All torque but no power?

[jamiehamy 0]

Maybe a little dramatic, but I'm not convinced the car is running at peak performance

 

It will pull from 20mph in fifth gear no problem, go up steepish hills in fifth as long as I'm above 30mph and i can def feel the torque peaking at just over 4k rpm, but after about 5500rpm, i just feel there isn't much poke there.

 

Two questions

 

What might be the cause? - I scanned using vagcom and no problems highlighted. I run Optimax

If the timing was out a tooth, I've read the ECU would compensate for this, but is there any way i can find out if this is happening?

 

I'll be checking the timing this xmas as i might do the clutch, but wondered if anyone has any thoughts? As she's my daily driver, i can't afford the time to take everything apart just now.

 

Thank you :)

[Abdul 0]

Ive never been in a stock VR that pulls hard above 6k tbh, sounds about right. Mine pulls hard till 6 then tails off till redline.

 

Get aftermarket cams if u want more top end poke. I do.

[dukest 0]

Factory specs are 190bhp at 5800rpm, 181lb/ft at 4200rpm. A 15 yr old engine could easily not be making that anymore and even if it was it wouldn't be far off where you're feeling the drop.

[WigsVR6 0]

Could be loss of compression in one or more cylinders. I had similar experiance as you have described.It would be happy all day pootling about at 30mph in 5th however when it came to hard acceleration I had "linear" progression without the usual take off at 4000 revs. In my case no 3 and 6 cylinders were low.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

If the rate of acceleration slows abruptly, that could be a problem, but if the pull just peters off past 5500rpm, that sounds normal to me.

[jamiehamy 0]

Maybe it's because i've been driving it too long and am accustomed, but i recall my old Mk3 VR's (albeit in 2.8 dizzy form) had no problems zipping up to the red line.

 

Anything above 5.5/5.8 just doesn't produce much more oomph and whilst red line is possible, it takes a good effort to get there if you know what i mean? Also sounds quite harsh.

 

I've posted a wanted for a standard ecu chip as the previous owner had the car chipped, but I've no idea the details. Maybe this has had an effect.

 

Thanks for graph kev. I rarely actually hit the redline, but on the couple of occasions I have done, just doesn't feel great.

[jamiehamy 0]

In fact I might just book the car onto the rolling road. That should give me a good idea of what going on power wise and whether I'm over analysing or not :)

 

Thanks for the idea Kev :)

 

Will report back. Now...must find accurate rolling road near Glasgow...hmm..

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Yeah the graph was to show where the standard torque starts to drop off, which kind of correlates with what you're finding with yours, but it shouldn't be rough and reluctant at those revs.... the acceleration just flattens off a bit.

 

I didn't realise your chip wasn't standard, so it's probably just a mapping issue then, or maybe a MAF sensor that's not quite 100%!

[jamiehamy 0]

Booked in at 9am Sat for a run on the rolling road. Will post how i get on.

 

As and when i find a cheap standard ECU/Chip, I'll go back and see how that alters things.

[dukest 0]

where are you getting it RRd? they may have a standard ECU you could use as comparison?

[jamiehamy 0]

Getting it done at AVA next to Glasgow Airport. I've got an ECU chip on it's way soon :)

 

Strange thing is, i started running Esso Regular last night and the engine seems to run better. Fuel consumption is down about 2mpg on my daily runs, but engine pulls more strongly and happier revving. Strange! I'm defo not making it up. I've run Optimax/Ultimate for the last year as well.

 

Anyway, looking forward to seeing what the old girl is putting out.

[jamiehamy 0]

Okay, so maybe iIm being paranoid. lol

 

put her on the road this morning and the power at the wheels is 165bhp. I was advised that will translate to about 180ish at the flywheel. There was some pinking going on which will have reduced power. Will go back to Optimax. I've changed back to standard filter instead of K&N panel and cleaned the MAF.

 

Running nicely. WIll go back once I've had the LPG conversion done next week.

 

All in all, i'm quite happy that most of the ponies are still there :)

 

 

Hot downpipe!