jstrawther

Aw, shucks, I guess since I have a manual tranny, I don't have one of those transmission modulators. I was hoping that was it. heh.

It's interesting that you said that, because gremlins have been stealing my transmission fluid lately, it definitely hasn't been leaking, but it's been disappearing. I'll check that out.

Any help is appreciated here. It's a 1987 GL, with a carburetor, and a worsening problem where it starts up just fine, but hesitates while accelerating, and generally has no balls. The problem started out as just an occasional bog-down while driving on road trips, like after 100+ miles of high idle, it would start to hesitate and lose considerable amounts of power and run real poorly for a few miles, knocking me down sometimes into 2nd gear, or I'd just pull over, wait a few minutes and drive off. The past week or so, it's gotten worse. About a week ago, I started it up after work and drove the 5 miles back home on the highway pushing 75 mph. She ran perfectly. I had to stop at the stoplight, and I probably sat there for a full minute or so. When I went to take off, the engine had no balls. This is a common problem now, so I wasn't surprised, but it's a pain in the rump roast because I have to sit there for a few seconds and get the RPMs up, then crawl my way through the intersection and find a way to get the hell out of the way. I pulled over and popped the hood, and found the smoke coming from the right side of the y-pipe. The smoke, which I had seen and smelled several times before, led me to think the catalytic converter was plugged or something, but this afternoon I separated the exhaust from the engine and took it for a spin, and it hesitated just the same, which leads me to believe it's NOT the CAT.. So i'm confused! Does anybody have any ideas? I also noticed that when I look down in to the throat of the carburetor when the engine's at superlow idle, the fuel comes out in irregular droplets, rather than in the spray that i'm used to. I appreciate any help, please, because at 203K, i'd hate to think she's ready to start crapping out already.

I am wondering if it's possible that one side is plugged and causing back pressure. I'm going to have a muffler shop test it out. I'm hoping somebody out there has had the same problem and will say "oh yeah, mine did the same thing". .. I guess i'll probably end up replacing the CAT and hoping it solves the problem, but I replaced it 5 years ago because it wouldn't pass emissions tests. It seems like it got fouled up pretty fast...

I have a 1987 Subaru GL with a strange intermittent problem. The engine will run fine 95% of the time, with only a small amount of sluggishness, which is easily remedied by letting up on the gas a bit. But occasionally, usually after running at high idle (3-4000 rpm), the engine loses power and becomes VERY sluggish. I usually end up sitting on the side of the highway with my hazards on and the engine idling for a few minutes until the power comes back. One of the pipes that comes from the exhaust manifold (the right side one) seems to get much hotter than the other one, and it smokes a bit. It doesn't smell like rotten eggs, it kind of smells like burning oil or something, but it's hard to describe. The last time it happened, I separated the Cat. from the engine, went for a spin, and it ran just fine. But,unfortunately the problem is intermittent, and when I hooked the exhaust back up, I had no problems for the rest of the day. This problem can happen on a cold day when the car has just been started up and driven for 5 miles, or it can happen on a hot day in the middle of a 200 mile road trip. It seems like maybe the Cat. is plugged, but everything i've been hearing about Cats is that when they're plugged they're plugged and don't fix themselves. Any help is much appreciated..