CALDINA TZ-G(ST195) NOT MUCH POWER

[dirty1]

Howdy,
i have a caldina 1997 tz-g 3s-ge t/cam (non beams) 4wd manual and have noticed that the power dropped off from what it was. it used to have a nice wee power band at 4500rpm but since i got the distributor cap replace (old one shattered itself internally) the power doesnt seem be to there . it has gone onto engine dignostic computer at local Toyota dealership and no engine code faults came up. when we took it for a drive with computer attached it showed that it is only running at a max of 83% power. it wont go above about 5000rpm even though it used to redline at about 7000rpm.
we have checked the cam-belt, timing, distributor and still no obvious faults. does anyone have any ideas???
we checked with Toyota and they qouted about 2-3000 grand for a new computer for it(factory) and we dont really want to spend that much on it when we dont know weither it would fix it or not.

[strx7]

has it got a cat convertor? its possibly blocked

[RS13]

has it got a cat convertor? its possibly blocked

Sorry to steal a thread, but what's involved with removing a cat converter? My car stinks after even a light thrash.. I've been told that getting rid of the cat will fix that, plus I might gain a couple of hp in the progress. Just make up a section to replace it? What about the electrical connection?

[Adydas]

Have you had the timing checked since the dizzy was put back on with the new unit?

Perhaps its sitting in a different place and is causing the "powerloss" you speak of?

[BigDon]

Some ideas..

What are the leads and plugs like? Did the coil/s maybe get damaged/shorted when the cap self distructed? If it started just after replacing the cap then Im guessing its related to that somehow. Leads on right way round that would be obvious, you put a new rotor in as well as cap?

Is it getting plenty of fuel, fuel filter clean?

Have you checked all the vacuum lines are on properly. Random but could the traction control or something be playing up.

It sounds like a limp home mode but the Toyota computer should have told you that.

Re getting rid of cat:

Cut out the cat weld in a muffler, resonator or straight pipe.

I took the cat out of my levin made it louder, freer reving and annoyingly it now has that twin cam bark. (replaced cat with a resonator btw).

Take cat to cat recyclers and get $80-100 for it.

[strx7]

the cat in my suzuki slowly blocked up, got to a point where the car wouldn't even do 110kph flat out, its was sluggish as buggery, i tried all sorts of things to cure it, ended up dropping the exhaust system off other than the manifold and down pipe and going for a blast up the road one night, problem solved, smashed the inners outta the cat convertor and gave it a new lease of life.

[dirty1]

cheers for all the help guys.
mechinacs finally checked the exhaust, and at first didn't see a cat converter. it was hidden in the manifold, just after the four pipes joined togeather. not under the car like most cats.
it was extremly shattered internally. now it is gone so will let you good people know if that fixes the problems.

[barryogen]

Gone gone, or, gone replaced?
It'll sound tinny/droany as hell without it.

[dirty1]

We left the casing in place and just removed all the stuff inside the converter. will let you know how it sounds when i pick it up.

[dirty1]

Yep sounds tinny, kinda like a bumble bee is in the exhaust. but the car is going better than it has for a long time.
going to CH_CH it only used about 40L which isnt too bad considering my lead right foot.

[dirty1]

mechinics forgot to put a sensor back into the lower manifold (just after the cat) so now that it is back in it is sounding pretty much the same as it was before the cat was gutted. sweet.