2001 Chevrolet Prizm: hesitation when accelerating

Filed Nov 11, 2015 · Engine · 127,000 miles · IN

I got this car a year and half ago and it worked ok. But now it is eating oil like crazy. And also when I try to accelerate it hesitates and wont move forward. It has almost caused me to have 3 wrecks. This is completely unacceptable. Why pay for this car if its going to kill me.

Filed Jul 7, 2011 · Acceleration · 12,000 miles · FL

Tl* the contact owns a 2001 chevrolet prizm. The contact stated that when depressing the accelerator, the vehicle would hesitate before moving at a normal pace with the illumination of the check engine warning light. The dealer and manufacturer were notified of the failure but provided no assistance to the contact. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 12,000 and the current mileage was 80,000.

Filed Sep 11, 2010 · Acceleration, Engine · 43,000 miles · WV

2001 chevy prism; check engine light continues to be on. I have put two oxygen sensors on at a cost of over $200.00, and light still comes on. Mechanics tell me the code says "lean mixture" but don't know what is causing it. Car hesitates when cold, almost throwing you into the windshield, unless you repeatedly pump the accelerator. Mechanics told me that maybe fuel pump is going bad, but it's been three years now, and this hasn't happened. The head liner in vehicle has totally torn and disintegrated, even tho it has been garage kept. Gm will not even consider investigating this problem. No more chevy's for me!! The hesitation in traffic could create a real safety issue.

Filed Jun 13, 2010 · Engine, Fuel system · 200,000 miles · WI

I own a 2001 chevy prism lsi. It has always experienced a number of annoying issues that I've had mechanics inspect/diagnose that never seems to get correctly diagnosed. It uses about a quart of oil a month (but never smokes out of the exhaust pipe), has always had a hesitation problem, and has a weird problem with noisy 'exhaust' sounds that sound like they are coming from the front of the car and are worse (very loud) in wet conditions. Upon cold start, the engine hesitates pretty badly when pressing the accelerator pedal. The hesitation gets much better once the engine has warmed up, but still has minor hesitation upon initially pressing the accelerator pedal. Mechanics have said they think the fuel pump may be starting to go out (I was told that 5 years ago and it has never gone out) and they said there was a 'lean mixture code' when my check engine light was on at one point but were unable to determine what the official cause of that code was and implied it was probably the fuel pump slowly going bad. They ran a carbon clean which shut off the service engine light but the hesitation and oil consumption has always remained. Numerous times, the hesitation has been an issue in traffic when I press the accelerator pedal and the engine does nothing until I pump the pedal a few times to get it going...leading to a possibly safety hazard in certain traffic conditions. Nobody has been able to figure out why it hesitates and fix the hesitation problem and I've read this is a very common problem along with the oil consumption problem for chevy prisms/toyota corollas (especially the 2001 model). Mechanics have also inspected my exhaust system to try to find the issue with the noisy exhaust but have found no leaks. I'm hoping a recall can be issued to help fix some of these issues since mechanics can't seem to figure out these common problems. It seems that toyota and gm are both aware of most of these issues and have done nothing to resolve them.

Filed Aug 26, 2005 · Engine · 25,083 miles · MD

Dt: the consumer state his 2001 chevrolet prism was hesitating and stalling on a cold start. The vehicle was stalling in the mornings when the engine was cold and set overnight. The weather was not an issue with the car. The owner took the vehicle to the dealership for inspection. The owner did have a copy of tsb 1538049 which indicated procedures that could be done to help with vehicle performance. The owners vehicle has only 31,000 miles, and was about 4 years old. The owner talked to gm, and they said that what ever it cost to have the vehicle fixed they would use as a credit on the purchase of a new vehicle. The owner had the air filters changed, checked computer for codes, this showed misfires present, replaced spark plugs, cleaned air induction system last year. Recently, in july, the codes were checked again and there was no indication of anything wrong. The repair shop suggested that the owner replace the throttle position sensor. That did not help the vehicle. The owner went back to the dealer, and had a diagnostic test done. The owner was having problems with the experimental suggestion to be done on the car because this will have no guarantee that this will fix the car. The owner was afraid to drive the car because of the hesitation and stalling. The cost of the tsb suggestion will cost several thousands of dollars. There was no warranty left on the car. *ak