No Power While Climbing (and an oil leak)

[four-fleet-feet]

Aircraft-engineer and I are at our wits' ends here.

 

1997 Impreza L wagon, 2.2, automatic, 175k.

 

For the last two weeks I have had no power while climbing. For those who know the Puget Sound area, if I climb a hill doing anything under 30, I can't get any speed up. If I'm climbing from a stop when I get to 20 MPH it's like I hit a wall. I can't get any oomph until I nearly stomp the pedal to the floor, which drops me into passing gear and I slowly get into 3rd. It revs my engine up to 3000. Once I hit the crest, I'm fine. Zooming along.

 

Cloverleaf on-ramps - I run out of ramp before I get anywhere near 50, let alone 60 (the speed limit). Climbing ramps... you gotta be kidding. South Hill on 512 is doable, but only if I stay at 55-60. If my speed drops I'm doing the tortoise again.

 

Had Dragon to Puyallup Subaru yesterday. They can't find ANYTHING wrong, just a leak at the *$$%**! cam seals/o-rings again (that we replaced Feb 08), and a leak at what they're calling the 'PCV Separator Plate Seal'. Is this name another one for the rear seal retrofit from the plastic plate to the metal one I've read about on here?

 

They also can't find the cause of the cold-car rattle/click/noise (which I had an earlier post about) from the front driver's side. Not the CV. Not the brakes. Car was too warm to check the bearings, which we're leaning towards being the problem. Will do the thermometer test on the axle when we have time.

 

As far as what we've done to figure out the no-go bit, here's the list. New battery (mine died this week). Plugs had less than 12k on them (NGK) so we put on a set of dealer wires. No change. Fuel filter has flow but it's been on a year. Air filter only 3k and looks white top + bottom with very little dirt. I have a new one but the 'old' one is darn near new. Changed fuel to plus. Premium last week didn't make a dent in this. No CELs. Oil change yesterday with 5-30. Trans flush done summer 08 at the dealer. Fluid levels OK.

 

Problem didn't start until after the Seattle deep freeze in December. I didn't drive Dragon for the two weeks; that's what buses are for. I put in a bottle of Heet during the freeze just in case I had condensation in the tank (3/4 full). But she ran fine from Dec. 26th to about Jan 4th, the day I had the problem start. I'd put ina tank of gas on the 27th, from Fred Meyers.

 

Problem got better yesterday, when I had only a 1/4 tank gas (Federal Way Costco; I switched brands to see if I'd gotten a flood-damaged tank of fuel). I filled up with Plus (Chevron) and bang, the problem's back this AM. This station's on a hill and can not have water in the tanks.

 

No rattles, bangs, and other than the drips of oil from the seals, no leaks. No starting problems now that I have a new battery, and no shifting problems on the flat/while cold/manually. I just have a no-go-up-hill car.

 

I'm out of ideas. Anyone else have any? TIA.

[Gloyale]

Fuel pressure test? Both at idle and under load?

[nipper]

Get yourself a vacume gauge. Put that on the car and tell us exaclty what it is doing.

 

What happens when you manually shift the car?

 

The seperator plate is they typical leak you read about.

 

Would be interesting to put the car in a heated garage to see what happens.

 

Can you get your hands on a code reader? I would like to see what temp the engine is running at.

 

Can you actually get up to highway speed?

 

Do you have heat?

 

nipper

[fleming442]

As far as the rattle/click/ whatever goes, check the little rubber grommet that holds the hood prop rod to the rad. support. Mine was driving me nuts because it squeaked intermittently! $3 @ the dealer.

[aircraft engineer]

OK - the designated brother drove it up a 1/2 mile 6% grade from a standing start.

 

Temp show mid range right where MINE is (same car, just with the phase 1 engine)

 

There's a dead spot in 3rd gear where the engine lugs unless downshifted by either tromping down a bit to force the downshift or manual downshift into 2nd. After the slope slightly flattened and got back into 3rd it accelerated easily without a lot of lugging. Checked physical output from the gas line downstream of the filter, key off to key on - nice squirt of gas out the filter so filter doesn't appear plugged. I didn't do the acid test of "take it all the way out" (only disconnected the output line - c-c-cold hoses don't slip off easily) and blow thru the metal tube to VERIFY free flow", though.

 

She INSISTED on new plug wires, I kept the old ones - there's nothing wrong with THEM either, but not MY problem.

 

No indication of engine codes - no lights on at all.

 

Still have no idea of why the fuel economy went down to 22 or so - on my Tempo it was an oxy sensor (without an engine code. New sensor and the mileage went back up)

 

I'm thrashing about here, folks...

[four-fleet-feet]

Nipper - no codes as per the dealer. I can accelerate just fine - on the flat. The cloverleafs I use most often are not flat. Downhill or flat no problem, just curving or straight uphills.

 

I have PLENTY of heat. Defroster is fast and my toes are toasty. Car warms up quickly and stays that way. I have no temp jump during the problem-climbing periods. Running 60/40 Prestone antifreeze. Changed 2/08. No leaks.

 

Now this AM I have a slight rattle from the engine compartment. It wasn't there before the oil change. It was loud enough that aircraft-engineer could hear it as I pulled into his driveway. We haven't even started to figure that one out, yet.

 

Mileage is now down to 20.5. Bummer. I was getting 25+ until late November, and then it started to drop about .5 per tank.

 

Figured the 'PCV plate' was the same separator when I was told the engine would have to be pulled @ 6 hours labor. Boo.

 

This problem's driving me nuts....

[dhise]

I've had a cat. convertor go bad and cause power loss. The element(or whatever it's called) was loose, you could hit it and hear it bounce, so the car ran ok until you went up an incline then the catalyst would slide back and plug the exhaust and just kill the power.

 

Your description seems pretty close to what I experienced.

[Rooster2]

I've had a cat. convertor go bad and cause power loss. The element(or whatever it's called) was loose, you could hit it and hear it bounce, so the car ran ok until you went up an incline then the catalyst would slide back and plug the exhaust and just kill the power.

 

Your description seems pretty close to what I experienced.

 

I had a similiar experience a few years back. I knew the element media in the cat converter was loose, I could hear it rattle when the car was at idle. On the return side of a 600 mile round trip, the media decided to plug the exhaust pipe. It caused so much restriction, that the car would not go faster than 48 mph. I had to complete that trip on a Sunday afternoon driving down the interstate at 48 mph with the 4 ways on driving on the shoulder dodging road kill and lost exhaust system mufflers. However unlike yours, my car had some power up to a 2500 rpm, after that it wouldn't rev up any higher.

 

However, after reading all that you have said, I kinda think you are having trany problems. I seemed to have read that your motor revs just fine, you just can't get the engine power to the wheels.

[kharris360]

did you ever figure out this problem?? My car is doing the same thing!!!!!