marcin944

im at the point of just ripping this thing apart. how come it sounds like its choking. its an 83 944 and theres always something. the idle is at about 800 and has this funny noise. like the exhaust is clogged up and it choking. when you accelerate it sounds bad. over the past week this car has lost so much power and today its worse. could it be something with the intake. could the hose be cracked and its getting the wrong amount of air. please sombody help me because im at the point of seriously just calling the tow truck and let them take this thing to the yard.

951sickness

Could be your catalytic converter is clogged. I had one clog up on my old Rabbit and it wouldn't rev above 3K and when I finally pushed the issue, it blew the cap right off the sniffer pipe. When the cap blew it sounded like a tire going flat. Drove great after that...except for the exhaust leak.

marcin944

what do you mean blew it of the sniffer. you mean the boot?

Sasha

Loss of power could be caused by just about anything.

What are other simptoms? Coolant loss, oil loss, excessive fuel consumption? I think 800rpm idle is what factory calls out for 944na. That's not your problem.

First is a tuneup - spark plugs, wires - did wonders for my junked resotration project. Remember replacing timing and balance shaft belts will save your huge amoung of money rebuilding the engine. Then...

Try checking for vacuum leaks, open the hood and take a look to see if any of the small or large vacuum hoses have been disconnected or cracked (the ones uder the intake - leading to cold star and idle stablaizer), inspect the intake boot (it usually cracks on the bottom).
If vacuum is fine, move on to the fuel system - check of fuel leakage around injectors, fuel hoses cracks, regulator and damper hose connections and/or leakage. Injector connector wires might be loose.

Then move on to accessory belts and pulleys - see if your power steering pump seized or A/C compressor clutch is stuck.

If all this looks ok, then you might have deeper problems - coolant/oil loss (without visual dripping) and/or overheating might indicate blown head gasket.

If not, move on the clutch/transaxle - but that's another post.

Thanks

Ethan

I had an exhaust pipe blow once, sounded like a gun shot! To me it sounds like your cat is clogged. 800 rpm idle is normal. Id look into your intake and exhaust. If thats clear look into plugs and wires. That should help out with relatively low costs. Dont send it to the yard!! If you do Ill come get it!

Joel

Check the fuel pressure regulator too. When mine went bad the car ran full rich. It would barely idle and I had to keep the revs well above 3k just to keep it running.