Lost power, need help.

[Pasi]

Car: 155 2.0 8v from 1992

Yesterday I drove some 300km journey and the car worked well for the first 200km.

Then I had a 30min pause, and for some reason the car had lost power during the pause.

It's like driving a 1.0 Ford Fiesta. Getting to motorway speed is verry sluggish!

Didn't notice anything odd during the pause or when starting her up.

Had a little erratic idle, but when reving while stationary, the engine seems normally responsive.

When I got home, I checked the oil which was a little below the minimum (last check was 2 weeks ago when it was on mid-way the dip stick min/max markers. Added oil.

Today I changed the sparkplugs, and the idling seems a lot better, but still no power.

Air filter is DIRTY, but that wouldn't cause an IMIDIATE lose of power like this, as the car worked 100% perfectly before the 30min pause!

Any ideas anyone?

[celadon]

Could be one of the temp senders playing up ?

Either water or air.

Or you could have developed a slight split in the flexible hose between throttle body and air mass meter

[Pasi]

Where are the senders located?

[celadon]

Don't have an 8v myself, but the air temp sensor is located in the air mass meter if I remember correctly.

there are 2 water temp sensors,

one signals the guage, the other the ECU.

There is one located on the thermostat housing, and one that screws in to the engine block.

I would try the one that screws in to the engine block, as I'm sure it is this one that sends to the ECU.

[Pasi]

MAF seems to work, as disconnecting it makes the engine run rough.

The small pipe that comes to the air pipe after MAF was DIY fixed with a garden water hose type of pipe and was leaking. Changed it and the car seems to idle better, but it still misses power.

Anyway, while testdriving it today, it felt like it drives well at low RPM, but doesn't give the usual "boost" at 3000RPM like usual.

will check the senders later.

Thanks!

[Pasi]

It seems the cat is dead... Will replace and see if it helps.

[celadon]

If the cat is blocked in any way it would cause too much back pressure and lack of power.

Had it happen on a motorbike many years ago.
It would run fine - but loud ! - with the baffles removed, replaced the baffles and all ok.