Where's The Hp Going To?

[Calebnc302]

My 02 gt 5spd is lacking power through the rpm range. First off I bought this 3 months ago and is very good shape and maintained. First test drive, she would slide in third. Now it won't hardly spin in first, it does still through u into the seat, it just wont break loose. I will floor it in 2nd from 3 grand and it Just dont respond like a feakin gt should. It seems like it gradually got this way, and also it has offroad x with 1 of the o2s not working at all. But it was like this when I bought it so that don't make since. Also has new fuel filter. What should I do or Check? Also it tries to squall tires more easily when it's cold, but is back to the bog in prolly 30 seconds. Please help cuz it's pretty bad when a gt can't smoke a civic

 

[Deleted member 38176]

Have a full tune-up done including a compression and leakdown test

 

[Calebnc302]

Compression fine, new plugs, wires, air filter, and fuel filter. What to check now? Also I put a new o2 in, cus it wasn't working. It still dont work it has no voltage. I guess that's a wiring problem. But would this make it run rich like it seems and lose a lot of power?

 

[trinity_gt]

Compression fine, new plugs, wires, air filter, and fuel filter. What to check now? Also I put a new o2 in, cus it wasn't working. It still dont work it has no voltage. I guess that's a wiring problem. But would this make it run rich like it seems and lose a lot of power?

What wires? The 02 has no plug wires.

 

[Calebnc302]

I put new coils in sorry. The o2 just has a wiring problem and is dead. Its a new ford o2 and has no voltage.

 

[trinity_gt]

How are you measuring the O2 sensor output?

Q: How easily does the car roll if you put it in neutral and push? Sometimes an apparent loss of power can come about from dragging brakes...

 

[Calebnc302]

The car rolls very easy. The car smells rich but don't know if that's just the OR x pipe. It's not like knock u down rich smell, but u can c a little black smoke at idle if u look for it. checked the 02s couple months ago but I had asked dad (mechanic 25+) how to check them so he said he would do it for me where he works and told me passenger side downstream had no voltage even with a new ford o2. But will the rear o2 cause it to run rich or lose power? It does have check engine light on, with codes showing only the o2 not working. Is the car running in the "safe mode" I hear of ?

 

[trinity_gt]

The rears are used only to tell the PCM how well the catalytic converters are working and are not used for fuel trimming so no, a bad rear O2 won't cause the car to run rich.

If the car was running too rich you would get codes involving "system too rich" from the front O2 sensors.

Which code(s), exactly, are you getting?

 

[Calebnc302]

As of right now I can't remember. Ill pull them again this week. Is there anything else I can try before I pull the codes?

 

[bhuff30]

Just a comment, but three months ago was late January. Not sure where you live, but around here, in January the streets were covered with salt and it was cold enough to make all season tires hard and useless (image summer tires!). I scared myself getting sideways going into 3rd more than once with a quality all season and all 200hp of the NPI. While fun, it made the car feel like it had 3 times the power it does in the summer time. Just something to consider before chasing ghosts.

 

[Calebnc302]

Yes u have a good point. It was cold and wet then, and it has nitto drags on stock rim. Maybe they're just gripping really good now? Oh we'll ill fix o2 and see what happens. Do y'all think I'm expecting too much from a stock stang that's gripping really good?

 

[bhuff30]

The nitto DR is designed for warm weather and nice temps. It will get hard and lose most of it's grip in the cold, much more so than an all season or even a summer tire!

It also grips very well in warm conditions. I have had the nitto on my 97 GT and it wouldn't spin unless I dropped the clutch real fast in 1st gear. Power shifting to 2nd would give no more than a chirp, and hook and go. The tire has some serious grip.

With the nitto, my 4cyl would do 0-60 in about 3.8 seconds. It was an auto and there was no tire spin, so the car literally felt slower as my stick shift 4.6 GT.

 

[Calebnc302]

Wow didn't ever think tires would affect that much! Less spin is better for sure but next time I need tires I may want some that I can break loose easier. What are some good tires for that?

 

[Modular2v]

Wow didn't ever think tires would affect that much! Less spin is better for sure but next time I need tires I may want some that I can break loose easier. What are some good tires for that?

Losing traction looks cool but in the real world it isn't. Wouldn't u much rather have a car that hooks and goes than just spins?

 

[Calebnc302]

Yes u are right. Saves rubber and money

 

[Deleted member 38176]

I used to have non-DR 275 all-season tires on my full bolt-on car and they spun even in 3rd. After having the 315 555R's, they barely broke loose on a hard launch in 1st on my pre-blower setup.