Powerless engine.

[BALIKBAYAN]

Hi everyone,

The problem started about a month ago. I refueled the car at the local petrolstation after a long daytrip (about 450 km in darkness heavy winds and rain) and the next day the car was very tired and felt powerless. I refueled the car again a few days ago (Thursday and I also checked the tirepressure) and today when we went out for a walk in the wood it was more than power less. It was not possible to increase the speed from 70 Km/h to 100 km/h on the 5th gear. Nothing happened when I pressed down the accelerator. I had to shift to 3rd gear to be able to accelerate.

My average fuelconsumption has been around 8 l/100km since I bought the car sep 2012. You will find it on www.fuelly.com. The last refill was about 10 l/100km!!! That is a huge increase in fuelconsumption. The car is old now and my wife want us to get a newer car, but I believe it has lot to give yet.

I spent some time in the garage this afternoon, because I wanted to find out what is wrong with the car. I made a compression test. All values are ok. They are slightly below max pressure and the difference between the cylinders are within the 1 bar limit. The sparkplugs looked fine, I would have been surprised if they didn't because I changed plugs 2 ½ months ago. I listened to the engine too and it sounded nice, almost like music to the ears.

My theory is that it is something wrong with the fuel, because the problems started the day after I had refueled the car. How will I get my theory accepted by the petrolstation?

I need to change the front brakediscs soon. I believe it is 6 years since I changed those. That is an acceptable life for the discs. I have not noticed that the brakes are on and the car doesn't loose speed when driving down hill.

Does anyone out there have any other theories of what it might be with the car. Please, I need some real good advise right now. Next time I will refuel at another petrolstation and hopefully the problem might be solved.

 

[Catlover]

Have you looked at the fuel filter, the last lot of fuel you put in may have had some dirt in.

[mrfixer]

Yes, it is possible you received some bad fuel but normally water or Diesel contamination would result in some misfiring or excessive smoking.  If the engine runs smoothly and there is no unusual smoke then the fuel maybe OK.

An engine that runs smoothly but lacks power could be the result of the catalyst collapsing and partly restricting the exhaust.  Also feel the centre of each wheel after driving. One that is hotter than others indicates a sticking brake.

[BALIKBAYAN]

Thanx for your answers.

No, I have not checked the fuelfilter. As the fuel filter is not supposed to be changed and is placed in the fueltank I did not think of it as becoming dirty as the new fuel might rinse the filter and keep the dirt in the plastictank. .

 

That was interesting about the catalyst collapsing. I guess it is 2 years ago I changed the catalyst. It is a combined catalyst and exhaust manifold. It has a special name, maniverter I believe it was called. It was not that expensive and it was supposed to be a perfect fit, but it was not. If I remember correctly it was made by BM catalyst.

I bought a new rear exhaust pipe last autumn and since then the car has sounded like it is a huge hole in the exhaust pipe, but I can't find any. It was a cheap german brand (Vegaz) I have not heard about before. I bought it from Autodoc. It was very difficult to find a new rear exhaustpipe here in Sweden last autumn. I asked the local Toyota garage and the price they asked for that exhaustpipe it must have been made of gold or something.

I will try to remember to put my hand on the wheel centers tomorrow after driving to work. I think they will be ok though. But I will give an update tomorrow evening.

 

[mrfixer]

Klarius exhaust parts (klarius.eu) are reasonable quality and you should be able to buy in Sweden. Be careful with Autodoc - many parts are OK but some parts are very poor quality.

 

 

[BALIKBAYAN]

You get what you pay for is an old truth...

I will remember klarius.eu .

Thanx.

[BALIKBAYAN]

I checked the temperatures at the center of the wheels this morning when I arrived at work. The rear wheels was cold, about 20 degrees. The left front wheel was slighty warmer, about 30 degrees. The right front disc was warm, between 50 and 60 degrees. That should mean that the problem is the right front disc. I had planned to change the discs next month, but I guess I have to do it this week instead. I will try to get a new pair of discs tomorrow. If I can't get the discs this week I will not be able to do the work until the end of this month.

 I will keep you updated if the fuelconsumption will be better after the change of front discs.

 

[peter.o'kane]

It could be your EGS valve sticking causing the powering issues too. My 16 plate Avensis had this problem coupled with yellow warning lights coming on and a warning saying Check Parking Brake.

[nielshm]

Try changing the reinforced rubber hose going from your brakeline to the calibers. Rubber breaks down over time, and very small pieces can get stuck so brake pressure wont be fully released. 

[BALIKBAYAN]

I spent this morning in the garage with the car and changed the brake discs, pads and also the brake calipers. I forced my son to do it with me. He must learn how to do rather easy things with a car as he will soon start to learn how to drive a car. I noticed when I spent an hour to check that the caliper was not to rusty to remove the other week that the piston in the caliper was very much in need of love. I have not been out driving anything except for a short testrun down to the local beach a few minutes away. The center of the discs were cold after that short testrun with some extra tests that the brakes were ok.

I hope I will make a longer testrun tomorrow.

Niels, I wish I had read your message about the hoses on the brakelines. I didn't think of that. I saw that the hoses looked ok on the outside when I inspected the brakes the other week.

[BALIKBAYAN]

I have been driving the car for a week now and the fuel consumption has gone back to its normal 8 lit/100 km instead of 9,7 lit/ 100km.

I meassured the old discs and they are 24,1 mm thick. The min limit is 24,0 mm. I also took out the pistons from the old calipers and the pistons were quite worn. I understand why the brakes were sticking.