no power/acceleration when going around 45/50 mph

[Fern25]

Hey guys,

I am a car newbie so I am not quite sure what to make of my problem. I have a 89 Geo Metro and aside from the occasional rough idling things seemed okay, untill I was driving on the highway the other day and while going 65/70 mph the car began to completly loose power/acceleration. It would feel like it was going to stall out but it wouldn't, and then when I was got down to about 25-30 mph the problem stopped. I tried the car again the next day and it started no prob, and seemed to run okay at speeds less then 45/50 mph. Anything above that and again the car looses all acceleration and will start to feel like its going to stall, it kind of sputters or lurches, but it doesnt die or anything just loses power. Friends have told me that it sounds like a fuel issue and that it may be the fuel pump/filter. I am going to go replace the spark plugs and O2 sensor and see if that helps before looking at other possibilites. Any ideas? Thanks

[Fern25]

Originally Posted by DieInterim

I would change the fuel filter and then see if the problem goe away.

Blake

Well, I changed the spark plug wires (havent done the actual spark plugs yet though), O2 sensor, and finally the fuel filter. Things seemed back to normal at first, got up to about 65 mph, but then when I got on the highway again it began to loose power similar to before, just not as bad. I think I will do the pcv valve next since it look pretty easy to check, and also look at the EGR vlave, but it looks like I may have to do the pump Any other ideas before I move forward? Thanks

[Crvett69]

89 should not have a EGR valve. its possible you may have a bad fuel pump or that your cat converter is partially plugged. if you put your diagnostic fuse in the fuse box do you get any codes?

[1992GEOMETROXFI]

throtle possition maybe?

Originally Posted by Fern25

Hey guys,

I am a car newbie so I am not quite sure what to make of my problem. I have a 89 Geo Metro and aside from the occasional rough idling things seemed okay, untill I was driving on the highway the other day and while going 65/70 mph the car began to completly loose power/acceleration. It would feel like it was going to stall out but it wouldn't, and then when I was got down to about 25-30 mph the problem stopped. I tried the car again the next day and it started no prob, and seemed to run okay at speeds less then 45/50 mph. Anything above that and again the car looses all acceleration and will start to feel like its going to stall, it kind of sputters or lurches, but it doesnt die or anything just loses power. Friends have told me that it sounds like a fuel issue and that it may be the fuel pump/filter. I am going to go replace the spark plugs and O2 sensor and see if that helps before looking at other possibilites. Any ideas? Thanks

[Fern25]

Thanks for the feedback guys, I really appreciate it. Well to give you an update, after changing the spark plugs the problem has sort of gone away. I can now get up to speed on the highway but I still dont have much acceleration, so I think there still something else that I have to look at. When I mentioned the above to a friend, they said that it sounds like it may be the catalytic converter, which was changed fairly recently (within 1.5-2 years) and I have heard they are supposed to last awhile. Just for the heck of it I scanned an image of the old spark plugs, you can check them out here:

http://members.cox.net/fernie1/splugs.jpg

They don't look to good, and what you can't see from the pictures is buildup of white/greyish material in and around the inner part of the plug. Currently I am try to determine what the condition of the plugs means to see if I may have a more serious problem that I am overlooking. Thanks again for the feedback.

Matt