Took a 40 mile trip yesterday down Rte 22 in PA. Its a 2 lane highway crowded constantly with trucks and under heavy construction in certain spots, with cars entering the left lane constantly. The trucks usually create a bottleneck. Needless to say, its not the fastest moving traffic. When a trucks decides to finally exit, theres a huge gap of maybe a quarter mile with the rest of traffic ahead. I try to take those opportunities to speed up and pass the right lane. It seems though that when Im going 55-65 uphill especially, the RPMs dont increase even if I push the pedal down to the floor. Im not saying that Id like the acceleration to be faster or better, there are actually points where the engine will not go any faster no matter what. The RPMS are just about 2400. What could this be? Im using Hess gas (cheapest around) and I put some fuel additive in to clean the injectors (Gumout).

The acceleration is normal from 0 or low speeds, but at highway speeds there seems to be a lack of power. On normal days I can easily get this car to 95, it flies and transmission shifts normally. Is it just the fuel or does this indicate something else?

update. I took the car for a spin last night, same gas, no changes, in moderate nighttime temperature. The car was flying as usual, no problems. I would easily take the car to above 100 MPH but I'd hate to imagine what kind of trouble I would be in if a cop stopped me.
Officer Brown: "Do you know how fast you were going?"
Me: "uh, good evening officer...my shoelace got caught on the accelerator and I simultaneously had a leg cramp so thats why i was going 100+ mph...hehe"


so anyway, it seems the car only has acceleration problems when going up inclines. What might cause this?

 

anyone has a guess?

 

check your fuel psi and exuast back psi, may have restriction.

 

Clogged catalytic convertor, bad fuel pump or fuel lines, possibly a clogged fuel filter..ther are 2...one is inline and the other is in the gas tank.

By the way..what kind of vehicle,etc?

 

Oh sorry, Im talking about my 96 Stratus, V6 Auto W/inline fuel injection. I honestly dont think its bad fuel pumps, injectors, or lines. I would probably be experiencing other symptoms such as stalling, shuddering, difficult starts, or other slight related symptoms. It might be a weakening main fuel pump, but Im leaning more toward lack of air from the intake. The problem only seems to happen on hotter days in congested traffic, both situations where there is much less oxygen going into the engine. I usually dont drive this car very long distances so I will have to give an update next time I drive it. Cant wait to put a CAI on this thing...

 

Has the fuel filter ever been replaced? On this model car you have to drop the fuel tank to change it as it's in the frame. Wasn't one of Mother Mopars' best ideas. There is also one on the fuel pump itself. Also the Coolant Temperature Sensor controls air/fuel mixture based on coolant temeperature. These can go bad and not set an error code in the computer. Try having the computer scanned for error codes, alot of auto parts stores will do this for free.

[IMG]local://upfiles/21718/E33063ED0A64410FAED9790A22C246CE.jpg[/IMG]

Fuel filter looks similar to this.

 

i had them run the engine codes at my last oil change which was about 1000 miles ago. No problems according to them. I dont have any idea of when the last time parts were changed on this vehicle. Ideally I would like to change the plugs, timing belt, water pump, engine coolant, abs wheel sensor, and a million other things. I have to do these things as money becomes available. As far as that second image of the fuel filter goes, I found something in the engine compartment that looks similar. Can anyone tell me what this is? Thanks

[IMG]local://upfiles/20299/7EECE84A047247D69A23371DD2B53478.jpg[/IMG]

 

It's the filter/drier for the A/C...

 

awesome, thanks. can you tell me where youre getting all these illustrations or is it a secret?

 

It's no secret! I've been diddling with Mopar for over 30 years and have a good working knowledge of their inards! The pictures are from all over the web, scans and Factory Service Manuals. I also have multiple subscriptions at www.alldatadiy.com and parts books-mainly for trucks-from 1972-2004. I post on about 10 different forums on the web also. And a few other things