I have a 98WS6 (A4) the car has all the mods listed in my sig. As of last week I started to feel the car turn sluggish. Several times I was driving in drive and gave the car full throttle and got almost no response from the car. It wouldn't kick down a gear (only doing about 45mph) and got almost 0 pickup out of the car. It felt like I had barely given the car any gas and it was actually full throttle. This has happened a few times now. It feels almost like someone had the throttle body blocked off by 90% or more, that kind of feeling. It has only done this in drive. I have noticed the car hasn't had the same response lately in all gears but mostly 3rd when it happens. The strange thing is it happens a few times then it doesn't happen again for a while.

Any Ideas? Throttle Position Sensor going bad? Tranny going? Bad Plug or two?

Thanks,

 

I don't think it's spark plugs, if one cylinder wasn't firing, you would definatly feel it. Make sure you check all the plugs and wires if you can.

This is odd imo. I really don't know what to do, and I'd like to hear the solution as much as you would (well, probably not). Best thing I can tell you to do is just look around at all the sensors and make sure they are plugged in.

 

Definately not plugs, you would get a SES for cylinder misfires.

 

how many miles are on the car? think about the basics first - fuel filter, debris blocking the air filter, etc.

 

What do you have on there for a bellows?
I remember back when LS1s were new some guys were experimanting with different things for the smooth bellows. Well one guy went with a thin hose and found that sometimes when it was warm at WOT it would collapse shutting off the air to the motor.
Just a WAG.

 

thats an interesting thought Al590. ATAP it. is there a SES light on? have you dont the pcv mod yet? i guess it could be a lot of things. maybe shoot some top end cleaner through it. that couldnt hurt.

 

Heres something else no one else has mentioned, your transmission might be failing. I have had two different 4L60Es go back on me (one in my car, one in a 94 Z28) and both times, the car acted VERY strangely. In my LS1 when the trans went out, I still had all 4 gears, from a stop, 1st and 2nd gear worked fine, but as soon as it would need to go into 3rd, it would hesitate, and when it would shift, the car would still run, but the RPMs were much higher than before, and the shifts were SLOOOOW.

I can attribute this to the reliance our cars have on their PCMs. If the transmission is going bad, the sensors try to compensate for it. Some people call this a "limp" mode, where the car is still movable, albeit, at a slower pace.

Its very possible your trans is fried, and your car is "limping" itself. Others have the right idea, get your codes read, there is a code that the PCM will set (I forget what it is) when the transmission is failiing.

Of course, it might not be the transmission and could be one of the million other sensors our engines have!

 

To answer all the questions:

1. The car has 45,000 miles on it.

2. This seems to happen at random times, no set pattern to when it acts up.

3. The air cleaner seems fine. and I haven't changed the bellow to anything new.

4.) Plugs only have about 10,000 miles on them.

I don't have a way of checking the PCM for history of misfires. What is the best thing to use for this? Can a dealership do this for me? There is no SES light showing and hasn't been with this problem.

I will start with a fuel filter and go from tere. I will post what I find.

Thanks for everyones help.

 

i suppose it could just be where your at in the speed range? you now how sometimes autos get confused a little bit as to what gear they should be in. My friend has a 97 Z auto, and if you floor it around 45 it goes, but it wont ds to first, it stays in second. but yeah, doesnt sound too normal.