Car wont go past 5 rpms. Whats wrong?

[Insearchofatsi]

Hello, im writing for my friend because hes having problesm becoming a member but dont worry hell be one soonn. My friend has a 1991 Eagle TAlon AWD turbo 16V. I was wondering if anyone could help him. It has around 90,000 miles on the whole car and when pushing the car it doesnt let him go past 5 rpm. If he stays on it it just bucks and then forces you to shift into the next gear. Everything is working fine but we dont have a clue what is wrong with it. someone please help!

 

[Doug99RS]

Can you give any service history on the car? Recent maintenance/repair work, new mods, or "it didn't start until we did this" type info? We'll need a bit more info than what you've started out with.
Doug

 

[Insearchofatsi]

6 months ago my i replaced my trasmission with a brand new one but this has always happened even before the swap. There used to be an ideling problem but that was fixed, it occasionaly backfired but my dealer i took it to fixed it. It is basically stock besides my ractive muffler and straigh 2.5 inch pipin from the header back with a hi flo cat.

 

[turboholic]

-Look at the turbo boost gauge as you drive the car, if the motor start to buck/shake as the needle start to climp from vac to psi, then most likely the intercooler pipe is leaking.

 

[Woody91GSX]

I need more info. I can't go on too far on that. 5RPM? Or 5MPH? I'm kind of lost.

 

[IHeartTurbo]

fuel cut. i got the same problem

 

[Insearchofatsi]

5,000 rpms. sorry. Im not sure if it happens in every gear but does anyone know how to fix it? If it a fuel cut whats the solution that fixes that? If the IC was leaking dont u think that it would happen earlier. Keep in mind this is my budys car im askin thesee questions for. i had the same problem but mine wouldnt go past 3 and it was cause the ICP came loose because the clamp broke. It doesnt feel like that any oeht suggestions. If its an iC leak do u have any suggestions on where to look first for common leakage for a 91 tsi? Thanks and sorry for being vague always, im just a newbie

 

[Doug99RS]

If it's a boost leak, which I'm not saying it is or it's not, then the leak may not appear until a certain amount of pressure builds up. Then that pressure is took great and the area of leakage... well, leaks. So that could be why it doesn't happen until 5,000 rpm. For help trying to diagnose that, run a search on a "boost leak checker" and make one. From the people that have made them at home, I've heard they work.

As for it being fuel cut... if you hook up a fuel pressure gauge then you would be able to determine that or not.

If you're going to throw out potential causes then it would really be helpful if you also explain why it can be that. For someone trying to diagnose a problem it is really not helpful to just start hearing a ton of parts that could go bad yet no information on how to check them.
Doug