97 GST acceleration issue

[uyR]

Hey everyone,

Unfortunately I can't post in the tech forums yet, so I figured I'd call out for help to my Nor Cal people.

I bought this car to sell to my brother. I loved my GST Spyder and thought by brother would have some fun even though he doesn't drive a manual. Here's the story:

97 GST Automatic (I know, I know). The thing will not accelerate past a certain point. Reverse works like a charm, so does shifting into 1st. It's almost like the thing is too retarded to know to change gears. At first, I thought the tranny was bad, but the mechanic who has it now says the issue is power. (BTW, Almaden Auto Repair is who has it, for those of you from the South Bay).

All of the simple things have been checked (wires, plugs, etc). New coils were installed. I just bought a new ECU because of the mechanics suggestion. This did not fix the issue either. He's still looking into it, but I was hoping to get some outside thoughts.

Thanks in advance.

 

[slamminsammy]

I'm not in California but I will comment on your situation. Find a new mechanic !! If you've replaced a ecu, coil and other stuff and he hasn't found the problem, he doesn't know what he's doing. It will only cost you alot more money even if he figures it out. It sounds like to me it might be your Tranny. I have a 97 GS-T Auto Tranny and mine used to do the same thing.

 

[rcrullamas]

+1 on getting a new mechanic!!!

The only thing I would changed would be the shift solenoid if it had one, if that didn't work I would of brought to a transmission specialist like Kawano's in Santa Clara.

 

[dsmtun3r98gst]

+1 on getting a new mechanic!!!

The only thing I would changed would be the shift solenoid if it had one, if that didn't work I would of brought to a transmission specialist like Kawano's in Santa Clara.

Yes definetly get a new mechanic. If it was indeed your shift solenoid that was bad you would get a check engine for it so just don't go around changing it for the heck of it and waste your money like that. have you done an trans fluid/filter change?

 

[uyR]

Well, the car is up and running. This is going to seem odd. The list of things that were addressed were as follows:

Ignition coils
Spark wires
Turbo and exhaust manifolds were leaking.

I'm glad I didn't try to tackle this one because I wouldn't have even guessed the manifolds leaking would have that sort of impact. I bought this car to fix it and sell it, but now I'm stuck with it. I should probably get it properly tuned now since god only knows what the people who installed the aftermarket turbo did.

Thanks to everyone who provided feedback. Lets chalk this one up in the WTF category.

Oh yeah. And now I'm getting a P0505 CEL. The good times just keep on running. Considering it was sitting in my garage for 2 years, I can't complain though.