TheWhopper

Feel free to take a stab at it guys and gals. I'm still re-thinking the whole situation to come up with a game plan for this Saturday.

CAR:
2000 GSR Manual 105,000 miles. No mods, completely stock.

SUMMARY OF PROBLEM:
Car starts, idles fine. Will not accelerate past 15 mph nor accelerate past 4,000 RPM. No CEL. Power feels very weak, especially going up a hill.

Did a half rebuild 8 months ago. (HEAD)
-Put in new (not rebuilt) distributor, new spark plugs, new spark plug wires 8 months ago.
-Replaced O2 sensor in cat
-Head was rebuilt 8 months ago by a shop. (fixed oil coming out of my exhaust)
-New head gasket (OEM 3 layer)
-Rings are bad, burns a lot of oil. (Didn’t have money to rebuild the block along with the head)
-Header has a 6 inch crack.
BTW: burning oil and crack in header will produce a noticeable smell while driving

HISTORY OF PROBLEM: (oldest to newest)
1. GSR started having problems starting a few weeks ago. A couple days later it would no longer start, motor would crank.
2. Put in new spark plugs (again), which fixed the issue..but sometimes my car would start to sputter then die. Every time I attempted to accelerate, the car would start misfiring and die. As long as my speed was consistent I was fine. Car starts and idles perfectly.
3. Adjusted timing, inspected timing belt and no skipped tooth. Reset ECU, no change.
4. Swapped distributor (#2 – 8 months old) and spark plug wires with my friend’s (FD), everything worked perfectly.
5. Swapped back my old distributor (#2) and spark plug wires, attempted to go home, car died on the freeway…misfired several times, could not get up past 15 mph, towed home.
6. Used my OEM distributor (#1) (was throwing a cel 8), replaced rotor, cap and coil, it’s basically a new distributor now minus the housing at this point plus the cel 8 which it strangely stopped giving…thankfully. Also bought a new set of spark plug wires from Autozone. It fixed the misfiring issue, but I get this weird base-like air flapping sound. It’s not like two tangible things are hitting each other but rather a bass type air flow. My header has a crack, that could be causing it, but it wasn’t causing it before. Even if I get the crack welded shut or header replaced, almost positive that won’t fix the issue.
7. Put in new (not rebuilt) distributor from the Distributor King (#3)…no change.

Friend is being a punk so I can’t use his distributor and spark plug wires again (FD).
Got the following compression, before the car reached it’s normal operating temperature.
1. 180 psi
2. 180 psi
3. 150 psi
4. 180 psi

AT THIS POINT:
Car has no CEL
Will not exceed 15 mph or 4,000 RPM, feels very weak.
Starts fine, idles fine.


PERSONAL THOUGHTS:
1. Misfiring from bad distributor (#2) may have messed up my shiet. Hopefully, head isn’t warped. Car never over heated since I’ve owned her.
2. Will need to beat the crap out of my friend to use his distributor (FD)and spark plug wires again. This will narrow things down quite a bit.!!!!!!
3. New distributor could be bad. (doubtful)
4. New spark plugs were messed up because of the bad distributor (#2) and misfiring
5. Fuel issue delivery issue
6. Although piston 3 has 150psi, I should have more power…problem should be as bad as it is now.
7. Still need to do some more tests to try and narrow down the problem further. Leak down test if I can get a damn air compressor.
8. Was planning on rebuilding the block in March, still hoping to get it running to at least last me until then.

Unlike most threads, if I resolve it I’ll post the answer. Pics and videos coming soon.


*************2/18/2010 (20 days later)*************

SOLVED!

The distributor was bad, which was causing the misfiring. The misfiring destroyed my cat.




Hollowed my cat using a crowbar...issue resolved.

Went to a local junkyard, got a cat off a 98 Integra sedan (didn't think it would fit since mine is a coupe) for $150.

Here's how my car sounded when I still had the problem.
-RPM would not accelerate past 3,500
-Top speed was 15 mph

http://s175.photobucket.com/albums/w...0213-1012.flv]

dothacker

... timing?

da9h-town

maybe ur cat is clogged run it open headers maybe that might help

dothacker

lol @ da9h-town... might work too. but you might wanna buy some ear plugs and ear muffs for double protection. (my cat fell off @ 1960 in houston last weekend.. talk about having a loud exhaust )

Spawne32

iTrader: (3)

i would check the cat as well, what your describing is very well possible a clogged cat

da9h-town

lol dothacker i bet it was how did da cat fall off tho? do u stay in houston or in corsicana if i may ask

dothacker

i stay in corsicana, girl lives in H-town (highway 6 and west little york). it fell off because the flange where the cat and the catback piping rusted off. thanks to Powerfab, we installed a 2.25" flange on a 2.5" highflow exhaust welded on a 3" turbo exhaust... lol yeah, it's not ideal, but it got me home without running open header :D

back to the topic, you seem like you have a bottleneck somewhere... have you done anything in the car (ie I/H/E)?

TheWhopper

Thanks for the info, I'll definitely check the cat. If it's clogged, shouldn't that mess with the O2 sensor and cause my CEL to come on?

No mods to the I/H/E.

dothacker

if it's clogged, hollow it out jk jk

TheWhopper

Hope this helps anyone with the same problem! Enjoy!