Okay, I was coming home from paintballing, it was around 10:30pm, the weather was pretty cool, a little cold but Southern California cold. I got to the park around 4pm, got out at 10:30, thats about 6 hours, I warmed up my car for about 2-3mins, drove about a mile and hit the freeway, I shift to 4th gear and I noticed my rpm was not going pass 4k, i was around 40mph and I can feel the car shaking...I hit the car in 3ed gear to see if I can more power...nope, nothing. I hit the hazards, no shoulder I can go in, I was still cruising at 30ish...on the freeway, everyone is honking their damn horns at me but I finally found an off-ramp. I went down the city streets, parked on the side and let my car warm up some more thinking the engine was still cold? I was tired, hungry and filthy, I start her back up and drove around the street for awhile to see if I can some power into her...still the same, I took the city street home fearing I would hurt my baby if I try to force her on the freeway...whats up guys? I feel so scared for mah baby

 

Does it just stop revving at 4K, or does it spit and sputter and want to go higher? Im thinking ignition, fuel filter, secondaries not opening, carb problems, etc.

~T.J.

EDIT: That was kinda plain. Does the car make good power to 4K? Check your plugs, wires, cap, rotor, and coils. Make sure each component is working.

Check your fuel filter, make sure its not clogged.

I doubt that its the secondaries, but you could check that they open and move freely anyway.

If none of the above works, come back. Also, give up more info to work with here .

 

It sounds like the fuel filter to me. But like RMD said, check everything he listed. Check your air filter as well, if it's dirty as hell, then you may have problems getting air to the motor at higher RPM's.

 

the secondaries are vacuum so if it did sit for a while they could be stuck and the vacuum presure alone is not enough to get them unstuck.
this is very possible and i have seen it before, twice in fact

check the exhaust, i found a couple clogged cats were the reason I could not rev over 4k in my 84 gsl

just unbolt them and bust them out, you will see the diference instantly if thats is the culprit

good luck

 

how do you unbolt them, i tried and it was so hard, cause of the rusted bolts

 

my vote is also for clogged cat,,,,,had one clog on me in an old monte carlo , felt like i was towing a house,,do you feel much exhause from the tail pipe?? i had some but not like it should have been...good luck,,,,

 

my first thought would be secondaries arent opening or they are only opening slightly...

 

sounds like vapor lock to me, my 80 was bad about it, but its an easy fix, or least it was on that car

 

cut em off if you cant get them unbolted,

I really dont have any good tips except use some pb blaster and whatever else you can find including a blow torch with some of the gas in the yellow bottle that smells like ****

good luck

 

It doesn't sound like a problem with the secondaries to me. You could still drive 60 mph+ on the primaries. I'd make sure I had fuel delivery to the carb first thing. Also 4000 rpms in 4th gear does not equal 40 mph, what's the deal with that?

 

Yeah, I can get up to speed on the highway on only the primaries at the same speed as most minivans when they are just normally getting on the highway.

Also, hes very correct. In my car, 4K in 4th is like 60 MPH or something. 3K in 4th is 50 MPH for sure, and 3K in 3rd is 35 MPH.

~T.J.

 

Yes its good power to 4k rpm and it just stops there and sputters, I hit the gas and it just bounces at 4k and it stays at 40-45mph. This happend before at the same time of night but this time my gas was a tad bit above the "E" on the fuel...

 

Did you check anything like we said yet? Look into fuel delivery. Pump and filter mostly.

~T.J.