danny951

My car has been up until now running great. Solid 15 pounds of boost - no hesitations - just great. Today I was driving out of a turn and and ran it up to around 70 when I hit a bump in the road, but not a pothole, just a seam where the road apparantly bumps up about an inch... it was a pretty loud hit and scared the crap out of me... i seriously don't think i hit anything, just a crappy part of an otherwise very smooth road... so I get off the gas and look around and just go on not seeing anything in my rearview.. but instead of just drivng up to speed again, the car won't accelerate! it just feels like I'm hitting the brakes when I'm pushing the gas! Alright, so I put in the clutch and try to get the RPMs up to 3000 or so and see if it will go and it just hesitates and sticks around 2500.. so I'm limping into a parking lot and can barely get the thing to go. I get a few occasional blips of power and as long as I stay above 3000 I'm fine, but when I let off the gas, it bogs down and sometimes even dies altogether.

What on earth could have jarred loose? I checked the fuel lines, and they are tight, no fuel smells at all, but it feels like the computer kicking in and shutting me down to prevent detonation.. the weird things is it doesn't go into full limp mode -- i can still make full boost when I get a blip of power and can drive it fine, but then if i let off to idle it's a crapshoot whether or not i'll be able to go again!

just sitting in the garage letting it idle it feels like a big vacuum leak or something, but my gauge (aftermarket) shows 16hg/in at idle which is what it always has shown. I checked the idle screw, pulled it nearly all the way out and it ran the same. it's like it bogs down, then breaths, bogs, then breaths.. and if i give it gas it just won't rev up past 2500.

thesmokingman

Intercooler hoses?

MichelleJD

Bingo. Check to see if one of the intercooler hoses has come loose. Talk about a vaccuum leak!

Ian Carr

sounds like when you hit the bump you probably popped a intercooler pipe boot of or it is leaking a little. If not maybe a vacuum line popped off? Im sure its nothing serious but you just need to find what it is

danny951

thanks, strange thing, just tonight, i was in a wreck with my wife in the jetta -- it's pretty much destroyed.. a car pulled out in front of us and we had not way to avoid the collision. the driver of the mustang thought we were slowing to turn, but we were not and that's that. we t-boned the mustang's rear right quarter and thankfully, the jetta's ESP (similar to porsche's stability program) kept us from spinning around into the 20 ft water drainage ditch. after the collision, we moved in a perfect straight line around 45 feet with no noticeable scid marks on the road, just tons of debris and purple coolant all over the ground.. the front-pass side was badly damaged and both airbags filled the car with powder as they went off... i'm still a bit shaken, my wife broke 3 bones in her foot and my left arm is swolen up like a football from the airbag (having much difficulty typing this lol)... seeing as how my 951 has no abs and we hit mostly front right side of the car, i know we would have spun around and possible ended up down the ditch, possibly upside-down... for some reason though, my porsche just hours earlier decided to bust loose either some IC pipes or some thing and we were forced to drive the vw gli. I am very thankful that the Lord has worked in this mysterious way.

needless to say, i haven't had a chance to check my ic pipes other than a quick look, but i'll post an update soon... trying to get some sleep after coming back with my wife from the emergency room.

lart951

Danny, I am glad to hear that both your wife and you are okay. Yes God does work in misterious ways, Thanks God you guys are alive to talk about it, in my job quite often I have to deal with victims of violent crimes and terrible accidents and I can tell you nothing happen by accident there is someone watching over us.

Take care

Luis

testarossa_td

Very glad to hear you and the wife are alright. Trying hard not to say something about stupid drivers and people who ASSume when they drive...
Every time I have been in an accident the first words out of the other person's mouth..." I thought..... No you didn't and that is why my Porsche is totaled!

Sounds like your classic TPS issue...if it is not intercooler pipes.

danny951

Thanks for the concerns...

as far as the car, it isn't the hard pipes, they are solid and tight.. and again, i am reading good vacuum at idle and when driving it around, i just can't hardly accelerate with boost or without boost!

testarossa_td

Arlington, is a nightmare to drive in! I see a wreck everyday on Cooper guaranteed. Now Matlock and Bowen are becoming the same....but I digress.

Here is my two cents on the TPS

theedge

My vote goes to the TPS as well. Mine failed quite suddenly and had worse effects than yours does right now, but similar.

ztnedman1

Does it sound like its running on all cylinders? Check the Distributor cap and see if its not loose. Thats what happened with my car last month when i got it back together(actidentaly hit the cap when changing oil filter). Car was running great for 10 mins then when i reved up to downshift going into a fast corner the car died when i let go of the gas to shift) At first If i floored the car it would rev, but eventually it would just stay at 2500 rpm and do nothing (after the timing became off). But it kept getting worse for me. Since the cap was loose im guessing the rotor kept getting the timing more and more off because it went from hitting all cyls, to three and then sounded like two.

Also before it got bad i noticed that when i would gently get on throttle that the car sounded rough, it didnt wuite sound like 3 cyls but looking back on it, it obviously was.

Definatly check the cap, It sounds right that a hard jarring could make it loose maybe. Your sysmptoms sound exactly like mine were. Good luck with your diagnosis.

jns

Also sounds like the air flow meter connection at the airbox. If it doesn't give an air flow signal to the DME, the fuel won't be flowin' so good. Good luck!

danny951

yeah, i checked the cap and plugs first to make sure they were still tight.. that's what i was thinking though. it feels like the computer is controlling it, not really a problem with the motor or anything.. either a timing or air problem (i guess could be fuel too, but have a new regulator already and have no fuel smells so i'd say it's least likely)

anyway, it feels like a flooded motor would feel... if i give it gas, it does the opposite and wants to die, and if i give it gas, then quickly let off, it does die!

now though it's pretty hard to even start so I've left it alone.. it starts up, hits 1200rpm then quits.

testarossa_td

I still got to lean on the TPS.

danny951

well, i checked the TPS as far as I knew what to check. I still have the click when I open it and it clicks again when I let it back down.