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Power Loss during Acceleration on highway

1787 Views 3 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  93celicaconv
6
Some background - Car is a 1998 Celica Vert Auto with around 220k miles.

Within the past 500 miles - Fuel Filter, Cap and Rotor, Wires, oil change, cleaned throttle body/IAC, all new vacuum hoses to the throttle body included Map sensor as-well

No Check engine light, no stored codes

Car seems to run amazing, idles fine (a small bounce in the tach but seems normal), starts hot and cold. Decent power considering miles

The one main issue I have been running into recently Is a poor acceleration issue at highway speeds, the car seems to fall on its face after 65-70 mph no matter the rpm. Trans doesn't seem to slip mph moves according to rpm vise versa.

Going up small grades on the highway the car is almost loosing MPH unless I floor it which never happened in the past. The car has a noticeable power loss/gain at random moments which are very noticeable from the drivers seat. Holding the throttle steady you can feel the power come in and out. Any help or leads would be amazing.

Attached is the live data from the car holding steady at about 3k rpm on the highway, and a plug hidden under the intake for anyone that may know.
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Exhaust or catalyst blockage? Can you repeat issue with shifter in manual low gear like Low or second above 3000rpm. Then you don't have to be going highway speed to investigate anything. Also check fuel pressure. The fuel demands at idle and low load are much less so a blockage or fuel pump failing will only show at higher rpm and higher load. Blockage can also be rust in the bottom of the fuel tank plugging up the fuel pump inlet sock. Either way, hook up a fuel pressure gauge, feed the hose around the hood hinge, and tape it to the windshield. Measuring exhaust back pressure can be done in the driveway. The kits usually have adapters to replace the oxygen sensor. Then just throttle the engine through the RPM range and look at back pressure. It should be less than 3psi at 2500rpm. Sometimes you can also tell exhaust restriction with a vacuum gauge on the intake manifold. At 2500rpm and neutral, it should be about 3 in. Hg different than idle vacuum. If it is like 8-10 in. Hg, then there could be an exhaust restriction causing engine to work harder.

The data at 3100 rpm and 97 kPa MAP just shows that you are wide open throttle. The short term and long term numbers are 0 because it is most likely open loop fuel control. That doesn't really give us any information. I would not worry about the connector as Toyota only makes one harness and they tape back connectors not needed. Like it could be for a different emissions package or accessory or even for a manual transmission application.
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Exhaust or catalyst blockage? Can you repeat issue with shifter in manual low gear like Low or second above 3000rpm. Then you don't have to be going highway speed to investigate anything. Also check fuel pressure. The fuel demands at idle and low load are much less so a blockage or fuel pump failing will only show at higher rpm and higher load. Blockage can also be rust in the bottom of the fuel tank plugging up the fuel pump inlet sock. Either way, hook up a fuel pressure gauge, feed the hose around the hood hinge, and tape it to the windshield. Measuring exhaust back pressure can be done in the driveway. The kits usually have adapters to replace the oxygen sensor. Then just throttle the engine through the RPM range and look at back pressure. It should be less than 3psi at 2500rpm. Sometimes you can also tell exhaust restriction with a vacuum gauge on the intake manifold. At 2500rpm and neutral, it should be about 3 in. Hg different than idle vacuum. If it is like 8-10 in. Hg, then there could be an exhaust restriction causing engine to work harder.

The data at 3100 rpm and 97 kPa MAP just shows that you are wide open throttle. The short term and long term numbers are 0 because it is most likely open loop fuel control. That doesn't really give us any information. I would not worry about the connector as Toyota only makes one harness and they tape back connectors not needed. Like it could be for a different emissions package or accessory or even for a manual transmission application.
Thank you! I will be checking for clogged exhaust and fuel pressure this weekend when I get the chance, for future reference the car has no egr so there is no chance it’s clogged. Anyways the live data shown was not at wide open throttle, maybe at 25% keeping steady at 3100 rpm’s which is why I was concerned about the 0-0 for fuel trims.

At idle in drive the load is about 40% and as soon as I hit the throttle it’s up to about 85-90% I’m not sure if this is normal or not.

I will also be swapping out the fuel sock this weekend and give that a try.

I cannot say that I’ve gotten the car to have the same issue in low or 2nd, even if I am on the highway and take the car out of overdrive I don’t seem to notice the issue until it drops back into overdrive.
Any further updates on progress, or what you found that made a major positive difference?
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