I have a 1500 Silverado that was running fine, been maintained. I drove up to Louisiana from Central Florida last Friday and was coming back today and the truck started bogging down whenever I would try and give it even a little extra gas. It eventually got to the point where I could barely even press the gas without it bogging and giving no acceleration response. Ran a diagnostics and the only problem is an EVAP leak, but it was a small one and it shouldn't be causing the engine to bog down so harshly.

Any ideas? It would be bad at one point and then I would shut it off and restart it and it would be decent with a little more response before bogging down again. Pretty embarrassing to drive it on large roads going 20....

 

It kinda sounds like a catalytic converter thats clogged, or maybe even water in the fuel system.

 

Would the water in the fuel system cause it to idle normally still? It's running fine idle, but when you give it gas, sometimes at all, it starts to bog and sometimes backfire if you keep your foot down on it while it's struggling.
I haven't checked the spark plugs yet, it's been sitting for a while and with all that constant driving they're probably shot seeing as they're old already, but I'm ruling them out right now just from how it's reacting.

 

Its hard to say, but you can add a fuel additive to the gas to address the possibility of water in the fuel and its pretty cheap just a couple of bucks. The backfire does make me think it could be the catalytic converter though, but that could be costly. Is there a funny smell at all when its running, like rotten eggs or something like that? If so, that's probably the problem. If not try the additive first. You said you were traveling, so that makes me think some trash or water is in the fuel system. You may even need to replace the fuel filter if the gas is contaminated.

I hope some of this helps. I've seen this a few times and at least one of these was the cause for a similar problem.

Good luck!

 

Awesome. I'll check some out later today. The only smell I noticed is it smells like a lawnmower when you try and rev it while it stutters, even after it's been running for a while. If that's the smell you're looking for, there it is!

I'll still get some additive anyway just for the sake of getting it. Louisiana gas didn't seem too uhh... healthy... I'll also check the fuel filter too, hasn't been changed for a while. Plus temperature changes from muggy and still warm Florida to the freshly snowed Louisiana didn't help with the moisture I'm sure. Could be why it didn't show up until heading back to Florida.

You've been an awesome help, I appreciate it!

 

Did you get it solved? Spark plugs cured what ailed mine.

 

weirdly enough, the bogging and stalling kinda worked itself out before i could wack off the cat converter or take out the plugs. i'm thinking the gas was a bad batch and water got in the lines, but i'm workin on checkin the cat and the plugs just in case cause they're in need of checking/replacing.

very strange...

 

Just take the CAT off and sell it.... I don't think they did much anyways other than decrease fuel economy