Starts, Runs, and Hesitates, but Hesitation Disappears After Reaching Operating Temp?

[dmcnelly]

Hey there, all. Got a strange issue going on with my lil' Aveo. '09 LS, 5-speed.

It's getting cold here, and I've noticed that on a cold start, I have to let my car sit and idle for a few minutes before I can really take off, otherwise I'll get this sort of hesitation where I lose acceleration for a second or two, and then jerk forward. It never stalls out and it's not throwing any codes either.

Now, once the car has warmed up a bit (i.e. the needle has moved just above the "C" line) it runs just fine. I have cleaned the throttle body really well, but that didn't seem to take care of the issue. I'd normally assume it's an EGR problem given the hesitation disappears once it's warmed up a bit, but I want to be sure because I've never had to replace an EGR on any of my cars before, so before I give a shop $400+ of my hard earned money, I just want to get a second opinion as to what this might be. And if it is the EGR valve, if that is something I can replace in my driveway with some hand tools?

(The other alternative is to get a remote start put in and let it warm up, but that's just putting a band-aid on the issue.)

Thanks everyone! Happy holidays!

[Daox]

EGR problems will generally throw an engine light. However, if you want to check the system its not hard. It just a couple bolts and an electrical connector.

I'm not familiar with the 09 ecotec engine, but I believe the valve itself looks like this:


You can start by taking it off and cleaning it and the passages before and after it.