No Power, cannot build revs.
 

Can anybody offer any help with this problem. After running for a while the car has no power and is very slow to build revs. Its 0-60mph time is about 5 mins! I'm told it could be the gearbox/transmission but before spending a fortune I should check out the sensors as the computer could be getting the wrong signal. I have put in a plea for sourcing a manual in the Babble forum but I thought I would post the actual problem here in the hope that someone might say "I had that, we solved it by ...".

Help in clarification.

By revs you mean RPM correct. If this is true that the transmission will have nothing to do with engine RPM's. If it is the transmission then your RPM's will increase and the car will go nowhere or very slow.

Place the shifter into Park and press down on the gas pedal slowly until the RPM's reach 5,000, what happens?

Let up on the gas and allow the engine to settle into an idle again. Press the gas pedal quickly to the floor, what happens?

Do the same test in drive and see what happens.

Did you mash on the gas when you were driving just before this happened?

I had a problem with the engine not making power and very slow to accelerate. It turned out to be a timing issue. Have you check to see what codes if any are being kicked?

SVXipedia.com has how to's in checking code, great source of information.

PM me with you e-mail address and I can sent you manuals. mail box must be able to handle 10mb file.

Steve

how many miles on the car? original exhaust system?
-Bill

Have the catalytic converter and exhaust system checked for flow. What your describing is clooged converter or collapsed exhaust system.

nipper

My thanks to those who have expressed an interest in my problem and my apologies for the delay in responding to your questions. First let me give some more background.

The problem started about 3 years ago! My wife was 50 miles into a 300 mile round trip when without warning and for no reason the car refused pull away at a junction (could have been dangerous as it slowly crawled into the traffic lane). It gradually built speed and then ran OK for the rest of the trip. The problem then repeated itself after a long interval and continued to do so occassionally but more frequently until it became impossible to drive. It was referred to our nearest SVX dealer who diagnosed the need for a replacement gearbox (or strip and rebuild) at a price of c.£3,000 (US$5,500). I decided to dwell on this but after 2 years of "dwelling" with the car parked outside through 2 UK winters I feel the need to sort it. The engine started immediately yesterday with no more assistance than a jump from another battery so I diagnose there cannot be too much wrong with it! There is one other "happening" around the time the problem was developing and that is the pully at the top/centre of the engine came away from its spindle, it fell off! I cannot remember if this was before or after the problem first showed.

So, if I've not bored you to distraction, to answer your questions

Steve: yes revs=RPM (UK slang). My suspicion of the transmission is because I raised this problem a while ago on the UK group and was advised before spending money on the gearbox if the pre and post gearbox sensors are not working properly then the computer might diagnose false wheelspin and invoke the traction control preventing the engine from revving.

If I build the revs to 5,000 there is slight hesitancy up to about 3,000 (say 1 second) and then it flys (all the way to 7,000 if asked). The hesitancy is there with both fast and slow application of the throttle (unless that means I'm not applying it slow enough for your test!). The response does not change if in drive.

My wife never "mashes" the gas (if the UK translation of "mashing" is "giving it some wellie").

Last time I took the codes no mention was made of timing issues although it doesn't like the oxygen sensor readings. I doubt that timing is an issue as it starts so easily ever after a very long layoff with stale petrol.

Bill: the car has done 180,000 miles (yes miles!). It is very sound except for this problem, used to run like a dream and glued to the road. It has a full service history for most of its life. I cannot tell if the gearbox has ever been replaced/rebuilt.

Nipper: would a clogged C. converter give intermittent faults, I would expect a gradual but consistent worstening but have no experience of these things (I'm used to older engines - claim to fame: full strip and rebuild of Lamborghini Espada 4.0 V12, car and mechanics - still have it but due for another going over).

Any further ideas will be gratefully received. I have the battery on charge and will run it for our MOT test soon so I can remind myself of the fault and get some up to date codes (and find out what else may have gone wrong while the car was standing for so long).

By the way, I love the car: powerful, solid feel, brilliant handling and easy to drive.

sounds like the convertor, I had a car act the same way a couple of years ago (pre-SVX) and the problem was the convertor

Engine or gearbox???????
The bit
My wife was 50 miles into a 300 mile round trip when without warning and for no reason the car refused pull away at a junction (could have been dangerous as it slowly crawled into the traffic lane). It gradually built speed and then ran OK for the rest of the trip

It depends on if the engine was reving hard, but the car not going. Or the engine was not reving, just staying at low rpms. The former would be the transmission, the latter would be the engine.

If it was the transmission, the forward clutch would have to be slipping, and the ATF would be dark and smell burnt. A torque converter problem would be the Stator one way sprag clutch. If it was slipping, it would accelerate slower from a standing start, and be ok at higher speed. But it would not be as slow as you say it was. If the Sprag was seized, it would accelerate fine from the start, but lack at higher speed. A stall test should show some signs of the problem.

This bit: There is one other "happening" around the time the problem was developing and that is the pulley at the top/centre of the engine came away from its spindle, it fell off! I cannot remember if this was before or after the problem first showed.

If this pulley is the crank pulley, the timing belt sprocket behind it could have come loose also, may have sheared the key way, to allow the timing to move. This would link to the: doesn't like the oxygen sensor readings

As far as the "traction control" goes. The Torque control only retards the ignition timing a few degrees, not enough to prevent it from accelerating away from a stop.

I tend to think it is the engine. If the key way has sheared the timing can move, retard one day, fine the next. Not to rule out a whole lot of other engine causes.:p

Harvey.;)

What about the condition of the TPS (throttle position sensor). This little device does control a lot of the engine and tranny information. If it is going bad then you may get multiple problems.

STEVE

Thanks again guys. I'm going to try and run with the cat. or throttle position sensor diagnoses initially. Harvey thanks for your suggestion but I don't buy the timing issue. When the pulley fell off (and it literally did fall off, not just come loose) I was able to rescue the car and drive it home with the pulley on the passenger seat, so the absence of the pulley had no affect on the running of the engine!

I will hopefully take it for an MOT test (annual roadworthyness test) on Friday as I can legally run the car on the road to/from the test centre and so get in a 10 mile journey there and back to assess the problem.

Will keep you in touch.

Well it depends on what you mean by " When the pulley fell off (and it literally did fall off, not just come loose)"

Did it just separate at the rubber, or did it come off the crank shaft end. If the former, the timing won't be affected. If it is the latter then the timing belt sprocket, behind the pulley can get loose to chew the key way out to allow the ign/valve timing to move back and forth.
See this thread.
http://www.subaru-svx.net/forum/show...t=crank+pulley

Harvey.;)

Now with a 3 year time frame.. im going to say a bad torque converter

http://www.forparts.com/ICtransmissi...ostics1.01.htm

DO a stall test as described in the article, and let us know what you get. i bet the torque converter is shot.
A Clogged catalytic converter would have gotten far worse over time, and given many symptons.


nipper