What would cause my 1999 cheverolet cavalier to misfire?

because it’s a 1999 Chevrolet Cavalier also could be the timing belt or spark plugs

i thought this was a serious site! guess i was wrong

sorry I can’t give a serious answer without a smartass comment to go with it

thats cool. i didnt see the rest of your answer before i answered back!

@wolfgang4999 : This is a serious site. Don’t give up on us! You’ll get some answers! @tyrantxseries gave a joke answer along with a serious one. We’re supposed to wait until a serious answer is given before writing a joke one, so he obeyed about half the rule. :/

Perhaps it could be a transmission problem. I had a ‘99 Cavalier and the transmission did all kinds of herky jerky stuff before I finally gave up on it.

like i said, , the car runs and changes gears great unil it reaches 50 mph and then it goes haywire and starts jumping and missing. you can accelerate and it stops until it reaches the accelerations limit and it starts again.

The fact that it is performing normally up until the 50 mph mark implies to me that there may be some sort of congestion in the exhaust system. I would be looking toward muffler or catalytic converter first. You may be able to get a free inspection (our local muffler shop will inspect for free)

just be happy it’s not a Ford

I would still like more input from our local car enthusiasts. I am forwarding this Q to some of the users I know and respect who may be able to add to the conversation.

The speed-based quality of the phenomenon suggests 2 possibilities, if you have eliminated plugs and wiring as a possible cause. One is that the fuel mixture isn’t right, or that the injectors are dirty; the other is that you have the wrong back-pressure which suggests perhaps the catalytic converter or something else in the exhaust system.

“Google” says this is a common problem in 99’s and 2000’s, from the sites I’ve read this “could” be an expensive problem (to find/fix)... It MAY be cheaper to look for a new(ish) car. (a lot of people spending a lot of money to fix the problem (labor/parts) and ending up with it coming back within months(no more than 1 year)
sooo ya, good luck
note: not a car fixer person

Can you give us a little more information? Is the car a manual or automatic? Is there anything other than speed that tends to happen just before it goes crazy? Is it more likely to do this when the engine is hot or cold?

Always check the cheap fix first. Dist. cap, rotor etc. Although it sounds like a timing issue.

The car has a 2.2 engine and it’s an automatic and yes it starts doing itafter the car warms up. other than that, i cant think of anything else to tell you. Let me say that I remember having a 89 cavalier once and it bucked and stuttered like that and it turned out to be the speed sensor on the transmision. Could that be possible?

That’s a really good question. I’d have to ride with you in it to answer it. I was thinking of your symptom as misfiring, not band-slipping.

Thanks for that. In my opinion, if it was a timing issue it wouldn’t suddenly start happening at a certain speed unless your car has a variable valve timing mechanism, and then it would happen at certain revs rather than a certain speed. I am not familiar with the specifics of the car because they are not sold here in Australia. It may be an injector problem, either software or dirt clogging them, but I suspect the torque converter is at fault.

If you rev it right out near redline in a low gear, so you are below 50mph, does it have problems? If not, the transmission is the most likely problem, because the engine operates the same whether its at 3000rpm in first or fourth.