Expert: Skip Bollinger - 10/28/2006

Question
i am a beginner at engines and trying to learn to change parts on my own . i have a 96 grand am and have to change the pvc valve. i think thats wat is causing my car to lose power,hesitate after stops, and use alittle more gas than it should. could you tell me how to get to it and change it. thank you ....thomas everett

Answer
Thomas,
  The VERY first thing you need to learn, if you are going to work on cars is to give the Parts Specialist, the year, make, model (you did all that) AND engine size! Your car could have a 2.4 OR a 3.1. I think we can fake our way through this, however. A PCV valve will be located in the valve cover. It will slip into a rubber grommet. It will have a 1/2" OD hose connected to it OR a plastic tube. This hose will run to the intake manifold usually to the base of the throttle body. Traditionally there are NO clamps as it is vacuum and that tends to pull the hose closed.
  I just went to the AC Delco web site and it looks like a 2.4 doesn't have a PCV system. That could be wrong. Just look for what I described. Now some thoughts I have about your problems...
  I don't think a PCV system will cause these problems. Usually when a PCV valve goes bad, the car will begin to smoke out of the exhaust. It will be blue smoke. Has the "check engine" light ever come on?? IF it has, there have been codes set in the computer. I don't know where in the country you are but I know O'Reilly Auto Parts has a scanner you can hook up to your computer to "pull" the codes to see what could be the problem. It sounds more like an Oxygen Sensor to me.. PLEASE REMEMBER, I'm a PARTS SPECIALIST, NOT a Tech. Okay???
  You can find the PCV and replace it, it is cheap but I don't think this will fix your problem. You will need very special and expensive tools to diagnose this problem if you choose to begin building a tool box.
  Get the computer scanned first and go from there. Good Luck and I'm sorry not to have given you a better answer but as I said, I'm a parts specialist.
  Skip
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