Outer Limits 4x4 Board

well guys..... i think the weekends spent rock crawling, dune hopping, and mud diving are finally starting to catch up to me. drove to las vegas today which was around 300 miles 1 way..... truck barely made it there..... ALMOST didnt make it back..... i really cant figure out whats wrong. heres a run down of what its doing, which started on thursday. when its not in gear, it revs just fine, can hold any rev just fine for any amount of time.... BUT when i hit the road. i suffer power losses which comes and goes, regardless of what it does. alot of times it couldnt even maintain a steady speed in 5th gear on a flat stretch! most of the way i drove in 4th, which she was barely able to hang on to.... had to shift down to 3rd quite a few times. i'm seriously worried since it only does it under accerlation and it REALLY struggles to get up to speed. not sure if the exhaust is backed up, since it sounds different, or if its the intake..... or even the engine it self... any ideas? i may take it into a mech tomorrow to see if he can take a look into it.... but i dont know.... check engine light has been on for a LONG time.... due to the oxy sensor.... could that be a problem? man too many possiblities here... not enough $$$. sighs. looks like she will be retired for a while fellas. let me know whats up. thanks

PV

Not sure what the regulations are over there but does your car have a catalic converter (spelling police are going to have a field day with that one)

Here in aust all cars after 85ish must have 1 to reduce emissions, they are filled with a honeycombe type of baffle. When they get old or the car isnt running correctly it will break up and can cause a blockage in the exhaust, which means exhaust cant flow causing major back pressure, causing no power in car!

Something to look into

Jarrad

Yes, PV's Rocky would have one; plus EGR and other pollution gear we didn't get over here (or at least my '92 model hasn't got EGR).

The oxy sensor would not be helping either- mine was surging and carrying on when it went. Should only cost you around US$30 for a new one PV.....

well it shouldnt be the cat since it got replaced very recently (a year and a half ago i think, maybe 2 years)..... as for the oxy sensor.. if that thing finally took a major piss dive on me.... then i'm pretty much screwed cuz i wont be able to replace it until i'm able to replace the exhaust, which i dont have the $$ for..... ;sighs; too many possibilities here and thats the problem.... having a very hard time trying to sort it out, except the fact that its getting worse. so i'm dropping it off at a mech tomorrow since he will look into it free of charge and see what he can find out for me... pretty nice dude i would have to say. will keep you guys informed.

PV

well guys, i gave up trying to figure out what WAS wrong with roza so i took her into the shop yesterday, got her back this morning and my mech said it was a bad coil..... cost me $100 us to replace it! plus $15 labor.... could of done it myself... very nice guy though, didnt charge me for the 2-3 hrs he spent trying to figure out what was wrong. did say that if the coil didnt fix the problems then it might be the dizzy... called up prices for that and its a whopping $400! good god.... i seriously cant wait to get a yoda engine/driveline in there so i dont have to worry about this kind of shit. coil seemed to fix the problem.... for the MOST part.... most of the power loss/shuddering has gone away, but it lags once or twice and very far and in between. not sure if i should check into the spark plugs, spark wires, or what. it had a tune up last year so that dizzy had better be ok. what about the fuel injectors/intake??? sure is taking an awful long time just to get her started, 3-4 LONG attemps to get her started, while touching the gas pedal a bit... which is odd cuz she tended to start right up on the first or second try in less than 5 seconds of crankin WITHOUT touching the gas. any ideas fellas? i want to replace the dizzy as a last last last last last last resort since i dont got that kind of $$...

Have you checked the timing- what's it set to?

i honestly dont know how to check the timing, i would think it should be ok reasing being is because when the engine arrived here on the pallet, i took off the old timing belt and without moving anything, i quickly slipped on the new timing belt.... so dont think the timing could of changed, and how could it change while running? a question, does anyone have a throttle sensor? i cant figure out what this dumb thing does since it keeps unplugging itself and when it does, the engine gradually goes haywire. thinking maybe theres a possibility the plug or the receiver end may be going bad? any ideas on this?

If you are losing power under aceleration then it could possibly be a problem with the crank. This can be serious and result in bent rods if the crank pully skips. In any case you may need a decent mechanic to sort the issue before you end up broken down and needing a tow. Have you changed your timing belt lately? I hope I'm wrong
good luck