Expert: Rob Painter - 9/30/2010

Question
my cadalac have like a jerk in it like its not getting enough gas. I jus recently put in a distributer because my mechenic said it was . I need some advice  

Answer
Hello,

It needs to be realized that drivability problems are hard to diagnose when physically driving and physically working on the car.

Then there is the terminolgy issue. What someone calls a jerk, another might call a shutter or hesitation and these discriptions can mean the same thing or something different.

I am in no position to say your mechanic diagnosed the problem right or wrong. Any asdvice I could offer you on this drivability problem would be merely a guess and that could be very costly to you chasing ghosts that don't fix your problem.

Your discription is open fpr a vast majority of problems. It could be fuel delivery, electronics including the computer or any sensor. It could be a secondary ignition problem i.e. the distributor, wires or plugs.

I do not know what your mechanic has for diagnostic equipment, but if he doesn't you may want to take the car to a large service center in your area who does have all the diagnostic equipment to take away the guess work and fix the problem the first time.

Now, I have no idea of your mechanic's capabilities, but some people to save money still use shade tree or alley mechanics to save money. Times are tight and everyone is trying to do that and I appreciate that, but the reality is that they commonly cost the car owner's more money. These cars are not those of the pre-computer days.
Years ago a rough running engine might only need some plugs or a carb adjustment.

Things are not that simple since the 80's. If something is wrong, the computer will compensate changing or hiding the intial problem.

Worse yet, you are dealing with a fuel injection system.

In summary, if you question the replacement of the distributor and the problem is still there, you need to see if he has the ability to properly diagnose what you have going on. The service centers are not cheap because they have overhead, but they are not guessing either, so instead of changing part after psrt, they can fix the car right the first time. They also don't gouge you like the dealer does.

I can tell you right now if someone on the Internet attpts to diagnose your drivability problem on the Internet, be very suspect and almost surely any answer will be wrong.

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