No Power in gear!

I have 1991 Toyota Camry dx with the 4 speed automatic transmission and the 4 cylinder 3s-fe engine. I have recently changed the cv axles, alternator, MAF sensor, and distributor. I drove the car for 4-5 days with no problems. The car previously didn’t have much power so I was hoping for an improvement. Today (the 25th). We changed the thermostat as the car previously overheated 1 time so we changed it as preventative maintenance. When we pulled out from our main road the car stayed in 1st gear for a vary long time. It had previously taken slightly longer between some shifts but never as drastic as this. When we turned around to come home the car had NO POWER!!! I could not get the car above 20mph and drove home with the hazards on. The car is not perfect by any means but now it’s not even drivable. I was going to try and fix it up but now I’m not sure it’s worth it. The car also needs motor mounts and leaks a LOT of oil. I think the coolant is leaking out somewhere as well but we’ve been maintaining the fluid so it would not overheat and we never drive it with the oil light on. I have a oil pump gasket that we need to install as from my research that is a common large oil leak on the Camry. Any help anyone can give is greatly appreciated as I would rather not have to go through buying another car. Thanks!

Is there a chance you may have accidentally disconnected the vehicle speed sensor (on the transmission) or the throttle position sensor? Generally disconnecting either of those would throw a code and turn on the CEL, but still worth the time to double check those.

As far as being related to the recent work

  • CV joints: Unlikely as long as no grounds got disconnected to make room for the work.
  • Alternator: Possible cause. Before first start of the day battery should measure about 12.6 v, then 13.5-15.5 after starting the engine. Does it?
  • MAF sensor: Possible cause. Near the throttle position switch, and if the part is faulty the engine won’t run well.
  • Distributor: Possible cause. Check idle ignition timing to spec with a timing light, and verify it advances as expected w/increasing rpm.

You’ve checked the transmission fluid level, right?

Any check engine lights? I had a car worked on after a deer collision and had sudden stalling and loss of power with a check engine light soon afterwards.

I pulled into a nearby AutoZone and had the codes read. IT was somewhat of a generic code pertaining to various sensors on the engine and said it could be a bad connection. I unplugged and reconnected all the connections, cleared the code, and never had issues after that. I figure they didn’t have something quite snug after the body work but at was an easy fix.