. i was charged $92

[t.a.joe]

is it wrong of them to scan my car with the check engine light off?

[Orcus79]

If you went in to have the sputtering checked its the first thing they will do, and unless they find a code they call it done, the new mechanincs coming out have no real clue how to diagnose a car now a days, at least thats my experiance any ways.

I would follow the advice of the above and replace the plugs at least and see what happens.

[t.a.joe]

guy that scanned my car has a big reputation of bring the best. he's been a GM tech of 18 years.

[t.a.joe]

he drove it HARD

[LS1_TA_2002]

hey joe i'm in san diego and i have hp tuners software for your year bird let me know if you wanna meet up.

[camaross2000]

you might want to check ur front o2 sensors 2 of my friends cars were doin the same and both of their problems were the o2 sensors

[t.a.joe]

hey joe i'm in san diego and i have hp tuners software for your year bird let me know if you wanna meet up.

thanks man! i'll let ya know

[t.a.joe]

you might want to check ur front o2 sensors 2 of my friends cars were doin the same and both of their problems were the o2 sensors

when i had the dealership scan my car, wouldn't that mean they checked my o2 sensors as well? or no?

[LS1_TA_2002]

when i had the dealership scan my car, wouldn't that mean they checked my o2 sensors as well? or no?

Nope it just means they checked to see if the PCM had any codes stored for any sensor, including O2's. To properly test an O2's operational range you would ideally need a propane rig and a scope or graphing multimeter to capture live readings at the sensor. Which is usually left to an emmissions (Smog) tech like me.