Sluggish Performance

Landman

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I have an 02 GTS with stock internals and a NOVI2000 S/C. It runs great in the cold, but if it's been driven for a while and it's 80 degrees or more outside it get's very sluggish and has a bad hesitation under WOT. Feels like my Expedition might beat it in a race.
Any idea's??
My check engine light has been on since I had the exaust modified and S/C'd the car.
What would happen if I has an O2 sensor go bad?
I'm open to suggestions.....

Thanks!
 

lilgookiemonsta

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Sounds like heat soak. Are you aftercooled? Actually, do you have any cooling modifications?
 
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Landman

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I have a larger aluminum radiator in the car, and I replaced the air to liquid intercooler that came standard with the Paxton system with the larger core and pump from DLM.
I've always had heat soak, but recently it started having a hesitation like it has a bad mixture, or if it had bad gas. Part throttle is fine, but WOT is aweful.
 

Jack B

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I have an 02 GTS with stock internals and a NOVI2000 S/C. It runs great in the cold, but if it's been driven for a while and it's 80 degrees or more outside it get's very sluggish and has a bad hesitation under WOT. Feels like my Expedition might beat it in a race.
Any idea's??
My check engine light has been on since I had the exaust modified and S/C'd the car.
What would happen if I has an O2 sensor go bad?
I'm open to suggestions.....

Thanks!

There is a specific lean code where the PCM reverts to open loop and enrichens the a/f to protect the engine. It will also retard the timing, therefore, reducing the power. That is one possibility, check the code. Just a guess, but, the plugs might give you the answer.
 

Twister

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I had the same thing today. I work at night and sleep during the day and usually take my viper out for some night time fun maybe once a week or so..

Well today i got up around noon to get some work done around the house and decided to take the Viper out in humid 80 degree weather..

Got on her a few times and I swear it feels like a roller rocker came loose or somthing...Car felt pretty slow compared to how she usually feels???

Im thinking it was the hot weather plus the fact that it started raining 2 minutes after my drive..
 
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Landman

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There is a specific lean code where the PCM reverts to open loop and enrichens the a/f to protect the engine. It will also retard the timing, therefore, reducing the power. That is one possibility, check the code. Just a guess, but, the plugs might give you the answer.

Thanks! I think I'm going to pull the plugs tonight. I was planning to change them anyway.
 

ViperGeorge

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My 06 with Paxton was doing the same thing. Under WOT it felt like a dog, even backfired on me. Plugged cat. Chuck Tator has got the car now and is giving it the once over in addition to changing the cats.
 

martyb

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Check your fuel pressure also, could be a dying fuel pump.
 
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Landman

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My 06 with Paxton was doing the same thing. Under WOT it felt like a dog, even backfired on me. Plugged cat. Chuck Tator has got the car now and is giving it the once over in addition to changing the cats.

I have a lot of flow coming out my pipes, and the pressure feels even. The cats I have on the car are the size of coffee mugs. I'm going to pull the plugs tonight and see how they are burning. Hopefully that will give me answers.
What part of Ma. are you in?
 

ViperGeorge

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I have a lot of flow coming out my pipes, and the pressure feels even. The cats I have on the car are the size of coffee mugs. I'm going to pull the plugs tonight and see how they are burning. Hopefully that will give me answers.
What part of Ma. are you in?

I'm in Hopkinton, MA. Re the cats, I seemed to have good flow too but under boost the engine is really trying to push a lot of exhaust out and even a partially plugged cat is too restrictive.

In my case engine RPMs would climb into the 5s if I didn't push it. If I went WOT then RPMs would climb very slowly and the car didn't feel right, felt like a dog. Chuck says one cat is a 1/3 plugged up and there are bits of stuff in them that he's never seen before. Doug Levin says that the aftermarket high flow cats are all junk on a supercharged car, they plug too easily. He prefers to eliminate the downstream factory cat and just run one OEM upstream cat. That's what I'm going to do.

By the way, my plugs all looked fine, no detonation evident, no fouling of any kind. My fuel pressure was also ok but because boost is related to load and RPMs the boost level and fuel pressure didn't really go full because RPMs were slow to rise. The split second box could also be a problem as it interrupts Cam and Crank sensor input to retard timing under boost. Not sure if you are using the box or whether you have another tuning device (SCT, AEM,VEC, etc.) You would likely throw a P1391 code though if the split second box failed - intermittent loss of cam or crank sensor input. The people that make the box for Paxton claim the car won't even run if it fails but others say that's not true and they've seen some weird stuff.

Another test you could try is tee in a vacuum pump to the line going to the bypass/blowoff valve. The valve that sits under the intercooler tank. Put 5 lbs of vacuum on the line and see if it holds. If it doesn't then you have a vacuum leak or bad bypass/blowoff valve. A bad valve will bleed off boost and reduce performance. The o-rings are known to fail in the valves. A leak will not allow the split second box to see true boost/load levels and hence it will not turn on the fuel pumps when needed or adjust timing properly.

Hopefully my plugged cat is my problem, but I'll post when I know for sure. Chuck is still waiting on the blower to return from a freshening. Doug Levin is doing the blower. More of my story can be found in the thread "Paxton Help - Again"
 
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Landman

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I'm currently in the process of changing my plugs. The old ones are black around the ring of the plug and brown on the electrode. All of them are consistent.
My cats are literally 5 inches long and look like a snake that just ate a small mouse. If my exhaust is 3 inch, the cats are 4 inch OD. One on each side in the side sills in front of the small mufflers. After the side sills I'm open all the way out the back.
Lately I've also had a much stronger exhaust smell in the cockpit, especially if the windows are down. My wife complains that I come home smelling like exhaust. I got use to it and figured it was from the exhaust being soo open or that I might have an exhaust leak. I've just started taking the side sills off to check the exhaust. What is the best way to check cats? And if they are clogged, do most install new or nock the honey comb out?
 

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