flat spot in acceleration.

[brian.taylor]

Its not like a fuel starvation flat spot, but like it loses power. Every now and then, only under heavy acceleration, it will hesitate between 2 & 3000rpm. when is does hesitate, it will then pop back - it almost feels like a downshift - only the car is a 5spd manual.

its kind of hard to describe, any ideas?

It runs fine, no other problems.

[mazdaverx7]

what do you mean "pop back"? usually hesitation can be caused by a clogged fuel filer, inadequate spark, usually through worn, wrong, or improperly gapped plugs or possibly an arcing plug wire. a hesitation may also be because of a leak at the intake manifold. to test that, start the car, pop the hood and spray some carb cleaner around the intake manifold. if the idle increases, you have an intake manifold leak. those should be some basic starters to check with first before going onto anthing else. post back what you find.

[nodrogkam]

the beginings of transmission slippage?

[mazdaverx7]

he indicated that it was a manual trans, so there would be no trans slip, only clutch slip and this doesnt sound like the culprit.

[geoff5093]

Im not sure if it's the same thing that happended to mine, but I noticed a little dead spot around that RPM range to, did it look anything like this?



Whenever I was in first gear the engine seemed to lose a bit of power before the 3K RPM mark, as you can see in the video it kind of hesitates a bit before it gets higher. And it's not because the tires stopped squeeling then, since it does it when they arent as well.

[nodrogkam]

ok ok...clutch slip...either way i was pointing to a transmission problem.
Autos do still have clutches btw.

[mazdaverx7]

i'm definatly aware that auto transmissions have clutches. more like clutch packs and bands. i know what you mean though. if the poster would give a better description we could help him more.

[mazdaverx7]

Originally Posted by geoff5093

Im not sure if it's the same thing that happended to mine, but I noticed a little dead spot around that RPM range to, did it look anything like this?


Whenever I was in first gear the engine seemed to lose a bit of power before the 3K RPM mark, as you can see in the video it kind of hesitates a bit before it gets higher. And it's not because the tires stopped squeeling then, since it does it when they arent as well.

everything looked fine to me. my 92 SE with the 3VZ and a 5spd is very similar to that. it could be the way the fuel is mapped and if the ecu advances the timing at the point of wot and it just takes a second to process everything. dunno, it looks ok to me.

[nodrogkam]

thinking about it, i think its normal because the torque converter stall is at 2800 rpm. If you straight out floor it and the car doesnt move up to speed yet to match the revs, it'll stall it there for a sec till the mph catch up.
its something i picked up at drag racing. I dont notice it much on the 1mz, but maybe because its got a lil more umph to it.

[brian.taylor]

Originally Posted by geoff5093

Im not sure if it's the same thing that happended to mine, but I noticed a little dead spot around that RPM range to, did it look anything like this?


Whenever I was in first gear the engine seemed to lose a bit of power before the 3K RPM mark, as you can see in the video it kind of hesitates a bit before it gets higher. And it's not because the tires stopped squeeling then, since it does it when they arent as well.

Yea, that's pretty much what it does. I haven't had a Camry before, and wanted to see if this was 'normal.'

Mine has a grip of miles on it (300K). Its had a lot of work done to it, though (including a top-end rebuild) but with age comes qwerks.


Thanks for all the replies...I did the vacuum leak test, and didn't find anything. I'll keep an eye on it and see what happens.