I'll start first off by saying Sorry if this is a repost, I was not able to find things related to this in the search.

I have a 94 Bonnie SSEi. Love the car, but I am ready to burn it. When driving if I have the car in drive (overdrive) If I am driving along there are no issues (usually) If I try to pass, or accelerate the car strts bucking and kicking like mad. It almost 'feels' like an old carb engine that is over choking. A huge loss of power. I can alleviate it a 'little' by shifting to 3 but the issue is still there. It is especially bad, as when I pull off the highway and stop at a red light, I am almost unable to go again the car almost feels like trying to take off in a standard in 4th gear. I have to pad the pedal jsut to get any speed.


I have already done the plugs, and replaced the Cat recently. I have also replaced ALL the vacumme lines, one at a time so I know they are all routed properly. I cleaned the MAT sensor in the air box. For one day the car ran like brand new! I pressed the pedal, and my head hit the seat like I am used to. But now it is really bad. Monday I am replacing the harmonic balancer, and perhaps the wires. I really do not have a lot of money to toss at the car, as I have a van I am trying to get on the road too.

No CES light either. Not sure what other info is pertanant here, Thank you for helping


Mike

Please check your fuel pressure at the rail with the key on, ignition off, then at idle, and then at idle with the vac line disconnected.

Your Harmonic Balancer will have no effect on peformance, so only change it if it'* annoying you with a rattle. Also use the procedure in Techinfo to clean your MAF sensor. Not the whole TB for now, just that sensor (be gentle with it). Or even better yet, try driving with the MAF sensor disconnected and see if your symptoms change.

What is your boost gauge doing during all this?

Keep the faith. These are fairly easy cars to diagnose, and they are very durable.

This sound pretty similar to my issue. So far we've used seafoam through the vacum line replaced fuel filter and checked over MAF sensor cleaned it. Pulled up codes and nothing came up... guess thats a good thing but have no idea why the wobbling supercharger, and loss of acceleration.

The harmonic balancer is really annoying, and rather embarrasing as well with the racket it makes. One thing I was thinking was perhaps it was rattling enough to ping the knock sensor and the car is actually pulling timing?

The boost guage when it gets to zero, is when this starts. The tach used to remain somewhat stable, but I have not looked today I will keep an eye on it on the way home from work. As for fuel pressure, I'll have to pick up a tool for that at the local gadget shop.

Thanks for the fast replies.


Mike

False knock is a possibility, but it never did that with either of my HB failures.

Its not that hard to do, but a little time consuming....

Drop the gas tank, look on the fuel pump and you will see a sock filter. if the filter is dirty then replace it.

My 94 SE would drive fine, but then when I wanted to pass someone or try to go up a hill, or pretty much when there was a good increse in RPMs, the car would jerk and kick....the RPMs would go up, but I would get any power to the tires...

it sounds like to problem i have with my car when its hot and on the highway only much worse, does the problem get worse the longer you drive and does it happen even right after startup?

No actually when I first start it up, it usually does not do it too much, it is really noticeable after hitting operating temprature. I am going to change the wires today as well, It is the only thing I touched and have not replaced since the time I replaced the plugs. The very next day after replacing plugs the car went like crazy..

Oh I forgot, the HB is so bad, that I can actually get a good 1/4 turn out of the supercharger pully Is it possible that the crank position sensor is being fed bad info and that is why the lack of power?

No. The interrupter rings on the HB are on the inside piece attached to the crankshaft, not the outer piece that has come loose.

When you say it'* gotten 'bad enough' to spin the SC pulley 1/4 turn, that'* normal failue. When they let go, the bang back and forth full travel to the hard stop. I have both failed HB'* (off the 93 and 95) here and they both failed in the same manner.

Ok, so here is an update, I went to Canadian Tire to look at fuel pressure guages, and they are not in my budget this week, so I decided on a whim to buy new bosch premium plug wires. Installed em and took the car for a rip. Right now.. Knock on wood.. It 'Seems' to have fixed it. I will know better tommorow when I take it to work. I am still gonna buy the pressure meter, just to have it. I will keep everyone here posted on my progress.

Again Thakn you for the help.

Mike