car is now gutless... what do I check?

whynot · Post by **whynot** » Mon Dec 23, 2013 11:26 am

So in an attempt to fix the heater problem, and because I felt it needed to be done, I changed the coolant on my 03. I also removed the battery, and blew the heater core out with water, and put it all back together. It also has had a miss at idle, so at the same time I used brake cleaner and compressed air, and cleaned out the spark plug holes.
The miss is gone. But the car has lost a lot of power. No codes, (except one for the power steering). And idles great, Just seems to have dropped a lot of power.
Also the car when cold has a hesitation in the engine at times like it is trying to die when accelerating and shifting(5 speed manual). But after a few miles it runs fine. Except for this new loss of power.

I say loss of power because I seem to have to drop one gear more when climbing the hills on my commute than I did before doing all of this last week.
Where do I begin?

thanks
Doug

r/tguy02 · Post by **r/tguy02** » Mon Dec 23, 2013 2:40 pm

if its running just fine now, its possible the computer needs to relearn a bit. doing a hard reset (disconnecting the batt) it loses all its learned data. how long has it been since you did the service?

whynot · Post by **whynot** » Mon Dec 23, 2013 7:23 pm

last Monday, or about 250 miles.
Is that long enough? I am getting ready to take it on a 1000 mile trip to drop kids off at school. And really do not want any issues.
Thanks
doug

NyNeon0813 · Post by **NyNeon0813** » Sat Dec 28, 2013 10:34 am

Did u clean the spark plug tubes with the spark plugs still in? If not how much brake fluid did u spray in there?

whynot · Post by **whynot** » Sat Dec 28, 2013 12:22 pm

yes I cleaned the tube with the plug still in it. Think the condition of the plug amy be the issue, in the other post.