2001 Chevy Impala STARTING & IDLING ISSUES

FRUSTRATED2001IMPALAOWNER

MEMBER
2001 CHEVROLET IMPALA
6 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
94,000 MILES

I have a 2001 Chevy Impala with approx. 94,000 miles. A week ago my car would start and then die immediately. My husband replaced the fuel pump at the advice of our mechanic since we couldn't get it to him. Didn't help. Had the car towed to the Chevy dealer to diagnose the problem. There were no fault codes, but they believed it was a problem with the anti-theft system. They hooked the car up to a computer and reprogrammed it and monitored the car until it regained it's "memory." Picked up the car and it was running, however idling rough. Dealer told us if it happened again, try the other key, memory chip in my key could be bad. That night had drops and surges in performance, car nearly died several times and at idle there is a constant surge and drop. Next day prepared to return to the dealer and it would not stay running again, with either key! Towed it back, they tightened connectors related to anti-theft system and informed us our new fuel pump was bad. They replaced the fuel pump, we picked it up after they had it 3 days and it drove ok until the next start, then started idling rough again! The next day my husband went to start it and again it started and then died. I am very frustrated by this point and don't know if I should bother taking it back to the dealer for more of the same troubleshooting.

3 Replies

BRIAN 1

MECHANIC
1,030 POSTS

I wuold still take it back to the dealer, you paid alot of money to have the vehicle fixed, they should have fixed it. Just tell them to keep the car until it's fixed and your not paying anymore money until it is. You should not have to pay anymore money for something that isn't fixed. As far as diagnosing did they change of check the fuel filter to see if it is plugged, did they check fuel pressure? Did they check for a vacuum leak? Did they check the mass air flow sensor, that was a very common problem on these. Did they check for any tsb's? I find it hard to believe that the vehicle was running rough and they did not find a missfire code? My advise is to take it back and tell them to fix it or you want your money back, if they don't like that answer tell them you will take legal action.