loss of power, engine is louder, has less power than before Options

[celicamike]

Hey guys, I did a search but didn't find anything useful. I've noticed that my '94 GT has been kind of sluggish recently. It takes forever to accelerate, particularly when going uphill, and it kind of sputters/hesitates when I wind it over 3500 RPM. I've also observed that the engine becomes much louder when I put it under a load, almost like a exhaust leak. Anyway, the car idles fine and there is nothing unusual when cruising once I get up to speed. Have any of you experienced this or have any idea what the problem is? I don't have any apparent vacuum leaks, and the compression was great. The car is pretty old though, with 213,000 miles. I'm thinking that I might need new plug wires and distributor cap and rotor, since the ones I have now are presumably the originals. What do you guys think, could this be the answer to my problem? I appreciate your help. Thanks.

[bccentaur3]

Change your o2 sensor, spark plugs/wires, cap, rotor, and most importantly fuel filter.

[terbear4god4life]

iv got the same problum... my drive axles bad im hopeing thats it i did kinda drive it pretty hard...

[trdproven]

Not sure if I am making any sense but maybe your exhaust system has a leak somewhere which will make your car louder and loss of power.

[elastikman]

Humm....Busted clutch ??

[terbear4god4life]

Humm....Busted clutch ??

that's what i was thincking but i know i have a bad drive axle my exhaust is fine

[bccentaur3]

To find out if your clutch is bad you can put it into fifth gear and act likes its in first and let go of the clutch as usual and it should grab. If your car stalls right away your clutch is still good. A sign of a worn clutch is when your revs get higher and your car barely moves.

[Remy]

Maybe you have a exhaust manifold leak you lose alot of low end torque, power and some mpg with that I know because thats what I have I noticed my car getting louder and louder over time and became slower no pick up at all, with the last seafoam treatment I did it smoked right where the EM gasket was thats a sign of a bad gasket.

Edit: 1 fast way to tell you have a exhaust leak is when your car sounds like it has a header and/or a cat-back exhaust when you car is all stock.

This post has been edited by Remy: Jan 5, 2009 - 11:56 AM

[celicamike]

Thanks guys, I'll look in to all of the above. I've already replaced the spark plugs and fuel filter, but new wires and distributor cap/rotor wouldn't hurt. I noticed my car had an exhaust leak last year when I saw some smoke from under the heat shield during a seafoam treatment, it was never this loud though, and I didn't realize it could cause a power loss.

[terbear4god4life]

To find out if your clutch is bad you can put it into fifth gear and act likes its in first and let go of the clutch as usual and it should grab. If your car stalls right away your clutch is still good. A sign of a worn clutch is when your revs get higher and your car barely moves.

alright i did it..is it supposed to die immediately cuz it rolled like a lil bit when releasing but once i let off the clutch completely it died is my clutch still good?

This post has been edited by terbear4god4life: Jan 5, 2009 - 11:12 PM

[terbear4god4life]

hello?

[silver6gc]

bccentaur3 Posted Jan 5, 2009 - 11:43 AM
To find out if your clutch is bad you can put it into fifth gear and act likes its in first and let go of the clutch as usual and it should grab. If your car stalls right away your clutch is still good. A sign of a worn clutch is when your revs get higher and your car barely moves.

wow...that is an incredibly good way to have a bad clutch if you didnt before. there are much better ways of checking your clutch than that.

[celicamike]

Ok guys, I have an update on my situation. It turns out that the hose that connects from the EGR valve to the vacuum modulator popped off, venting exhaust gas into the engine compartment, which explains the "exhaust" sound I heard while driving. Attempting to reconnect the hose only resulted in it repeatedly popping off again. Upon further inspection, I noticed that my muffler is not nearly as loud as it used to be, and in fact there is significantly less exhaust coming out of the muffler than there used to be. Additionally, the exhaust gas has a sweet gasoline smell, which leads me to think that my car is running rich (which explains my poor milage). I suspect that the rich mixture burned up my cat, eventually choking off the exhaust flow (resulting in the power loss) and the increased pressure upstream of the cat backed up into the EGR pipe and blew off the hose (causing the exhaust "leak" I mentioned before). Does this series of events seem plausible to you guys? If so I'm going to need a new cat, but that won't fix anything unless I also get it to stop running rich. Do any of you know what could be causing my car to run rich? I would appreciate any help you can give me. Thanks.

This post has been edited by celicamike: Jan 19, 2009 - 1:29 PM

[silver6gc]

i don't know where you're from that you think gasoline smells "sweet", coolant smells sweet when it burns (i.e. blown head gasket), but not gasoline. if the hose keeps popping off, then there is positive pressure coming throgh the diaphragm in the egr valve, it will need be replaced. you may just have a bad catalytic converter, not necessarily from it running rich, if it's bad and isn't doing it's job then the car may smell "rich" to you. you're in california, so i know there are plenty of shops around you with five-gas analyzers, take it to a good shop and have them diagnose it for you, this may not be too easy to diagnose in your driveway, then again it may be something stupidly simple.

[Batman722]

zip tie the hose back on the EGR and change your 02 sensor.

[nik]

im having the same problem in my GT

i have zip tied that hose going from the bottom of the egr valve to the modulator and it melts the hoses after a few hours of running so im going to switch headers cause i have an aftermarket deleting my first cat and then im going to check my other cat

i have bearly any pressure on the tail end

im having the same problem in my GT

i have zip tied that hose going from the bottom of the egr valve to the modulator and it melts the hoses after a few hours of running so im going to switch headers cause i have an aftermarket deleting my first cat and then im going to check my other cat

i have bearly any pressure on the tail end

Ok guys, I have an update on my situation. It turns out that the hose that connects from the EGR valve to the vacuum modulator popped off, venting exhaust gas into the engine compartment, which explains the "exhaust" sound I heard while driving. Attempting to reconnect the hose only resulted in it repeatedly popping off again. Upon further inspection, I noticed that my muffler is not nearly as loud as it used to be, and in fact there is significantly less exhaust coming out of the muffler than there used to be. Additionally, the exhaust gas has a sweet gasoline smell, which leads me to think that my car is running rich (which explains my poor milage). I suspect that the rich mixture burned up my cat, eventually choking off the exhaust flow (resulting in the power loss) and the increased pressure upstream of the cat backed up into the EGR pipe and blew off the hose (causing the exhaust "leak" I mentioned before). Does this series of events seem plausible to you guys? If so I'm going to need a new cat, but that won't fix anything unless I also get it to stop running rich. Do any of you know what could be causing my car to run rich? I would appreciate any help you can give me. Thanks.

[Starcelica101]

Throttle position sensor problem, It just doesn't monitor the pedal position it monitors much more.

[Bitter]

uh clogged cat?

[presure2]

uh clogged cat?

X11billion.

high egts (i had the same zippys on my erg stuff for 4years without them ever melting, and thats turboed.), and little exhaust flow tell the story.

[Hanyo]

get a vaccuum gauge and test your engines vaccuum while your driving.

if gauge reading slowly dropping to zero as engine speeds up indicates choked muffler.