Why is my car holding back?

[leb]

Hey all,

The other night (private roads of course) I was pushing my car (s14)

I noticed that in 3rd gear at 5k rpm it sempt to no longer really accelerate.

It sempt like it wouldnt go any faster, what could this be?

note: car is stock therefore boost problems shouldnt really be existent.

Is there anything that I can do to make it more efficient at higher engine speeds?

[Dee 33]

More info. Did 4th work ok? Did the car continue to increase speed but just didn't feel like the extra revs were giving power?

Did you hit a 180km/h speed limiter? (not sure if S14's have these, jap spec?)

[MYSTR33]

(private roads of course)

LIES!!! :sadam:

[Abo Bob]

Stock exhaust?

[leb]

Dee 33 It kind of felt like the extra revs werent giving any power. It was sitting at 5k rpm (and wouldnt go any higher) going up a hill at 140 in 3rd gear, so MAYBE it was to do with the slope.

I didn't put it in 4th because there wasnt enough room to safely slow down

Its the local 200sx s14, not the jap one

Abo bob Yep, the whole car is stock - I dont know whether to do it up (with and exhuast and boost controller) as it costs $$$$ to do properly.

Is it worth chucking on a 3inch turbo back? and getting an electronic boost controller?

[rance]

i had this problem in my car a while back(s13) but it was in several gears...

i changed the clutch, cleaned the pod filter works fine....

if it only happens at a certain speed..then its prolly a limiteror other reason

breathing and boost restrictions usually happen at the same rmp, through different gears

[leb]

Rance It has a heavy duty organic clutch, got installed december last year, so you're saying that it might be the car's computer restricting things?

[Bass Junky]

Id get the full CES Racing exhaust from the turbo back and bask inteh 30 odd RwkW you gain.

Then try going up that hill!!

[liber8_d]

I was testing my newly arrived R32 GTR the other night, also on private roads by chance(maybe we were on the same road )

I had no such problems thats for sure, 3rd revved out nicely, as did 4th. Come to think of it, I think 5th gave a good showing as well. What limiter?

What kind of hill are we talking about? A slight rise, or a mountain pass? You could just be at the limit of your cars pulling capabilities.

With regards to the mods to your car, they are two of the best mods you can do to any turbo car. Have a look around, you'll be able to find plenty of suppliers on the forums, both local and importers to provide such mods.

[Archie@]

the problem is you only got a 2 litre donk...... nah just kidding,

give the car some good tlc and eliminate the obvious things off your list like, oil change, clean pod filter etc etc..... once the simple things have been checked and it's still giving you problems, then it's time to head to a mechanic, unless your mechanically inclined....

[slow13dude]

My money's on the hill being the limiter.

[KILL HSV]

What kind of hill are we talking about? A slight rise, or a mountain pass? You could just be at the limit of your cars pulling capabilities.

thats what i would be guessing, aren't sr20's low revving engines? I haven't driven many, but thats what i'm thinking

i'd say if you wanted it be pulling still at those revs then you should've bought a skyline, feel free to correct me if i'm wrong though

[46n2]

Is there anything that I can do to make it more efficient at higher engine speeds?

my thoughts: if it's a stock car you probably just ran out of breath - swap the exhaust at least and the filter for a high flow panel or a pod? how steep was the hill. if you were going up a fairly decent hill than you would've been putting more of a load on the engine than if you were cruising along a flat stretch of road.

[leb]

Its a hill that climbs for a good kilometer or two.

It starts at the bottom of a valley, so initially its quite steep and it takes ages to be back on flat land. I started hitting 5k rpm when it was about halfway from being back on flatness. It was really weird because it wouldnt rev any further but was nowhere near the limiter

[Bass Junky]

Did the engine note change, like go quieter, or did it still sound like it was giving it's all?

[leb]

It just sat on 5k and wouldnt go any faster - engine speed or km/h speed

It sounded like it was getting close to redline but not quite there

[Bass Junky]

Sounds like it just didn't have the grunt to get up the hill.

Were you driving hard before the hill?

Stock intercool may have got some heat soak; reducing power.

[race_snooze]

I have seen this before on a dyno, problem found to be a boost leak

[leb]

I was driving normally down the valley, once i got to the bottom, I chucked it into fourth and it started boosting a bit, so i thought sweet, chucked it 3rd, it launched for a bit, once it got to 140 it wouldnt go anymore

so it had only been under boost for about a minute max before it started to hold back

I have seen this before on a dyno, problem found to be a boost leak

I dont know if it could be a boost leak, I take care of my car, then again you could be right. I change the oil every 5000, and then a mechanic looks at it all over and tells me any problems, the gaskets of the turbo were replaced but it shouldnt be leaking now. However, mechanics can be scams

[Bass Junky]

boost leak = also good possibility.

5000 rpm would be seeing very strong boost, and prolonged boost. Could be the time when the boost leak is most noticed.