Hey there,

I have a 99 2.8L AHA manual transmission which as of late seems to be having some acceleration issues. Normally the car pulls pretty easily in 1st and 2nd gear. Now it feels like I am having to push the gas pedal harder and to the floor to get the same acceleration. Once the RPMs are above 2,000 or 2,500 (somewhere in there) it's a little bit easier. In the past if the car hasn't been driven in a few days, it felt like it needed to be run a little bit. After the first mile or so, it was fine (or I got used to it). Now the same sluggish feeling remains after a day of running errands. By "sluggish" I don't mean that the car is accelerating slowly. I mean that it's not accelerating with the same ease of force that I used to apply to the gas pedal. It feels as if I'm having to do more "work." Think about how it feels when your parking brake is engaged and you try to accelerate, but in my case it's not very strong and it doesn't decelerate the car. The gas pedal is... stiff.

The only recent changes have been new spark plugs a couple weeks ago. Gapping issue?

The car has been in MA for the past 6 months, but now that I'm at school, it's in the constant humidity of NC. When coming to a stop, the car doesn't feel like it's bogged down. Could humidity levels play any part, I doubt it, but thinking outside the box a little bit.


Ideas? I'm at school now and didn't bring a floor jack with me. I'm sure I can find somewhere to get the car up off the ground a bit more or borrow a jack if it's necessary.

I've been advised to check where the axle connects to the transmission--make sure the bolts are tight.

Could this be related to a ripped CV boot? How would I go about checking that (wheel off?)?

Seafoam ? and instructions on how to use it and where as I've never used it before

Clean the MAF..


Thanks in advance,
Ty

 

BUMP!

Ive been having the same problem in the past couple weeks and it is driving my crazy... the hesitation is so bad that if i get into a accident becuase of it i wouldnt be surprised!

 

Well, on my old 2.8, it turns out both cats were clogged, and it was slow on acceleration, but the exhaust also sounded a but raspy, so it was a dead give-away. But it also seemed as I got over a certain RPM, the problem didn't seem as noticible, possibly the higher rpm being strong enough to force the exhaust out.

Honestly, I'd try to find someone with a vag-com and see if there are any codes... there's a lot of codes that don't trigger a CEL.

At this point it could be a number of things.

 

For me, the problem went away. It had been really rainy and humid for a couple days. It is a weird feeling though. I need to order myself a OBDII checker soon. I know my cats are old and on their way out as is one flex pipe

 

sometimes when its rainy and humid it will happen, you can try a new distributor cap, or even an injector cleaner you can try.
also if ur check engine light comes on i think autozone will check it for free.