my car is slow please help

1fast'93

Registered User
well a few weeks ago i parked my '93 LX for about a week since i had other transportation. when i decided to drive it again i got a big surprise. my car is now rediculously slow i could get outrun by a stock GEO metro no joke. anyone who has had this happen or might know what it is please help. thnx in advance
P.S. its a 3.8L
 
3.8 lx

I owned one. Do a visual check over. Those cars are pretty easy. Need a little more info to help out though.

I'm kinda itching to work on another 3.8. check the distribuor cap and rotor.

chris
 
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unfortunatly im talking about in my car :(
but anyway it sounds fine gets good gas mileage, i checked the ignition timing its good, the cap and rotor are new. im going to try plugs and wires next. also i know its not plugged cats because i have open headers
 
whens the last time you did a good tuneup?

on my car, i replace the plugs and wires once a year. actually my plugs are magencore and dont need replacing...but changing those out made a big difference for me.

start with the little stuff like, changing your air filter -getting a KN, tuneup, change fuel filter, maybe run a fuel injector cleaner additive or gas line/crankshaft additive, make sure your cats arent clogged, all that basic stuff, and then start looking at parts once you know youre at least up to par on maintenance.
 
make sure your cats arent clogged,
1fast'93 said:
also i know its not plugged cats because i have open headers
already checked
tongue.gif


one other thing i don't think its a fuel problem cause i ran with the MAF disconnected for a while and it ran rich. im pretty sure it couldn't run rich if the fuel system was faulty
 
Likely the maf sensor

sounds to me like a fuel problem (filter or pump) or a fuel control problem (mass air flow sensor). Its not likely an ignition problem. Id put my money on the maf sensor. Will it not rev, and difficult to get up to speed? Check your maf voltage at idle. Should be around 1.0 volt. Then hit wide open throttle and see what voltage it reads. Should be between 4.5 and 5.0 volts. If it hangs around 2-3v then your maf sensor is bad and is not sending the correct signal to the computer(pcm) so that pcm can increase injector pulse width and fuel trim. You of course are going to need a scanner for this...Dave
 
you have open headers on an na 3.8? Why?

1. i thought they where clogged. 2. im a redneck and i feel like having a loud car for a while. im going to weld strait pipe in in a week or so tho.


o yea i just remembered something the car did a while ago. i was playing on a dirt road and i was flooring it and it drove slow like usual then at about 3500 RPM it was like i had a turbo and it spooled up. i got good power the exhaust sounded great and this lasted untill second gear where it was sluggish untill 3500 again. but it quite doing that now its just slow all the time
 
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