Thread: Lack of power

Okay, so I got my 2000 gt a month or so ago and I've noticed it isn't as fast as it should be after the new car feeling wore off. I just rolled over 100,000 miles by the way. I had a 3.4 alero prior to this and that thing felt like it had way more nut. I've replaced the factory wires and plugs. The plugs showed that everything was burning efficiently, but definitely had seen a better day. The trans fluid is nice and red, oil is clean as can be (read data on scan tool and it said 20% oil life remaining). The other day at school a classmate and I had to do a drive cycle on a Buick lesabre with a 3800 and that thing had way more pull at 2000 rpm than my GP has. Today I was driving around town and going down a side street I rolled into the throttle. At 2000 rpm it doesn't feel like much, but once it hit 3k, about 20mph it started breaking the tires loose. This is on a resurfaced road where they lay pea gravel onto the wet asphalt and let it harden just to clarify that I wasnt spinning on straight pavement haha. I'm getting around 24-26 mpg all highway with it so it doesn't seem like it's something that affects fuel economy too much. I'm just not sure what to look into. I'm doing engine performance in auto tech right now and have access to a few scantools so my teacher should be cool with me running a few tests with the scantools hooked up if I need to.

sounds about right. It's not a fast car.

Just seems odd in a Buick with 217,xxx miles on it seemed to pull better than my GP with 100,000. I know pulling out on the highway having it shift at right around 2000 rpm while getting up to speed felt about the same as me taking off in my GP to get up to 55mph at 2500-3,000 rpm shifts.

Originally Posted by DualDrillMe

Your butt dyno isn't scientific... A GP is not a fast car. Hell, my Turbo GP feels slow after I get used to driving it... If you are worried, hook a scanner up and watch the number.. .watch for KR and AFRs. If its stock it might have a degree or two at WOT. O2 should respond quick and smooth like.. like any normal car. Compression test/leak down test the cylinders if your truly worried... or just turbo it.

Probably just got used to it. I know the limg was replaced with the newer style so I'm good there. I was actually planning on doing a leak down and compression test tomorrow at school since it's a task we have to complete anyways. Might be because it's such a large car compared to my alero it just feels slower. My AFRs were checked a few days ago and they were right on the dot. My rear o2 heater is shot, but that has nothing to do with engine performance. Maf checked out good along with a few other sensors. I noticed though when I start it up hot it'll lope a few seconds like it's cammed up.

Friend has the torque app so I'll see if I can get that accomplished tomorrow. Just to eliminate human error.

Duh! Haha never even occurred to me that I could to that too.

Well, I'm showing 0* of kr base timing is at 23* and pulls to around 18* or so once the throttle is opened up. I do have high resistance on one of my coil packs secondary side though.

Replaced coil pack with no change. Went back and checked the maf sensor for the heck of it and it's shot. This would affect the overall power, correct? I'm wondering if it was intermittently going whacky while driving. Car no longer lopes on start up, but still a big hesitation between 2,500-3,000 rpm. Like I can roll deeper and deeper into the throttle and the rpms won't pick up until it downshifts.