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SOS: No engine power above 4000rpm!


saint

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Hi guys,

 

My engines completely dying at 4000rpm, such that it wont rev any higher. The top speed is now around 80mph and it will only get there by short shifting, a Punto had me at the lights this morning...

 

Ive got not warning light, and my OBD scanner shows no errors are present. I've checked the wheels are free to rotate in neutral, and the car isnt pulling so its not a brake dragging. It seems to rev freely in neutral, but then again the engines not having to turn anything. No weird noises, still pops and bangs as always.

 

Ideas?

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definitely sounds like its being starved of air which points to an air intake problem.

 

Not quite what I was getting at, if the AFM is foobed the car cant meter its air, so goes into limphome mode to protect engine ........... which wont let you rev over 4K :)

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Here's an update:

  • Cleaning air filter didnt help
  • Taking air filter off didnt help
  • Car wouldnt run without a MAF, so couldnt test that
  • Done 100 miles with fuel additive to clean injectors, didnt help
  • Cleaned MAF sensor with contact cleaner, didnt help

 

However, the car has randomly come back alive. It did the same on Saturday for no reason at all. When it runs fine, the cruise control works, but when the power isnt there the cruise control light blinks rapidly.

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When the ECM detects any of the followng conditions, the ECM will cancel the cruise operation and inform the driver by blinking the indicator lamp.

-Engine cooleant temperature is slightly higher than the normal operating temperature, CRUISE lamp may blink slowly. When the engine coolant termperature decreases to the normal operating temperature, CRUISE lamp will stop blinking and the cruise operation will be able to work by pressing SET/COAST switch or RESUME/ACCELERATE switch.

-Malfunction for some self-diagnosis regarding ASCD control:SET lamp will blink quickly

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I I did some googling around this and in particular the cruise control flashing and it seems there are loads of people with similar symptoms but different causes. It sounds like the ECU is putting the car in failsafe mode. You need to figure out why that is.

 

From what I can tell it could be (but not limited to) any of the below:

 

Broken MAF

Clogged CATS

High Alternator output (increased Volts tripping ECU into failsafe)

Voltage spikes caused by something else

Damaged wires leading into the ECU

Broken ECU

Edited by Randy_Baton
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scared me to death when it happened....though I had a massive engine failure. I drove to a restaurant in daylight - no issues, then the drama started on the return drive home at night. took me a day to figure

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ditto on rear lights..i had a short there when putting mine in...exactly same issue

 

I could detect it by turning my lights off....engine back to normal then instantly...damn the dark nights

 

Interesting, since I did recently have a set of carlab lights installed by.... the infamous Rick of Meduza. He basically scissored through every wire and re-connected them again...

 

I will test this one, and my other theory is that it only seems to go wrong when the "Icy" LCD is showing. For the sake of £25 I will get a MAF too.

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  • 3 months later...

Just a late update on this, since I fixed the issue! It was indeed faulty brake light wiring - bloody Rik at Meduza had wired the brakes completely wrong and as such I found TWO different wires going into the positive on the right hand side connector. It was shorting and the ECU was putting the car into limp mode as a precaution.

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