Power Loss While Driving
08-13-2012, 05:15 AM
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Power Loss While Driving
Hello All,
This past Friday I was driving home and noticed between 4,000 and 5,000 rpm my car was losing power. It was very sudden almost like hitting a rev limiter. It was a very humid, muggy rainy day and I probably only had 1/8 tank of gas or less. It had been a while since I topped off my oil so I added just under a full quart when I got home. The next morning when I started my car it sounded like a cammed v8. It was idling rough and there was a lot of white smoke coming out of my exhaust that wreaked of gasoline. I don't have many tools at my current location and am not supposed to work on my vehicle at my complex so I only got as far as unhooking the plugs. I was going to take the spark plugs out but I didn't have a long enough extension. After hooking the plug wires back up the car started normally and idled fine. I went and bought some Seafoam and poured it in a new tank of gas. I then took my car on the highway to try and run that through my fuel system. Once I reached speeds of about 70 my car would occasionally lose power. Once I got back into town I did some short pulls (never hit V-tec), but again my car was losing power. I did this several times on the way to Advanced Auto to have them run their scanning tool on my car (I still have no check engine light on!?). After I pulled into their parking lot from the main road my car died immediately. It didn't rough idle or anything, it just died all at once. I struggled getting it started again and had to give it a lot of gas to keep it running to get to a parking spot where it died again. The only thing that came up on the scan tool was my gas cap. I have had problems with my gas cap before clicking 3 times way before it is all the way on but now i squeeze the outsides to keep tightening until it seals down all the way. The gasket on the gas cap is still in great condition as well. My car started normally when I wanted to leave but as I pulled out the power really wasn't there to help me accelerate. Driving in 2nd and 3rd gears was like trying to accelerate in 6th gear at 20 mph. This issue seemed to correct itself after a few blocks but the car still lost power in the higher rpms.
Any tips as to what the issue could be would be greatly appreciated. Fortunately there is a repair shop directly accross the street but it is a small one. If I had more tools and time I would attempt to correct this issue myself. They have not performed a diagnostic on my car yet as I just left it there this morning without an appointment so I don't know when they will get to it. Even if I could maybe just help point them in the right direction based on any of your experiences that would be great. I have a 2003 S2000 with 67.000 miles which are almost all highway miles. The only modifications performace wise would be a K&N air filter and a dual exhaust from the cat back.
A very sad S2k owner who now must take a cab to get to work,
Austin
This past Friday I was driving home and noticed between 4,000 and 5,000 rpm my car was losing power. It was very sudden almost like hitting a rev limiter. It was a very humid, muggy rainy day and I probably only had 1/8 tank of gas or less. It had been a while since I topped off my oil so I added just under a full quart when I got home. The next morning when I started my car it sounded like a cammed v8. It was idling rough and there was a lot of white smoke coming out of my exhaust that wreaked of gasoline. I don't have many tools at my current location and am not supposed to work on my vehicle at my complex so I only got as far as unhooking the plugs. I was going to take the spark plugs out but I didn't have a long enough extension. After hooking the plug wires back up the car started normally and idled fine. I went and bought some Seafoam and poured it in a new tank of gas. I then took my car on the highway to try and run that through my fuel system. Once I reached speeds of about 70 my car would occasionally lose power. Once I got back into town I did some short pulls (never hit V-tec), but again my car was losing power. I did this several times on the way to Advanced Auto to have them run their scanning tool on my car (I still have no check engine light on!?). After I pulled into their parking lot from the main road my car died immediately. It didn't rough idle or anything, it just died all at once. I struggled getting it started again and had to give it a lot of gas to keep it running to get to a parking spot where it died again. The only thing that came up on the scan tool was my gas cap. I have had problems with my gas cap before clicking 3 times way before it is all the way on but now i squeeze the outsides to keep tightening until it seals down all the way. The gasket on the gas cap is still in great condition as well. My car started normally when I wanted to leave but as I pulled out the power really wasn't there to help me accelerate. Driving in 2nd and 3rd gears was like trying to accelerate in 6th gear at 20 mph. This issue seemed to correct itself after a few blocks but the car still lost power in the higher rpms.
Any tips as to what the issue could be would be greatly appreciated. Fortunately there is a repair shop directly accross the street but it is a small one. If I had more tools and time I would attempt to correct this issue myself. They have not performed a diagnostic on my car yet as I just left it there this morning without an appointment so I don't know when they will get to it. Even if I could maybe just help point them in the right direction based on any of your experiences that would be great. I have a 2003 S2000 with 67.000 miles which are almost all highway miles. The only modifications performace wise would be a K&N air filter and a dual exhaust from the cat back.
A very sad S2k owner who now must take a cab to get to work,
Austin
08-13-2012, 07:52 AM
#2
Check engine light come on? The "cammed v8" remark leads me to think that one of your cylinders isn't firing. This would also explain the excessive gas smell because the gas isn't being ignited by the spark plug. Could be a bad spark plug. Could be a bad coil pack. The first place I would check would be verifying spark in all 4 cylinders.
08-13-2012, 12:10 PM
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Check engine light come on? The "cammed v8" remark leads me to think that one of your cylinders isn't firing. This would also explain the excessive gas smell because the gas isn't being ignited by the spark plug. Could be a bad spark plug. Could be a bad coil pack. The first place I would check would be verifying spark in all 4 cylinders.
08-14-2012, 05:26 AM
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I changed to spark plugs and PCV valve last night after I got my car back from getting the fuel system flushed. The mechanic said there were no additional codes. It was idling pretty low at first buy after driving it around the block a couple of times it runs like a dream again. Thanks everyone.
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