"UPDATE" My son added some Techron Injector cleaner and a can of moisture remover , No more lag for past 2 days so will see..
THANK YOU for all the advice I am not holding my breath that is is 100% fixed lol



This is my son's
2011 2LT 2.4 about 100k on the clock
Talking with him tonight he said when he hit the gas it will lag a bit before accelerating
I have not driven it yet, he lives about 1 hr away !
What is common and yes I know internet troubleshooting is a educated guess !
I will try and get there over the weekend,
My first check is pull the AF, and check if it is dirty or a rodent made a home !
I do not have a pressure gauge set up to check fuel pressure !
Is the fuel filter in the gas tank ?. He will drop it off to the shop sometime next week.
As far as I know he has no codes and I forgot to ask him that !

I am no Gear head so I can check just the basic

Thanks

 

My first thought is "timing".
Second thought is "vacuum leak".
You can "borrow" fuel pressure gauges..

 

I was worried about the timing chain. Will see what next. His HHR has has several issue over the past few years
I did not think about a vacuum leak

Thanks

 

Fuel filter is in the fuel pump assembly in the fuel tank. I’d look at the timing chain first! Yes air filter could be dirty, but that would result in low mileage. Could be lousy fuel! Wrong spark plugs, dirty throttle body and MAF .

 

Thank you.
I'll check the AF this weekend if it does not rain,
and I will lok at the Throttle body and grab a can of throttle body cleaner !

 

You really should ask him if the CEL is lit. Then he can get the codes pulled. So we can give some relevant suggestions before you get there.

 

Based on your remote description it could be many things. Let's wait and see what the mechanic finds. This thread could be filled with just about everything before we even know if it needs our attention.

 

Check for codes even if no CEL.

Isn’t premium or E85 recommended for that year 2.4? What’s he been buying for fuel?

Retailers are changing over to “Summer blends” right now.

Clean the MAF sensor. Can’t hurt.

About due for new plugs, new air cleaner if not done previously.

 

He did not mention codes but will ask him tonight !
I know you can not diagnose over the net, but only ball park :O I will update what we do find out.
I have the FixD cheapo scan cube , so I will plug it in if iy stops raining !
And I will be buying a real scanner soon

 

What has you experience been with the FixD? Someone gave me one, NIB. I don’t use it only because I already have something similar. As far as I can tell it has a real ELM327 chip, not one of those notorious clones. They try make you think you need to run their $ app, but it should run the free Torque Lite app fine, or any other app meant for an ELM327. Pretty sure I tried it and it worked.