Car won't go pass 2500rpm, pls help, wants to stall with rev and engine light flickering Options

[malecrod]

Hey Guys, basically I just had my clutch replaced yesterday and the car drove fine. But this afternoon after driving like 3miles the car started hesitating like it wants to stall with some backfires and engine light coming on and off whenever I try accelerating pass 2500rpm. I also noticed engine light comes on for a second whenever I rev the engine pass 5000rpm and let off the gas. Car idle fine with but problem starts when you start to drive. Also I notice tempt shoots up during the hesitations and backfires.
what sucks is I took the car back to the shop that replace the clutch, he tells me the car was doing that before I brought it in, But I know for a fact it was not. Any ideas what the cause might be? Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Eli

[Dr_Tweak]

The temp shoots up when that happens? Did that mechanic check the engine out at all for you? Have someone watch the overflow line that goes to the coolant overflow bottle, and see if coolant shoots out when you rev it up.

-Doc

[lagos]

check the ecu for codes
make sure they bolted the ground cable back to the tranny.

[malecrod]

The temp shoots up when that happens? Did that mechanic check the engine out at all for you? Have someone watch the overflow line that goes to the coolant overflow bottle, and see if coolant shoots out when you rev it up.

-Doc

Yeah the tempt shoots up to about 3/4 of the way and goes back to normal like 5seconds later. This is all happening while its hesistating and backfiring. I went back to the mechanic and took the car back because I felt he was being dishonest and maybe trying rip me off. So tommorrow I might have another shop lok at it.

[malecrod]

check the ecu for codes
make sure they bolted the ground cable back to the tranny.

Alright, I will check that tommorow. its definately possible since it started after clutch replacement. Thanks

[Dr_Tweak]

Did you check the codes like I told you to?

-Doc

[malecrod]

Did you check the codes like I told you to?

-Doc

No, i haven't gotten around to doing that yet, I have been babysitting my daughter since then .
Thanks Doc.

[Dr_Tweak]

Check out the ground that bolts to the top of the tranny like Lagos said, if he forgot to put that back it could cause the problems you're describing.

-Doc

[malecrod]

Check out the ground that bolts to the top of the tranny like Lagos said, if he forgot to put that back it could cause the problems you're describing.

-Doc

Thanks Doc, I will definetely check that tomorrow. This shop is one of those "shops"...I didn't really wanna take the car there but it was the nearest one from where my clutch went out on me. So...
Eli

[malecrod]

An update on my problem: I checked for engine codes this morning and it was normal(constant flashes no pauses). Checked the grounding to tranny and it was fine also. This morning it was still hesistating at around 2500rpm(making a puff puff puff, idle dropping, tempt needle jerking, and engine light flickering), but it never stalls. Then I was kinda trying to see if I revving it up slowly in neutral will make it pass the 2500rpm mark.. and it did! And all of a sudden the problem just went away. I drove it for about a mile to see and it drove fine with no recurrence. Kind of strange. Seems like some kind of intermittent problems?
Thanks guys

[Rjb23]

When they replaced your clutch did they unplug your battery? If it was unplugged for any long amount of time the ecu has to completly relearn and it may run like crap for a little bit until it relearns, it may have been that.

[Bitter]

it wont run that poorly, i reset my PCM when i replaced my O2 sensor and installed the header, it didnt really run much different.

[Rjb23]

I'm talking about haveing your battery unplugged for 3 or 4 days. When I swapped my tranny to manual it took 2 or 3 days and I had rough idle and it ran crappy for a day or so after.

[Bitter]

30 minutes or 3 days, a PCM reset is a PCM reset. once it looses power to the RAM, the ram contents are lost. they dont get more lost the longer its unplugged.

the issue with your manual swap may have been because the PCM was trying to relearn its fuel trims and may have been dependant on some feedback from the trans that wasnt there anymore. the auto and manual pcm's are different.

[malecrod]

When they replaced your clutch did they unplug your battery? If it was unplugged for any long amount of time the ecu has to completly relearn and it may run like crap for a little bit until it relearns, it may have been that.

Yeah, they did unplug the battery and also the air intake. The problem seem to be intermittent, i.e. yesterday right after posting about the problem going away, I went back and check again and it is back. It comes and goes kinda like something is loose or so. because it only does it when you rev try to move but not at idle. I replace a bunch of hoses I thought were a little on the loose side but to no avail.
Still trying to find what it is today, will make appointment with toyota tomorrow if I can't figure it out.
Thanks

[Bitter]

have you checked and double checked that all the wiring is in good shape and firmly plugged in?

while the car is idling reach in and wiggle **** around a bunch and see if the idle changes.

are your plugs black, normal, or extra white looking? any black specks on the white part? (the part in the cylinder)

[Smitty2145]

Hey,
I had a problem like this about a month ago. Everyone kept saying ecu, wiring, fuel filter, and so on. But my first instinct told me distributor. After 2 weeks in the shop and $600 later I finally decided to trust my gut instinct and turns out...... that my distributor, coil, and plug wires were bad.

It would idle fine, but as soon as I stepped on the gas and it got past about 2500-3000 rpm's it would studder real bad. So I think you should check out those first before messin w/ the computer to much more.

[Bitter]

yea, it didnt occur to me that he could be misfiring that badly that the engine wont pass 2500rpm at WOT, a check of the plugs will help determine whats going on in the cylinders.

[easternpiro1]

same thing happened to me a month or so ago turns out i cracked my distrib cap and loosened one of the wires thats gotta be it...

[lagos]

take of your intake piping and check for any cracks or leaks that may have happened from them taking it off. then check your IC piping to make sure it didnt come undone when they had to tilt the motor to get the tranny off.