I just bought an 88 TII about a week ago. It is very low on power up until about 2500 rpm. Beyond 2500 power picks up a lot, but not what it should be. It has a crack in the exhaust manifold that is pretty loud, especially at idle. (I am going to fix this next weekend hopefully) This could cause me to lose a substantial amount of boost, right? It has the stock pre-cat still attached, and some aftermarket main cat welded into the exhaust which is going to be the first thing to go. I am doing the MMO treatment now, letting it soak for about a week. Do you think the low power could be a result of the cracked manifold? I thought that because of the low mileage for an 88 (55,000) it could have sat for a long time and developed a sticky apex. Just a guess though. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

Most likely your car just needs the full 60K mile service/tuneup including plugs, wires, TPS adjustment, fuel filter, intake filter, etc...

The TII runs lower compression rotors, so low end torque is provided by the turbo. I usually rev to 2500 rpms anyway in stop & go traffic.

The car should feel very powerful just tapping the gas while in motion. You should hit 85MPH whithout even trying in 4th gear. Passing should be effortlessly.

 

Ok, thanks for the advice. I am going to do all of that this weekend to both cars actually. Also, do you think some of the lack of power could be from the crack in the exhaust manifold? Thanks again for the help, nobody seems to want to reply to this thread....

 

If it is a no-name aftermarket cat, then it's probably already dead.

You need to do a complete tune up on the car before you start diagnosing this problem.

 

If the crack is large enough to limit boost, then that could be your problem...what are you boosting to?

 

I don't have a boost gauge other than the factory. At the max it reads '40'. I guess that stands for mm hg? Anyhow, the boost gauge makes it to just over the halfway mark.

 

Does anyone have any ideas about this? One thing I forgot to mention, it is pretty slow when I rev the engine. My '90 GXLs throttle response is much quicker. I did drive the TII this weekend after doing some work and was able to chirp 3rd gear pretty easily, so there is some hope that the engine is not going dead. Thanks for any help.

 

You need to get an aftermarket boost gauge so you can see what you are boosting to. If you aren't getting enough boost, it could be cracks in your TID. Might wanna do a search for "TID mod." ALso, dirty air filter, old plugs/wires/fuel filter will account for a loss of power. So like others said, do a full tune-up and see what happens.

 

Thanks, I am in the process of the complete tuneup. They guy that had it before me just replaced the TID so I know it isn't that. I am replacing the cracked exhaust manifold this weekend along with some other maintenance, so hopefully it will get better. Thanks for the help.