Hesitation on shifting/accelerating

I'm not sure what the problem is, but I thought this might be an appropriate place to post. I got my SAE back from a week of paint work and right away I noticed it seems to hesitate when accelerating and when it shifts gears (automatic trans) - at least tat's my best nterpretation of when the hesitating is occuring. As a result, obviously, it doesn;t have the "pick-up" tha it used to. Also had some thick exhaust smoke (more white than black - really looked like dust or sand) on the drive home. I haven't driven it since. Any ideas what I might be dealing with?

white smoke.... sounds like water/coolant... checked your radiator level?

art-corvette

Yeah - coolant level is good.

How much sanding was done on the car? Have you checked the air filter? Is the air intake clogged?
Scott

Aha! Checked filter and it's fairly dirty - I'll try changing it tomorrow and let you know.

Check the vacuum modulator on the pass. side of the trans. Pull the rubber hose off of it, and see if any trans fluid runs out of it. If so, the modulator is bad. This sucks fluid up into the intake manifold, and burns it as white smoke from the tailpipe. It would also cause a shift problem, as well as suck fluid out of the trans, making it low on fluid.
Wouldn't have anything to do with paint work...just something that happens on it's own, at any time.

OK - so here's where it stands. I replaced the air filter, and cleaned the carb with carb cleaner. There was a fairly thin layer of deposits (carbon I presume) everywhere. Cleaned that and took it for a spin - definitely better but seems to idle a little rougher and at 100-200 rpm lower than before.

1: It could create a slight hesitation if the filter was dirty enough to "choke" the air supply for the engine.

2: The carb may well need an O/H, since spraying it helped, but now there are other issues. You may have moved some "trash" from one spot to another while spraying it down, and gotten something in one of the sir bleeds, on the top of the carb. Happens all the time.

3: The mod is on the pass. side, rear of the trans. Unfortunately, it is only accessible from underneath. It is a simple thing to replace, tho. Just remove the 1/2" bolt that holds the mod. "clip" on, remove the mod, and replace in reverse. I have a pic posted here somewhere...lemmie see can I find it....


                                                         CLICK for linkAdams' Apple2007-05-06 18:00:55

Todd-

Our car's doing the same thing...just started yesterday.  Do you have any other insights?  We'll check the stuff discussed above. 

Karen