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Untill a week ago my car has been fine. All of a sudden i cant go up a hill any faster than 50mph. I replcaed the plugs and wires, and the disty is good. The trans shifts like it is suppose to but the engine doesnt have the power to back it up... does that make sense? possible vaccum leak?



93 mx3 v6 K8 all stock

First off, auto or manual? Currently there are numerous possibilities. Did it start while driving or wake up one day and it was like this? Has the check engine light turned on? You say the motor doesn't have the power, explain how it runs when you notice this lack in power. Is misfiring? feel like it's not getting enough gas? How have you verified the distributor is good? Try cleaning out you IACV. Vaccum leak is a possibility but there are numerous others aswell.

its an automatic..its not bucking or misfiring and the check engine light has not even blinked..... Instead of doing the mod i just replaced the disty around 5 months ago. The car was fine one night, in the morning after about three miles of being driven it shows this power lose. On flat srufaces it isnt as noticable. when i try to accelerate heavily it drops a gear (like usaully) but it sounds like something is holding it back. When going up any sort of an incline the car slows down till it reaches around 45- 50 mph (from around 75) the tach goes down startins at 4500 till it hits the next gear then goes up to 5500rpm and decreases more untill it levels out around 3000. (this is with giving it a good amount of gas)

Have you checked the transmission fluid level and condition - might be time for a fluid & filter change - but do not get it power flushed.

i had the trans rebuilt about the same time the disty was replaced, i checked the trans fluid and it is still a good color and level.

If you bought a used or reman disty - odds are it might be failing again. If you still have warranty try getting another disty. When you replaced disty - did you replace plugs, wires, cap, rotor etc?

i replaced everything when i replaced the disty. cap and all. i would think it was it too, but it doesnt feel like the timing is off, or anything like that. does a bad disty cause this lose of power?

How long has it been since you replaced the fuel filter?

93mx-3 wrote:i replaced everything when i replaced the disty. cap and all. i would think it was it too, but it doesnt feel like the timing is off, or anything like that. does a bad disty cause this lose of power?

A failing disty doesn't throw the timing off. It merely provides the current to the spark plugs. A failing disty could be sending a weak current to the plugs hence causing power loss however I'd think it would give the impression of misfiring. Pat may be onto something with the fuel filter. When you give it gas how does it respond? In park/neutral, when you rev it up how does it act?

i replaced the fuel filter when i replaced the disty, i thought a differnt problem was the filter, which turned out to be the disty so both the filter and pump were replaced. when i rev it in nuetral it doesnt seem to have a problem, no hesitation, bucking, or misfiring. thats why its so confusing. maybe i should rev for a few seconds then see if it changes. i did possibly put in some gas from a caseys station, that i suspect might have been dirty gas, round the same time of the problem...

Revving a loose motor doesn't tell you much since it needs little power to turn the internals. Bad gas could be the issue. I was suspecting the gas and not the spark. If you have burned half the gas then go fill it up with premium and see what happens.

i have filled up the tank (1/4 full when filled) since i started having problems. there wasnt any change in the engines performance..... its really frustrating to drive at this point..

I would suggest taking it to the place that rebuilt the tranny and have them run some real diagnostics on the tranny - not just fluid color & level test - but line pressure test, stall test etc. Atleast that way you can eliminate tranny being a factor or not.

pull any codes?

I think a mechanic is a good idea at this point. Could be the fuel pump is not opperating properly or a multitude of other little things. I don't know jack about an auto so I cannot even suggest what on the auto might cause a similar issue. GL