Code p0300

[asoriano]

Recently I have started to have some issues with my 2008 2.4 Malibu LS. First the car seems to struggle a bit when starting from a cold start. If I turn the key right a way the engine turns over for a few seconds before the car actually starts. If I turn the key slightly first, turning on only the electrical components of the car before the engine turns over and leave the car be, the car then starts instantly once the key to the ignition position. I believe this is being caused by faulty fuel pump possibly? Is it possible that the fuel pump simply isnt providing the engine with fuel right before a cold start?

Issue number two:

I drive on a highway daily and the other day I needed to pass another vehicle and to do so I hit the accelerator. The RPMs proceeded to climb as usual but only this time the stopped at about 5.5k. The car immediately felt sluggish and despite the RPMs being high the car almost seemed to be slowing down. The check engine light then flashed a few times and the DIC read "service traction" A couple days after I took the car in to a local chevy dealer and the technician was able to recover data that the car saved from the incident. The car gave the error code P0300 which I was told was a miss fire code on all four cylinders. The technician then continued and checked all injectors, spark plugs, etc. that he believed may have called the miss fires. Long story short they could not determine what the issue is. The simply told me that is was probably a bad batch of gas.

Unfortunately the car continues to do this whenever the engine is put under any stress. I cant go past half throttle or the engine miss fires and the check engine light comes on as it did in the original scenario. Could it be that the two issues I have had and directly related? Could the fuel pump simply not be giving the engine enough fuel when its pushed a little harder? Any feed back or opinions is greatly appreciated! The dealer has been of no help and I am looking to see if maybe anybody else has had similar issues?

[ElantraMax]

P0300 is actually "Random Misfire" not specific to any one cylinder.

Did the Tech check the Fuel Pressure reading? To see if its low. Maybe bad pump. Clogged filter inside tank.

[greenman]

How many miles on that engine?

[asoriano]

All the tech was able to tell me was that it was probably a bad batch of gas which is most likely not true. Despite me insisting that there is probably a problem with the fuel system he said everything was ok. I am most likely going to take it to another dealer soon but just wanted to get some other opinions and see if anybody else has had this issue


The engine is just shy of 75k mi

[Speed_Freak5150]

Has the fuel filter been changed? If not I would suspect that.

[ElantraMax]

Fuel Filter is part of the Pump Assembly.

[greenman]

A fuel delivery problem is a definite suspect. I'd start by putting a pressure gauge on the fuel rail port & recreate the failure conditions.

GM hasn't used user-replaceable fuel filters on cars for about ten years.

[SeaRay245se]

Just another way for GM to take the fixing things outta the hands of the average guy and make it so you have to take it to the dealer for something as small as a fuel filter.

[ElantraMax]

Chrysler has been doing it as well for years.

[repairman54]

In tank filters makes where you fuel up even more important.
Saving 5 cents a gallon for no name fuel is not gonna pay for a tank drop if you can't DIY it.
Or for that matter if you can DIY your still on the losing end with parts price.
Mustafo's gas a rama bottom tier fuel isn't such a deal then.
Gas station has costly fuel filters also, sleazier the place the dirtier IE less maintained those filters are.