Hey all,

My car as of the last two weeks is doing this thing where most of the time between the 1000-2000rpm range i have a complete loss of power, but soon as it passes about 2000-2200 it suddenly kicks in..

So for example if i'm at the lights and i accelerate normally, the car will take off, but soon as the revs pass 1000 its like something is holding the engine back, even if i plant my foot down at this stage it makes no difference, but about 2 seconds later soon as the revs pass the 2000 mark its like my engine magically wakes up and accelerates like crazy..

I've noticed this happens mainly in first gear, sometimes in second, i cant really tell in third/fourth.. Also, when the engine is cold it is much worse, and i've also noticed rarely (like 2-3 times in a week) while im at the lights sometimes, for no reason the revs will suddenly drop below idle and my car will shake as if it will stall but it will quickly rise/drop a few times before stabling out. Not sure if this is related.

Anyone have any ideas on things I can check or is this a known problem anyone has had?

I dont think this is relevant but the problem started about a month after i've had my extractors and entire exhaust system replaced with 4480's and redback 2.5" but after i had this done the car was running perfectly for a good 3-4 weeks before this happened

similar to my problem with the ED. no imediate power when you put the foot down, and shakes like crazy sometimes. cleaning the injectors seems to have fixed it.

the extractors might not have been put on tight enough and loss of back pressure causing u to lose some power down low.....thats what i think anyway...unless its the other way around where u lose pressure and have loss of power up top...anyways there might be a leak somewhere which may also contribute to the rough idle u experience sometimes....

about a month or so ago my EL was doing a simular problem and it turned out the it was the water pump so it might be the start of that going not sure mate.
too many things to pick from.

hmmm, dout it would be a water pump. swap out the fuel filter first and run a 1/4 tank of optimax and injector cleaner. then put the foot down to get the sprayers going hard. should fix it for $40

if not, sorry to say i have heard the head gasket can do the same thing. and you dont even want to think about that...

yeh i agree the water pump is a long shot but still it may be either way i hope its only a cheap fix for you mate

Hey guys, i havent had the net for a while but after some investigating the water pump looks good, and im fairly certain i had it replaced fairly recently..

I tried cleaning the injectors but no luck, althugh my car did run a but smoother it still did the same thing..

What i have noticed tho, is that the temp gauge is fluctuating like crazy, and at some points in my driving it gets abnormally high for about 2 minutes and goes back to the middle but is still sitting slightly higher than it should.. i've checked my water and all the hoses, so its starting to look as though fiftyone might be right and its the head gasket...

Any way to tell before i take it to my mechanic if i've done the head? And can if i have done it, will still driving the car lightly make anything worse?

And how much am i looking at if it is the head gasket?

Thanks for all your help by the way guys, much appreciated!!

Well, check your oil. If it is milky looking, than it's your head (gasket).
"The difference is $1400."

As lag said, check the oil on ur dip stick and up uner the filler cap etc. and if it's milky looking then the head gasket's definately gone IF it's gone into a part of the head that carries oil. They can also go in other places that dont foul the oil, but thats waaay less common. If it's gone into a cylinder, the water in teh compression chamber will give u a miss, I guess. And condensation out the tailpipe even after she's warmed up.

Looks like no milkyness.. which i guess is a good thing, but as you said theres a small chance its somewhere that doesnt carry oil.

I'll check for condensation out the tailpipe, but i guess i gotta take it in to the mechanic and let the pro's do their thing.. Fingers crossed its not expensive!

My car was hesitating and stuff when accelerating normally in traffic..

Then the car stopped on the side of the road and wouldn't start.. Turned out to be my fuel pump.

woah woah, i said fuel then head gasket. you said the injectors got cleaned. but didn't do the fuel filter, whats the point in that?

your not loosing oil or water. no fluids are mixing. no condensating.

car runs rough in first, needs a s**t load of oil it can't get. then runs pritty good in higher gears. because the engine management can cope with the demand.

its running hot and cold heaps. oxy sensor senses wild fluctuations in fuel and leans it out heaps.

doesn't run well in the cold. ecu uses defalt settings till the engine warms up. the defalt settings dont account for fuel starvation.

the amazing thing is people dont realise how dirty fuel can accually get. imagine driving through the Nullibour, as the tank empties it needs atmospheare to replace the fuel burnt. the air out there would contain a s**t load of dust just right to clog a filter. i did a few threads a while back on fuels, there was a guy doing bush mechanics on a xh ute and put a hole in the filter cause it was clogged then had about 10 other problems later.

if you want me to post the links tell me. but it sounds like filter BEFORE gasket. (thank god)