what's wrong w/ my car! power loss?
07-21-2005, 02:36 PM
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what's wrong w/ my car! power loss? so i'm driving to school this morning and all of a sudden it sounded like i had a flat tire...then while i'm pulling over i start to lose power (not in the battery sense, but as in my rpm's started to drop rapidly), anyways so i pull over and turn off the car, pull up handbrake (oddly it didn't make any clicks while i was pulling it up) make sure its not a flat, look under the car to see if anything was caught under there...no sign of anything, i checked under the hood, tranny fluid seemed to be fine, no sign of anything burning or anything...so then i start the car up again, the idle is just below 500 (its usually just above the 500 mark), i let it run for alil bit and it hits 500 and so afterwards i continued on my way to class
so what could of caused that?
the car only has 34k on the clock, i'm the only owner and i've never had this happen before, i havne't modded it in quite some time so it can't be a result of me messing around w/ it, what gives?
so what could of caused that?
the car only has 34k on the clock, i'm the only owner and i've never had this happen before, i havne't modded it in quite some time so it can't be a result of me messing around w/ it, what gives?
07-21-2005, 09:32 PM
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Why is your idle so damn low? Most people's are around 750-800 stock. At any rate, the last time I lost power and heard a 'flat tire' sound coming from the engine I broke a valve off in the top of a piston... that didn't go away with the next startup though 
Only thing I can think of is that you developed some serious knock which cuts power and pulls timing like crazy (could be caused by a number of things... old gas, oil getting into the combustion chamber, etc). Check your PCV lines and see if any oil is coming in through there. If not, just keep a lookout for the next time it does it. Not much you can do right now though unless you can pinpoint it again.
Only thing I can think of is that you developed some serious knock which cuts power and pulls timing like crazy (could be caused by a number of things... old gas, oil getting into the combustion chamber, etc). Check your PCV lines and see if any oil is coming in through there. If not, just keep a lookout for the next time it does it. Not much you can do right now though unless you can pinpoint it again.
07-22-2005, 12:26 AM
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i don't know why its so low? i thought it was supposed to be at around 600ish stock?
how could i have broken a valve? i haven't gotten on it in quite some time, plus my car isn't modded internally, isn't this a problem for people who have aftermarket cam's or the T-56 crowd?
i think it could be knock maybe...i've got the pacesetter LT headers/ORY and the ORY used to bang under my floorboard but i fixed that a year ago, it doesn't bang anymore, or atleast i can't tell while i'm driving, could that set off the knock sensor?
i hope this doesn't happen on the way to school tommrow, but if it does i'll check the PCV lines and post up my findings tommrow
thanks again!
how could i have broken a valve? i haven't gotten on it in quite some time, plus my car isn't modded internally, isn't this a problem for people who have aftermarket cam's or the T-56 crowd?
i think it could be knock maybe...i've got the pacesetter LT headers/ORY and the ORY used to bang under my floorboard but i fixed that a year ago, it doesn't bang anymore, or atleast i can't tell while i'm driving, could that set off the knock sensor?
i hope this doesn't happen on the way to school tommrow, but if it does i'll check the PCV lines and post up my findings tommrow
thanks again!
07-22-2005, 08:53 AM
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ok you were right about the idle, i started the car up this morning and for a few seconds it was at 800, i don't know why i thought it was right above the 500 marker, anyways so i let it run a lil bit more and watch my RPM's go down just a hair below 500
i have no idea what could be causing this...i mean the whole headers/ory install took place more than a year ago...
i have no idea what could be causing this...i mean the whole headers/ory install took place more than a year ago...
07-22-2005, 01:37 PM
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oh it's definately losing power, you can just tell by the sound, whenever i first fire it up, it sounds really strong, idle is at 800, but then a few seconds later the idle begins to drop to 500ish...it sounds like it's fixing to die
anyways i started it up again earlier and i gave it a few revs, as soon as i let off, the RPM's began to drop must faster than usual
a few people on LS2.com are telling me it could be a bent push rod (which might be possible i guess b/c of the sound i heard when this disaster first started) I just don't know WHY this would happen though, i'm not making a ton of power or anything and i've never even touched the internals, plus it's an automatic, so it's not like as if i missed a gear or something
anyways i started it up again earlier and i gave it a few revs, as soon as i let off, the RPM's began to drop must faster than usual
a few people on LS2.com are telling me it could be a bent push rod (which might be possible i guess b/c of the sound i heard when this disaster first started) I just don't know WHY this would happen though, i'm not making a ton of power or anything and i've never even touched the internals, plus it's an automatic, so it's not like as if i missed a gear or something
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07-28-2005, 02:25 PM
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another update:
i took it up to TSP monday after class, Jason and Joseph were kind enough to look at it for me, they scanned for codes, only came up w/ two (EGR and rear O2's), he went ahead and turned them off, atleast the SES light is off now, he also adjusted my idle using LS1 edit, however i still don't think it fixed it, it still doesn't seem to be as strong as it used to be when idling
anyways so this morning i go out to start the car, doesn't turn on!!
i'm sure it's not my battery b/c the radio and my gauges were still functioning (the only gauges that failed to move were my oil and engine coolant temp, the volt and gas gauge are still functioning)
anyone think that this is related to my idling problem? what could be causing this? time for a new starter?
i took it up to TSP monday after class, Jason and Joseph were kind enough to look at it for me, they scanned for codes, only came up w/ two (EGR and rear O2's), he went ahead and turned them off, atleast the SES light is off now, he also adjusted my idle using LS1 edit, however i still don't think it fixed it, it still doesn't seem to be as strong as it used to be when idling
anyways so this morning i go out to start the car, doesn't turn on!!
i'm sure it's not my battery b/c the radio and my gauges were still functioning (the only gauges that failed to move were my oil and engine coolant temp, the volt and gas gauge are still functioning)
anyone think that this is related to my idling problem? what could be causing this? time for a new starter?
