Not even sure if I'm going crazy, or just not quite used to the automatic trans, or seemingly little power this truck has when I compare it to my little 5speed manual 4cyl, 1.8L Sentra XE...

As it stands the truck is a 2000 CC Sport, 3.9L V6 Magnum.

The only known 'changes' are as follows:

Magnaflow single cat back, dual pipe rear exit...
http://www.magnaflow.com/02product/s...ne=all&id=2617

The truck has had a K&N Air filter at some point (does not currently), previous owner seems to have removed it and stuck the stock filter back in...

UNGO alarm system, power everything except windows...
one hell of a large battery, but I don't know details with that.

Short of that, nothing else looks modified in anyway.

I'm noticing that there's a drop in power when there's a shift from 1st to 2nd...

From a dead start, there seems to be a lot of power in 1st... but from the moment she drops into 2nd, there's a relative drop, and I'm not sure what the cause could be.

I know the truck idles at about 750 - 900 rpm
and shifts at about 3000 from 1st to 2nd... if I recall, and drops back to ~1000 after the shift. When I leave the office tonight, I'll keep an eye on the actual drop as far as RPMs that occurs too... cause it seems significant of the top of my head, but I don't recall for sure the exact numbers.

Is this common with 2nd Gens? 2Ks, or 3.9s?

Perhaps timing is out? could it be plugs? could it be the exhaust? I'm grasping here since I'm not really all that familiar with engines, and looking for any suggestions. so any help would be appreciated.


Thanks!

 

don't know about your automatics, but my manual 3.9 V6 is kinda weak in second gear.....1st and 3rd, 4th, and 5th rock out, but second doesn't really do much....
dood

 

Yea, 1st, 3rd, and 4th seem to be okay...
could this be something to do with the overdrive?
Over drive is on all the time...
I suppose I shouldn't use it in the city, but it's on no matter what when I turn the truck on... so it's a matter of remembering to click the button to turn it off.

 

depending on your speed, you truck shouldnt be kicking into overdrive. The only way the truck will go into overdrive is when you hit a certain speed, and a certain rpm. I have the same problem, with my truck (3.9 and auto) and it is sluggish in 2nd as well, I have just chocked it up to being a pooch lol.

 

LOL Yea, I've been telling people, "She sounds a lot meaner than she is..."

Glad to see I'm not alone though.

Wish I'd noticed this before, but it's really not something I'm too broken up about. I still love the truck!

 

So I've been watching the situation a little more closely...

Truck seems to be idling more in the 650-750 range.
shift from 1st - 2nd is about 3000k, and drops to 2100k
seems to not be a lot of power from 2nd - 3rd, but 3rd shifts at about 3000k as well.
then she drops down to about 2200k and finally shifts to 4th and drops to a running rate of about 1500k.

Over drive won't kick in unless I have the pedal to the floor... and takes about 5 - 10 seconds to register.

Taking some time to get used to the quirks.

 

I have a used k&n drop in filter that I took out when I put in an air intake. If you want to buy it, shoot me a PM if you're interested. It's yours for $30 shipped. They normally go for around $50 brand new. It just needs to be cleaned and oiled (standard procedure). I'll rinse it off of course before shipping it. It is a lifetime filter that just needs to be cleaned every once in a while.

You can confirm that it'll fit your truck by using this K&N site http://www.knfilters.com/search/appsearch.aspx It is the 33-2175 part #

 

Rantz,

I'm good for now.
Thanks for the offer. I'm going to hold off on the intake for a bit longer, I have to get the oil changed, pinion seal replaced, alignment and shocks done before I do the filter.

So far the filter looks relatively okay... it's definitely not clean, but definitely not something I need to be too concerned about right now.

I figure I'll be putting my DIY intake on sometime in the fall.

 

No problem. I just have it lying around. I figured it was an improvement over a paper filter. You actually gave me the idea of posting it up in the for sale section. I don't foresee ever needing it again.

 

try craigslist or just another post up in here somewhere.
I'm sure it'll go fast.