I'm going to try and describe this as best I can. Hopefully, I'll be able to figure it out with NAMs help.

Here's the situation:

Coming up to a 90 degree turn on the street, downshift to 2nd (~2300 rpms), corner, get back on the power, the engine then sounds like an asthmatic until about 3k-3.2k and power comes on as normal.

It is worse when the car is cold. Also worse when going uphill. The problem is also noticeable when accelerating from a stop after a shift when rpms drop below 3k, however not as bad as after a downshift. Mods are in my signature.

Couple of things that may be important. I ran out of gas twice in a short amount of time (bad fuel gauge) and the problem seems to have gotten a little worse, but it may just be me trying to figure it out. Car is not tuned. There is a rattle coming from near the belt tensioner (not sure if it is the tensioner or not, the car goes into the dealership Wednesday to try and figure out where the rattle is coming from).

So, any ideas?

 

Bump, any ideas?

 

Does it run ok going straight down the highway? If it is ok there, is the DSC on?

 

DSC is off 95% of the time. And cruising down the highway the car is fine. Accelerating in 6th below 3k there is that same asthmatic feeling except less pronounced.

 

Am I correct in assuming that you feel the car previously felt like it had more power, as opposed to just the standard "it's got nothing below 3,000rpm" 4-cyl malady?

"Asthmatic". Good description. My car is feeling like that, too.

 

I think what you are talking about is known as "flat spot" on NAM...

It can be due to many factors... In my case, I used to have a flat spot at 3000rpm with GIAC software and John (Lucky Dog Garage) got rid of it with a dyno tune. He saw that the ECU was running lean at 3000rpm which made the engine feels "underpowered" at that RPM range...

 

it's that clean valley air that we have, worse here in Fresno .

 

It seems like its been getting worse but it might just be me getting more frustrated with it. I am getting the car set up for an LDG tune to hopefully fix it. Gonna try a DT BPV before I drop the big money on LDG. I doubt it would be a bad BPV though (car is an 06).

We shall see though.

 

And ya, it's got nothing below 3k but its a stumbly, sloppy nothing as opposed to just lack of power.

If that makes any sense. It goes to the dealership tomorrow for a couple things that have been nagging me (including that rattle and I want the clutch checked cuz it's been feeling heavier than normal and has like a "moan" to it when depressed).

I thought the '06's were supposed to be the trouble-free ones

 

Ok...so I just talked to my SA at the dealership. He said the code that was thrown had something to do with the car running really rich. When the light CEL first came on a couple hundred miles ago (it has since turned off) I was sitting in high humidity heat in stop and go traffic for miles. Could the combination of crappy air and a whole lotta heat cause the engine to throw a code like that?

He said for them to fix it they would have to return the car back to stock . I said don't worry about it.

Me thinks a trip to LDG may be in order sooner rather than later.

I'll try to discuss it a bit more with my SA tomorrow RE: exactly what code it threw and hopefully research it some more.

PS the "mystery" rattle was from a heat shield that was loose

Anyway, we'll see how the car feels when I get it back tomorrow.

 

The code that was throw was P0172 (System too rich).

For more on that, check my thread int he stock issues/problems forum