Where did the pep go?

[warlocke]

a brand that my store carries and that me and my dad both use on our vehicles, is Xact

usually around $20 a set

[88Adventurer]

I'll swing by Advance on the way home and see if the plugs and wires are all that's keeping the car from going the speed limit. Will update on it later. Thanks

[GenevaDirt]

I thought you said he put new plugs and wires on it....why buy them if what he put on is defective?

[88Adventurer]

It was back in November when the work was done, don't know if I have much of a chance of getting a replacement now.

[GenevaDirt]

no matter....there should be at least a 1 year warranty on the wires anyway....there would be when you buy them.

[88Adventurer]

Good point, and it would save a few $. I still have the receipt.

[GenevaDirt]

I buy the lifetime wires and then just trade them in whenever I feel they need to be....I go out right in the parking lot and swap them out....good to go.

[88Adventurer]

OK, got the plugs and wires replaced and still a top speed of 45 - 50. Was looking around the engine to make sure there weren't any hoses disconnected, are there any on a 88 Carb. that are well hidden? Before it was taken in, the car used to, sort of like, "kick something in" and give it a little boost of power while accelerating to get up to speed and it no longer does that. Sorry, don't really know how to explain it other than that. Eventually I'd like to upgrade the engine to a B6 but need the car to get around with now. Could this be bad rings? Thanks

[GenevaDirt]

I do not know a lot but I could not imagine that the rings would cause this after having it basically tuned up. There has to be a vacuum hose off somewhere or something stupid like that. If the car ran fine before the tuneup and crappy after....it has to be something simple that is being overlooked.

[packrat427]

I am not real familiar with the carb'd models , even though I own one now :lol:

But are these like a 2 barrel ??
So maybe the secondary is not opening , that would be your kicking in feeling , that is not there now . Limiting fuel only to the primary barrel .

[FestYboy]

the secondary only kicks in when there's 4" or less of vaccum. so this won't affect your cruising speed. have you inspected your cat? Remove the O2 sensor and make a run to see if there's a difference, if there is, you have a clogged cat. this happened to me about 3 weeks ago, punched the cat and all was right again.

[88Adventurer]

OK, guess I'll pull the O2 and see what that does and go from there. These are 2 barrel from what I read, so is there also a possibility that the secondary isn't opening as packrat427 suggested? How would I check for this? I've checked for a hose that hasn't been reattached, haven't found one yet so I'll get the flashlight out and check it over again real good. Thanks all.

[FestYboy]

the carb IS a 2 bbl design, but having the secondary NOT open won't keep you from reaching highway speed (it'll just take longer to get there). when you're crusing at speed, you shouldn't be into the secondary circuit unless you have it floored. the secondary is actuated by an internal vaccum circuit (no loose hoses). there's no real way to see if it's working because the engine has to be under load, which means that you need to be driving it, or get access to a road dyno. a snap throttle test won't activate the secondary as it takes about 2 seconds for it to open and you can't generate the vaccum needed even if you're smacking the redline UNLESS there is a load (car MUST be moving)

[88Adventurer]

OK on all that. I've pulled the air cleaner off and checked for unattached hoses, are there any in particular that are harder than average to see? The car still idles fine, there's just no power to get it past 50 MPH.

[Dave G]

Why don't you take it back to the dealer who (apparently) screwed it up?