acceleration problem for 1980 Aspen

Car type: 1980 Dodge aspen 1 barrel slant six. Automatic Transmission

Today while leaving town to get to work I got in the car, everything seemed fine , I ran by the bank to deposit a check, and when i started heading out of town, a few miles from the bank, the car all of the sudden stopped accelerating. The car will not shift gears either.

It seems that when you first start the car and put it in gear, it accelerates a little (maybe 15 to 20 mph) then all of the sudden no longer accelerates and just idles there like it is in neutral (rpm's increase slightly as well).

The engine will rev, but will go no where. Once the car is turned off then back on, it again accelerates a little then does the same thing over again. The engine also seems to be getting very hot.

Note: There was a hole in the upper radiator hose that was replaced about an hour prior to this, as the old one had sprung a large leak recently.

One person told us they think it maybe the thermostat (being closed), but after looking online one indication of it being the thermostat is that one hose will remain cool as the radiator fluid isn't getting through.

Any other Ideas as to what it could be.

Unfortunately, your description is a bit vague.

There are quite a few things to look for.
If it blows huge black smoke out the exhaust, but has no power, the choke may be stuck closed - either the choke spring is bad, the choke heater no longer heats, the choke linkage is stuck, or the choke pull-off diaphram no longer works.

If the engine runs rough, you may have an ignition problem.

If the engine wants to splutter and die when you step on the gas, but idles okay, the carburetor may have a plugged jet, bad fuel pump or plugged fuel filter.

If the engine runs fine, smoothly, and revs well, but the car does not move much, the transmission may be slipping - a fluid and filter change fixes this about half the time.

It the trans is not slipping, and the car accelerates well up to 20 mph or so, the transmission's throttle position linkage or cable might be broken, or the transmission may have a stuck valve in the valve body.

Finally, the camshaft drive chain may have skipped a tooth, due to age and wear. When this happens, power drops way down and the exhaust manifold glows red after a while.

Generally, all of these problems requires an experienced person or mechanic to identify and fix. Some are minor repairs, some might be more expensive to fix.

Thank you.

Update, After the car cooled down completely, I took it for another drive. It drove fine at first, but after it heated up to halfway between the first hash mark and the center hashmark on the gage, it began to act up.

At first it just wouldn't allow me to go past 40, then 30, and so on and so forth without giving it a hell of a lot of gas. This happened earlier right before the problem above happened. My guess is that it would have happened again had I been further from home.

After I pulled in the drive and parked it, I checked to two radiator hoses, the top hose was very hot, while the bottom one was just warm.

We will try changing the thermostat tomorrow and see what happens, I will keep updated.


Just another note: the heater in the car does not spit out warm air, which I was told is another indication of a bad thermostat.

If this doesn't work, then we will have a good idea of where to start concerning fixing the problem, thanks again for your help.

Unfortunately, your description is a bit vague.

Finally, the camshaft drive chain may have skipped a tooth, due to age and wear. When this happens, power drops way down and the exhaust manifold glows red after a while.

Generally, all of these problems requires an experienced person or mechanic to identify and fix. Some are minor repairs, some might be more expensive to fix.

Interestingly enough, the exhaust did glow red, thank you for that, I had forgotten to mention that part.