I have a 2000 Toyota Echo that will not produce any power under load or during quick acceleration, I lose all revs and it misfires. The exhaust smells strange when this happens.
The car idles just fine.
The air filter is new and nothing is blocking it.
We disconnected both O2 sensors from the exhaust, and unplugged them from the car. When they were disconnected the car became very loud of course, but the problem persisted. When they were unplugged it was again the same.
We tested the throttle position sensor and it is fine.
We unplugged the cam position sensor and there was no change.
The air flow meter seemed fine. Air mass readout increased with throttle.
We are stuck. At idle the car is fine, and it will rev high as long as the accelerator isn’t pressed in too far (anything above about 50% will cause the engine to bog). Under load, the car will jerk and misfire.
Car is up to date on oil changes, just installed a new battery, and the exhaust was worked on in May of 2009.
Any ideas?
Have you checked the fuel pressure?
How many miles on your spark plugs ?
I will check it tonight. I’ll post results.
Sounds a little like a fuel filter, I believe that this might be where BustedKnuckles is going. When there is not a big demand for fuel it runs ok but when the requirement increases it cannot be provided and therefore runs poorly.
Okay thanks so much, we’ll check this out and see what the situation is. Thanks for the great ideas so far! I’m working with a brother-in-law who is a Mercedes mechanic so we’re a little out of our comfort zone. Need all the brains we can get.
Auto Zone Auto Parts doesn’t list a fuel filter for your Echo, which means it probably doesn’t have an external fuel filter (only in gas tank).
When you do the fuel pressure test, the test will only be valid if the engine is placed under load during testing. With an automatic transmission, set the engine rpm to about 2,000 with the shift lever in DRIVE. Hold it there for about 2 minuets to get the truest reading.
Have you checked for stored codes?
My guesses would be fuel starvation due to a weak pump, a bad fuel pressure regulator, or perhaps a plugged filter or line.
But another possibility is the manifold absolute pressure (MAP) sensor. The sudden increase in absolute pressure (loss of vacuum) when you stomp it it a critical signal to the ECU (along with the TPS) that tells it to immediately increase the injector pulsewidth, and if that’s missing it’ll have difficulty determining the engine’s demands.
Your CEL should be lit like a christmas tree. Is it?