Hey guys,
My car has been suffering from a major loss of power recently .
It starts up ok and idles smoothly and will rev normally in neutral.
Out on the road things are sadly not the same,floor the gas pedal and the revs rise extremely slowly and acceleration is almost none existant,the only difference being a rise in decibels from the exhaust.Cruising along it feels like it is bucking mildly and under gentle acceleration it will sometimes completely bog down for a split second.
Where have all my 275 horses gone?
The wires are only about six months old and the fuel filter about the same.It also has had a new coil wire.I have a new ignition coil on order from the States,but am not convinced that it will solve the problem,I thought it might be worth a try as they are fairly inexpensive.
Could a failing opti or dying fuel pump cause these symptoms?
I don't have a scanner or a fuel pressure tester,but I would have thought that if it was the opti it would run like crap at idle and be hard to start.
Any help would be appreciated,thanks,Mark.

 

Might check the coil wire.My MSD coil wire started slipping off the coil about 4 to 6 months after I replaced all the wires.I tried cutting the coil wire boot back,helped a little,but used G.M. coil wires after that.The rest of the MSD wires worked fine.Hope this helps.

 

You are describing classic symptoms of fuel starvation. Check your fuel pressure, preferably under the conditions that the hesitation and power loss are actually occurring. The pressure may look good while idling or revving in neutral, but drop when actually under a load.

I like to hook up a pressure guage, tape it to the outside of the windshield (windscreen) where it can be easily seen by the driver and go for a drive. Any pressure problems can then be easily seen.

 

You definately need a fuel pressure gauge. They are $30 on Ebay and one of the the most useful tools for our cars. A plugged cat can cause acceleration problems but can be checked easily. I had a plug wire get burnt and it ran like crap until i replced the wire. Check the opti connector wire on both ends for corrision. Fuel pump is my guess but thats all it is without a test.

 

Thanks for the replies guys .
Have found a fuel pressure tester on ebay for $24.99,says it has 12" of hose.Will that be long enough so that I will be able to attatch it to the windshield and monitor it while driving?
This is the item I'm looking at:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...121271153&rd=1
Let me know if this would be suitable and I'll get it ordered.
All the best,Mark.

 

Don't know if this is relevent,but the symptoms seem to be worse once the car has reached normal operating temperatures .
Just drove to work (2 miles) and it seemed to be worse once I got there as opposed to when it was stone cold when I started out.

 

This is a very typical symptom of a plugged cat. converter. Had an 87 V-6 bird act just like this. To test his theory the mechanic put it up on a hoist and unhooked the cat from the y-pipe and took it for a drive. Sounded like crap but ran normal.

 

Thanks for the reply AL SS590 M6,mrmint69 also mentioned that a bad cat could possibly cause this,I will get the car up on the ramps when I get a chance,stuck at work at the moment .
Would I be able to tell if the cat was plugged just by a visual inspection after unbolting the cat-back exhaust or will it not be that obvious.Also do cats run hotter than normal when they are plugged?
Back to my earlier question:will that fuel pressure gauge in the link I posted be suitable for taping to the windshield or is it going to need a longer hose than that?
Thanks for all the help so far,Mark.

 

My gauge is longer so its hard to say. You could take a piece of hose or something and test fit it first to see if you can close the hood when its on. The cat should be hotter if its plugged and i would guess the exhaust manifold would be that way also. Not sure how to tell by visual inspection. A new cat is $50 on Ebay. I would personally buy a new one and cut the old one off before i would take it to a mechanic and charge me probably that much to check it and way more to install it. I cut my old one off and took the cat to the muffler shop and he charged me $12 to weld the new one in. Get the fuel pressure tested first before throwing the money at a new cat.

 

Hey guys,
Just ordered a fuel pressure tester from a seller on ebay.It has a 40" length of hose,so taping it to the windshield wont be a problem.
Will let you know the results as soon as it shows up,may take a week or so to get here though.
I really appreciate all your advice,Mark.

 

I use the wiper arm and lay it over the hose. Holds its in a perfect spot and angle.

 

Hey guys,

Just drove home from work,journey is about 2 miles tops,car was bogging down and acting up pretty bad,well what's new .Anyway I decided to pop the hood and take a look.It's dark outside here and I was just checking to see if I could see any arcing on the wires etc.No arcing but what I did notice was the passenger side manifold was glowing red under the heatshield towards the rear.I'm no mechanic by any means,but even I know that it shouldn't be getting that hot.
So,does this point the finger at the catalytic converter being plugged or is it something more serious causing all my problems?
Let me know what you think,I'm still waiting on the fuel pressure gauge and ignition coil I ordered.
All the best,Mark.

 

I guessed that before, but since you say its glowing hot it's your best guess so far. I would park the car if it was me or cut the cat out and see if it solves your problem. If it does you can rig it up to drive until you get a new one. I used cheap clamps with a new cat in place and drove it to the muffler shop.

 

Ditto see post number 7

 

Just been quoted £801.00 plus VAT, thats Pounds and not Dollars for a genuine GM converter from a supplier here in England .
Needless to say I won't be buying that,have seen one on E-bay from Magnaflow for just over $200.
Am I right in thinking that the cat on my car is not available seperately and comes already connected to the Y pipe?
Regards,Mark .